Common Ground: The Westside HIV Community Center

Common Ground is the only comprehensive agency serving the Westside.

Common Ground’s mission is to bring people together despite diversity to fight against HIV. There are over 3,000 people living in West Los Angeles living with HIV and roughly 25% don’t even know it yet. At risk groups include women of color, homeless people and the working poor. Common Ground offers these people a no-cost education, prevention and treatment programs – they push for each person to move towards a positive change in their lives.

What makes Common Ground different is that they work under a positive tone that avoids the judging tone that is often associated with the social service industry pushing past discrimination, isolation and trauma.

Treatment and Prevention

Over 66,000 people in Los Angeles live with HIV or AIDS, and this number is only growing especially with the younger population. Common Ground works to provide physical and mental healthcare as well as housing and employment opportunities for people living with HIV. They work to provide solutions to the side-effects of HIV including poverty, addiction, and mental health issues.

By targeting the homeless youth through the Homeless Youth Peer Education (HYPE), Common Ground offers a peer-based drop-in environment. They can connect with family and other support. The drop in hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5:45 pm -8:30 pm. Their Teen Peer Education Program visits schools and makes it easy for teenagers to make the right decisions to benefit their health. Common Ground also reaches out to drug users to dramatically reduce HIV and Hepatitis C infections.

There is a growing epidemic rooted in cultural history that makes African American and Latina Women more susceptible to HIV. A multi-session series of workshops offers information and support about sexual health while providing women with the options they need to live healthy lives.

How You Can Help Common Ground

Go and visit Common Ground by signing up for one of their monthly tours or you can sign up for their quarterly e-mail newsletter. The best way to help is to volunteer. Sign up today by filling out their volunteer form on their website and viewing their upcoming events.

You can also donate today to Common Ground through a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation. Every penny helps.

Contact Common Ground Westside at 2012 Lincoln Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405. You can call them at 310-314-5480 or toll free at 888-554-5459. Email Common Ground at info@commongroundwestside.org. The community center is open from Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Thursday until 6:00 pm or by appointment otherwise.

Think you’ve had an encounter with HIV? Get tested at Common Ground for HIV. It takes 45 minutes for a Rapid Testing oral test performed with a cotton swab.

Los Angeles House of Ruth: Empowering Women, Changing Lives

The Los Angeles House of Ruth has experience helping women in emergency situations. They say that most of the women that they encounter have recently left their abusive husbands with nowhere to live, nothing to eat, and children to support. House of Ruth works to give women not only a place to stay, but also the life skills to live independent, successful lives.

“Our program is so successful that we have a 95% success rate in keeping families off the streets for the rest of their lives ensuring positive futures for their families and future generations.”

Since 1978, the House of Ruth has been one of a few specialized shelters in Los Angeles. They offer an environment that resembles a home, and give immediate attention to children who suffer from the consequences of chaotic, toxic environments. The Los Angeles House of Ruth offers both women and children a “new way of life.”

Special Circumstances Call for Your Immediate Attention!

2010 has been an especially tough year for the House of Ruth in Los Angeles with the need for homeless assistance rising by 50% and the donations decreasing by 30% leaving them with a shortfall of $150,000 for the year.

If they do not raise that money, they will be forced to close one of their four shelter houses and put homeless families back on the street.

Campaign 15 is a push to raise $150,000 in 15 days. They say that for the cost of two lattes and a bagel, you can keep families off the streets and help women and children in their journey to living successful lives.

Donate now to the Los Angeles House of Ruth to save one of their shelters.

To get in touch with the Los Angeles House of Ruth, email them directly at Ruth33288@aol.com or call the office at 323-266-4139. You can also send them mail at PO Box 33288, Los Angeles, CA 90033.

YWCA Santa Monica/Westside: Opportunities to Empower Women

Mission: Strengthened by diversity, the YWCA empowers women and girls by creating opportunities for growth and leadership.

Through investing in the community’s women and girls throughout their entire lives, the YWCA works to improve their lives by providing child development, teen leadership, transitional housing, education, girls’ athletics, financial counseling, parenting classes, basic health and fitness awareness, and cancer support. The YWCA has served as a “turning point” in the lives of many at-risk women and young girls.

Free Programs for Women and Girls to Fill a Vital Community Need

Grants, private contributions and special events fund transitional housing and education programs for young women, as well as leadership programs for middle-school girls. Rehabilitation programs, the Libbie Agran Financial Literacy Center, A Place for Parents and an athletic program for ages 7-14 years are also funded by these contributions.

Paid Classes to Enhance the Community

The YWCA offers classes where women and girls pay for lessons in art, drama, gymnastics, dance, exercise, and self-defense. An annual membership is about $45 per year. They also offer scholarships. To enroll in these classes call Linda Garcia at 310.452.3881 or click here to enroll.

Get Involved with YWCA

You can help out at the YWCA Santa Monica/Westside by becoming a member, donating, passing out newsletters or by volunteering.

The smallest donation can help out at the YWCA. As little as $25 can help 30 cancer survivors participate in rehabilitative pool exercise classes. You can donate with cash or check by mailing money to 2019 14th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405. You can donate online by clicking here.

You can also volunteer at YWCA by coaching girls’ athletics, helping at the front office, or even through fundraising. You can check out their volunteer application online or contact Linda Garcia at 310.452.3881 or lgarcia@smywca.org.

Downtown Women’s Center: Ending Homelessness for Women in Los Angeles

The Downtown Women’s Center works to give homeless women permanent housing and a safe, healthy community that increases their self-respect and personal stability. Their goal is to eradicate homelessness for women.

The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) opened in 1978. Before their existance, homeless women were dominated by the “man’s world” of Skid Row and other homeless areas that were only accessible to men. Women, especially mentally ill women, were left homeless on the streets with the closing of psychiatric hospitals in the early 1970s. Thus, Jill Halverson in 1978 founded the city’s first day center for women providing a place to live and meals to women in need.

Statistics: Women in Homelessness

• Over 50% of homeless women are homeless due to domestic violence.
• 75% of poor elderly people are women.
• 60% of women getting public assistance have been victims of domestic violence
• 14% of the homeless population are single women
• 92% of homeless mothers were victims of physical or sexual assault

Women and children are often referred to as “the hidden homeless” because they are the most turned away group of people from homeless shelters due to safety concerns of aggressive homeless men.

“It is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.” – President Barack Obama

The DWC provides lasting solutions for homeless women and the children they provide for.

Give Back to the Downtown Women’s Center to Help Homeless Women

You can volunteer or donate to the Downtown Women’s Center to give back.

Volunteering at the Downtown Women’s Center is an easy process. You can choose from one of their available volunteer opportunities and then fill out the individual application or group application and send it to volunteer@dwcweb.org. Then you will have to attend a volunteer orientation/training session (which is not required for all volunteer positions). Check out their events calendar to see which dates work for you.

Don’t have time to volunteer? You can always donate money or in-kind donations. Donate online or send a check to 325 S. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013. $36 provides a monthly management session for 3 DWC residents and $2000 provides a year of individual and group counseling reaching over 100 women. Every bit helps. For more information on how to donate click here.

You can also contact the Downtown Women’s Center at 213-680-6000 (administrative offices) or 213-613-0761 (day center). They are located at 442 S. San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

The Weingart Center Association: Where Transformations Happen

Keeping up with the Homeless Assistance theme this week, today we are focusing on the Weingart Center Association who works to better the homeless population through residential programs, non-residential programs, and permanent housing. The main goal: to break the cycle of homelessness and to help these individuals and families lead fulfilling, self-sufficient lives.

The Skills to Break the Homelessness Cycle

Skills that the Weingart center offers to the homeless include job assistance, permanent housing, sobriety assistance, increased education, mental and physical healthcare, pulling them out of debt, reuniting families, and setting attainable goals for the future.

They offer specific services that include:

• Legal Aid
• Work attire
• Transitional and Permanent Housing
• Education
• Substance Abuse Support
• Healthcare (mental health, medical health, family planning)
• Life and workforce skills
• Nutrition

Their individualized and compassionate support that adapts to the changing community has made a huge impact on the large homeless community in Los Angeles.

Making an Impact

From Operation Welcome Home, a program helping to assimilate veterans back into society, to their Open Door Program, helping locate jobs for parolees, the Weingart Center alleviates the homeless struggles of many.

The Weingart Center Association helped me to get my life back.

They have housed 600 people every day in an 11-story building, served 225,000 healthy meals annually, created a medical clinic to control TB and HIV in the early stages, and miraculously uses 82% of funds to give back to the community.

Interested in lending a hand to the Weingart center? There are many ways for you to give back.

1. Donate: The money or goods that you donate will be used to directly help out the 48,000 homeless people in Los Angeles.
2. Volunteer: By volunteering with the Weingart Center you can directly affect a life. The Weingart Center suggests organizing a clothing drive, sponsoring an event, giving a participant a make over, volunteering at one of their many volunteer events, or becoming a Weingart Center partner.
3. Wish List: Give back by ordering the Weingart Center one of the items on their wish list.

For upcoming events, visit their event page and their blog. You can even call the Weingart Center Association at 213-627-9000 and email them at center@weingart.org. Their address is 566 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013.