AIDS Project Los Angeles: Leadership in Prevention, Advocacy & Service

AIDS Project Los Angeles is devoted to reducing HIV infection, advocating fair public policy to benefit the infected, and to improve the lives of people affected by HIV in Los Angeles.

Their services include benefits and work services, case management, a client line, a home healthcare system, dental services, mental health services, food pantries, nutritional education, treatment options and residential services to people affected by HIV.

Los Angeles AIDS Statistics

• 56,091 cumulative cases of AIDS (155,208 cumulative cases in CA)
• 31,448 deaths from AIDS (86,809 cumulative deaths in CA)
• 24,643 living AIDS cases as of December 31, 2009 (68,399 living cases in CA)
• 62,000 estimated people living with HIV/AIDS

People living with AIDS in Los Angeles account for 36% of living AIDS cases in California and 5.4% of living AIDS cases in the United States. This means that Los Angeles is one of the cities most concentrated with AIDS and most at risk for spreading the disease.

Help AIDS Project Los Angeles Make a Difference

Volunteer your time: You can volunteer with APLA through the AIDS Walk, as a client access volunteer, as a dental treatment volunteer, as a food bank volunteer, nutrition and administrative volunteer, office services volunteer, outreach volunteer, or a special events volunteer.

Support through a donation: Donating money to APLA will ensure programs to the HIV-affected and groceries, dental care, health services, and HIV prevention education. Donate now to APLA.

Be a community activist: Sign up to be “In the Loop” to stay informed with the APLA advocacy programs at the different levels of government. You can help APLA make a difference at all levels of government in order to fight HIV/AIDS.

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.

Children’s Bureau: A Leader in Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment

The Children’s Bureau works to prevent child abuse and neglect, to protect and nurture abused children, to enhance families to meet the needs of their children, and to advance foster care, adoption, child development, parent education, and research. Their goal it to give vulnerable children the foundation to become productive adults.

Children’s Bureau started in 1904 and since then has worked to provide shelters, foster homes, and refuges for abused children and their families. Their advanced child abuse prevention and treatment services works in the positive direction to give a voice and a helping hand to children who are in at-risk positions.

Child Abuse Statistics

• 1 child abuse report is made every 10 seconds.
• 5 children die every day from child abuse. 75% are under age 4.
• 60-85% of child fatalities are due to maltreatment that is not recorded on death certificates.
• 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator; 68% are family members.
• 31% of women in prison were abused as children.
• 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers were abused as a child.
• 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children classify with at least one psychological disorder.
• The annual cost of child abuse is $104 billion (2007).

(Source: www.childhelp.org)

Help a Child in Need

You can donate your time and money to Children’s Bureau by volunteering, donating, or adopting a foster child.

Donate now to Children’s Bureau. Gifts of $1000 or more are recognized in their annual giving program, Century Circle for Children.

You can also adopt or foster a child in need. There are currently 63,000 children in foster care and over 12,000 waiting for adoptive families. You can click here to fill out a form that will keep you up to date about scheduling upcoming meetings or call 800-730-3933. For an application, click here or you can visit their website at all4kids.org. You can complete the application and mail it to them at:

Children’s Bureau
Foster Care & Adoptions
1910 Magnolia Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90007

or fax it to them at 213-342-0253.

You can also become a volunteer. For more information, click here or contact them at 213-342-0100.

For upcoming events and news, visit their event calendar.