This is TASLA’s new headquarters, located at 1507 Winona Blvd., Los Angeles.  It is the first time in our Agency’s 87-year history that we have owned our own administrative office location.  We purchased this building with the generous support of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) and with additional funds loaned to us from East West Bank.  We offer case management services on site.  With the move to Winona Blvd. came a restructuring of our Scope of Services (to expand our productivity by co-locating our caseworkers in other high-volume social service agencies).  During the 2008-09 fiscal year, we served 55% more people than we did in 2007-08.  We look forward to a long and productive and neighborly stay on Winona.  

In the time that it took us to settle into our new headquarters (pictured above), our former Gower Street facility (left) became leveled (right) in preparation for construction of a new housing development project for homeless people with special needs (funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency).  The $27 million, 70-unit development, called The Villas at Gower, will offer a variety of services, including job training, medical services, and on-site counseling.   We are grateful to CRA/LA, to L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti, and to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, for their support of our community’s services and of TASLA’s relocation.

Hope Travels Fundraiser a Success

We’re Leveraging Our Resources

             Often we are asked what TASLA’s budget pays for. Over the past five years, 89 cents of each dollar we’ve received has been spent on direct services; that means the purchase of food and snacks and water that caseworkers give to clients when they come to us seeking crisis intervention; our purchase of Greyhound tickets to help people who are stranded to return home; and salaries and benefits for our social caseworkers. We also purchase bus tokens, help defray the costs of obtaining birth certificates and IDs; we provide socks, underwear, t-shirts, hygiene kits, sewing kits, and first aid kits.  When someone makes a donation to TASLA, they make an investment in an individual or a family and in their ability to end their cycle of homelessness and despair.  For instance, there is the case of Darren (not his real name):

             Three months before visiting Travelers Aid, Darren had been released from prison; all of his belongings he possessed were the clothes he wore when he came to see us. He’d been involved with gangs, he was in and out of prison, and this last conviction was his last strike.  Darren was ready to turn his life around. When he first came to the Travelers Aid office located in Hollywood, at Social Services at Blessed Sacrament, he only wanted to use the phone to call his parole officer.  Then our Caseworker spent a few hours with him, talking about his past, his current situation, and what options might be available to him to improve his circumstances.

             First, Darren wanted to tackle housing, and the Caseworker told him about various housing opportunities. Since he was not interested in a parole house, our Caseworker referred him to a Downtown Los Angeles shelter, and she provided him with bus tokens to get there. When he returned the next day, Darren and our Caseworker completed an application for a transitional living program, to which he was accepted.  However, Darren’s parole officer preferred that Darren go to a parole house.  The parole officer and the Caseworker worked together and found a parole house in South Los Angeles, one which Darren was happy to accept. A week later, Darren returned and said that he was happy there and “did not feel like a bum anymore.”

             Darren disclosed that he was addicted to cocaine and alcohol. Our Caseworker referred him to local Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and she provided him with the hotline number. When next he returned to Travelers Aid, he explained that he had used the hotline number and had found an NA meeting in his area. Darren had been “clean” for three weeks, and he said that he had started going to groups for relapse prevention and anger management.

             Darren felt better about his situation and about himself, and he was ready to start looking for a job. Our Caseworker helped him write a resume.  Darren and the Caseworker talked over his past experiences and what employment might suit him, and she provided him with bus tokens to get to job interviews. A week later, Darren returned. He was working with the County performing gang intervention and working with youth.  Darren also signed himself up for forklift operator classes so that he could do warehouse work. Darren made some remarkable progress toward turning his life around. Smiling and happy, he told us that he felt great!

We’re Helping More People

Let’s start with how many people we helped at Los Angeles International Airport and Union Station:  We assisted 676,313 travelers, providing information and direction, which means we arranged for interpreter services; help and support for stranded travelers; paging services for travelers and their families; information on ground transportation and hotels; Meet & Greet services; just to name a few things we do.

We provided 1,044 individuals and families with crisis intervention, counseling, and emergency services.  That means our social caseworkers assisted with people who were either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, providing them with counseling, assistance in returning to their families in their home communities or in getting stabilized in Los Angeles, including food and temporary shelter.

As part of our family reunification efforts, we issued 362 Greyhound Bus tickets, allowing 362 people, including 43 children, to return home.  Over the telephone, our caseworkers handled 2,147 intake/crisis telephone calls.

Under the auspices of our Office of AIDS Programs and Policy-funded program, “For Love or Money,” our Health Educators conducted 884 individual risk assessments on risky behavior connected to drugs, sex, and homelessness; and they provided risk reduction workshops at rehab centers like Grandview in Pasadena and Clare Foundation in Santa Monica.

Where Do Our Clients Originate?

During the fiscal year July 1,2008 to June 30, 2009, the majority of our clients (82%) originated from somewhere in California.  Seven other states shared the next grouping of 1% each: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and Texas.  All the other states comprised the remaining 11%.

Where Do We Help Them?

Spread among five service centers (we discontinued services at OPCC in the fall of 2008), unduplicated cases were opened as follows:

Winona, 387   LAX, 315   PATH-RHC, 212   SSBS, 94   OPCC, 35

 

Key:  LAX=Los Angeles Int'l Airport;  Winona=Winona Blvd. E. Hollywood; PATH-RHC=People Assisting the Homeless-Regional Homeless Center, E. Hollywood; SSBS=Social  Services at Blessed Sacrament, Hollywood. [Other refers to OPCC in Santa Monica, where we provided services until the fall of 2008]

 

Who Funds TASLA?

 

Los Angeles World Airports  ᴥ  Los Angeles County Dept of Public Health-Office of AIDS Programs and Policy

Los Angeles County Dept of Mental Health  ᴥ The Ahmanson Foundation   ᴥ   Weingart Foundation

The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation  ᴥ  Los Angeles County Dept of Children and Family Services

Orange County Community Foundation   ᴥ   Los Angeles County Probation Dept

The George Hoag Family Foundation   ᴥ   The Ann Freeman Trust

Anonymous (2)   ᴥ   In-n-Out Burger Foundation

Emergency Food & Shelter Program (Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act)  ᴥ Cannon Family Foundation   ᴥ   Lon V. Smith Foundation  ᴥ Sidney Stern Memorial Trust   ᴥ   Northrop Grumman Corporation  Employees Charitable Organization of Northrop Grumman Corp.  ᴥ  Support of Homeless Re-Entry Program (Shelter Partnership) ᴥ Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Foundation

 Roy Crummer Foundation   ᴥ   Chevron Corporation

 

(plus the support of people like you!)