By Stephen Witt, Los Angeles County Politics (LACP)
South Los Angeles residents — including families and single adults experiencing homelessness or housing instability — streamed onto the grounds behind HOPICS’ offices at the intersection of Slauson Avenue and Crocker Street yesterday for HOPICS Homeless Connect Day, an annual event that packs dozens of housing, health and social service providers into one outdoor gathering for people who need them most — including a free medical clinic that has quietly become one of the event’s most-used stops.
The event, hosted by the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System, drew close to 1,000 clients and community members to the grounds outside HOPICS’ offices at 5849 Crocker St., where organizers set up backpack giveaways with the Los Angeles Unified School District, medical screenings, barbers, braiders, a DJ and a full meal alongside the housing and benefits tables.
“We get about 1,000 clients and community members to come on in and then get resources, connect the resources,” said Nathaniel Williams, an associate director at HOPICS, adding the event has grown steadily since the nonprofit started holding it about a decade ago.
HOPICS, a division of Special Service for Groups, is the lead agency for homeless services in Service Planning Area 6, which covers South Los Angeles, Compton, Lynwood and Paramount.
Williams said the agency operates about a dozen directly run shelter sites and another 10 under contract, serving roughly 12,000 people last year, of whom 4,000 to 5,000 came through interim housing. He said the agency is housing more people than ever, even as this year’s point-in-time homeless count ticked up for the first time in several years — a shift Williams attributed less to a change in need than to funding levels that determine how many shelter beds are available at any given time.
Among the dozens of booths at Thursday’s event was one from Vermont Galaxy Community Outreach and Shelter, the Westmont nonprofit that operates the Galaxy Free Clinic out of its shelter at the corner of Vermont Avenue and Century Boulevard.
Dr. Kenneth Clark, the clinic’s physician, said the free clinic offers walk-in medical and psychological care Monday through Friday, with no appointment, no insurance and no identification required.
“What we offer is immediate medical care for people in the community,” Clark said, describing patients who don’t want to wait a month for an appointment or don’t have insurance. “Right now, it’s free medical care for anybody in the community who is just willing to walk in the door.”
Clark said patients needing a higher level of care are referred to the emergency room.
The clinic opened in April offering care three days a week; it has since expanded to five days, a growth Vermont Galaxy leadership attributed to demand from the surrounding Westmont community.
Vermont Galaxy Executive Director Dennis Taylor said HOPICS invited their organization to set up a booth and serve the community directly. “We made a lot of connections here, and I really enjoyed myself,” he said.
Also on hand was the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, which has operated in South Los Angeles since 1964 and runs 15 separate social service programs spanning youth, senior and adult services, including a homeless access center working alongside HOPICS.
Melvin Logan, a job developer with the organization’s employment and training arm, said demand for those services has grown over his decade there even as federal funding has shrunk.
“I think there’s more of a need for these services, but the sad part is the funding is being cut for these services because of our federal government,” Logan said, pointing to stalled renewal of the Work Investment Opportunity Act, an Obama-era jobs grant that supports organizations like his across the country. “We’re seeing an influx of people coming in to try and get help. They’re losing their housing. They’re losing their benefits.”
Logan is also involved in a veteran housing initiative launched by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson, Compton, Willowbrook, Watts), whose 65th Assembly District includes the Watts Labor Community Action Committee’s home base. The Watts neighborhood also falls within the congressional district of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D – Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Watts, South Los Angeles), who has publicly supported Vermont Galaxy’s work in the past and remains one of the region’s most vocal advocates for expanding homeless services and affordable housing.
For organizations like HOPICS, Vermont Galaxy and the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, yesterday’s event was as much about visibility as services.
“The first step to asking for help sometimes is hard for people, and events like Connect Day are meant to make that first step feel less daunting,” said Williams.
