Since 1991, Upward Bound House in Culver City has helped 900 families and 1,692 children navigate the daunting road beyond homelessness through transitional supportive housing.
Via a $2,500 district community grant, the Culver City Rotary Community Foundation, in partnership with Rotary District 5280, has adopted and outfitted two of the 18 apartments at the temporary family shelter. Homeless families stay there until they have stabilized their lives with employment and a permanent place to live, up to 90 days. Upward Bound assists families to obtain permanent housing and jobs.
A whopping 95 percent of families remain in their permanent homes after placement.
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Two weeks ago, several Rotary Club members showed up at Upward Bound to see the fruits of their contributions.
The Rotary grant provided everything for two individual studio apartments, from Tupperware, towels, coffee pots and other kitchen utensils to shower curtains, bathroom supplies, new bedding and other accoutrements. The families are able to keep all of these supplies when they move to their permanent housing. The Rotarians toured the facility from the kitchen/dining area where residents receive two meals a day, and they visited the playground area.
Food donations are common from charities and businesses. Google, for example, sends in three meals a week.
Backpacks, stocked with school supplies and lunches, are given to children to take to school. They attend Culver City schools while at Upward Bound.
If a family comes in with more than three or four children, they are divided into two groups next door to each other. One rule is that parents must be clean and sober when they arrive. Random drug tests are conducted for those with previous substance abuse issues. Various services are provided to help the family, including counseling, job assistance and permanent housing location. Families are provided counseling services for a year after they are placed. Counseling is regarded as a crucial need, since children especially suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being homeless.
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority most recent Homeless Court Report, 7,391 family members, including 5,000 children, are homeless. Although this represents a decrease, the report speaks of a rise in the number of people living in places not meant for human habitation, cars, parks, sidewalks, abandoned buildings or on the streets.
One-third of homeless families are now unsheltered on any night.
Some agencies claim the , count is understated. The County Dept. of Social Services classified 14,678 families, with 19,408 children, as homeless in May 2013.
To contact Upward Bound House, call 310.458.7779 and ask for Aimee.
Community members interested in Rotary Club membership contact president Joel Forman at 310.559.7250, or the writer at Wendy@taylorandscott.com.
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Also see www.culvercityrotary.org.
Weekly Rotary meetings are held on Wednesdays at noon at the Culver Hotel.
