Latest news with #LosAngelesUnhousedResponseAcademy
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The fight to reduce homeless service worker burnout in grueling industry
Josh Hoffman sat before a room of aspiring homeless service workers and talked about why it's important not to get discouraged. To make his point, the veteran in the field recalled a story of a woman with mental health issues who repeatedly refused to move into a new building because because birds in the neighborhood told her it wasn't safe. As a result, she remained on the street, but a couple of years later things changed. Hoffman said his team received a call from another organization saying the woman was now housed and was willing to follow through with the application process because she had already done it several times with them and felt comfortable. "If we had never gotten that call we would have figured ... our work with her hadn't really had an impact on her life, but it did," said Hoffman, now director of homeless services at the Little Tokyo Service Center. "Planting seeds," one attendee remarked. "That's the perfect analogy," Hoffman replied. Helping people get off the street can be a grueling, poorly paid job, one where workers often feel unsafe and lament that they haven't received enough training on how to help, or an explanation of what to expect, when dealing with people facing some of the worst moments of their lives. Recent studies have found those factors contribute to widespread burnout and turnover among L.A. County homeless service workers, harming the ability to solve a crisis where thousands sleep on the streets. Now, a new weeklong fellowship is trying to change that by helping aspiring workers be ready on Day One. In April, the Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy, Laura for short, welcomed 15 fellows as part of its second cohort. Fellows received a stipend to attend and learned about different medicines to reduce side effects of streets drugs and how to use the county's online system that service workers employ to connect people to housing. They also learned about actions in their personal lives they could take to reduce burnout and toured multiple service providers on Skid Row. At the Midnight Mission, fellows ate at the cafeteria that feeds hundreds a day, toured a dormitory, a soon-to-open women's 12-step program and an education center with computers, books and musical instruments. At the end, the mission's chief communications officer, Georgia Berkovich offered fellows her number. "You can always call for questions, ideas — whatever," Berkovich said. Justin Szlasa, who founded the Laura fellowship, said that it can take months or years for homeless service workers to gain the contacts and knowledge dispensed over the five-day learning program. By fast-tracking training, the fellowship seeks to educate aspiring workers about what they are getting into and give them the tools to succeed, including a plethora of contacts they can turn to when problems arise. "You are less likely to burn out if you are embedded in a community and you have peers and a support system," said Szlasa, the director of homeless initiatives for the Future Communities Institute, which puts on the fellowship. The first class in October was funded by actor Keanu Reeves, who is a friend of Szlasa's, with the second bankrolled by the United Way. Szlasa is working to find funding for additional sessions. Meghan D'Zmura, a former server at an upscale Italian restaurant downtown, was in the April group and described the fellowship as a "CliffsNotes master class" on social work that helped her land a job in May as a resident services coordinator at the Weingart Center on Skid Row. D'Zmura said her experience with homelessness as a child motivated her in the past to volunteer to help unhoused people, but there was also so much she didn't know before joining the fellowship, including the nuts and bolts of how to navigate a complicated web of agencies and services. "It will be a very fulfilling, but probably taxing, position," D'Zmura, 35, said shortly before starting. "But I am prepared." One contributing factor to burnout is pay. According to a 2023 Rand Corp. study, L.A. County homeless service workers on average earn about $40,000 to $60,000 a year, leaving little left after paying for rent and other necessities. The analysis focused on front-line workers employed by nonprofits who serve as a backbone of L.A. County's homeless response and connect people with housing, job training, food assistance and medical care. Nonprofits executives told report authors that they would like to pay more, but the government contracts that fund their work don't pay enough to allow it. If pay is lifted that can mean less money for other things like beds, of course. But Rand economist Lisa Abraham, who co-wrote the report, said higher pay could pay dividends in the homeless sector, citing one study that found that after wages were increased in nursing homes, residents had fewer preventable health conditions and reduced mortality. "These front-line workers are directly in touch with the homeless population," Abraham said. "Having a talented, strong workforce that feels supported, that feels motivated to work ... that's likely to translate into outcomes for their clients." Los Angeles city and county officials have taken some steps recently to enable higher pay for at least some workers, but advocates say more is needed. Szlasa said he hopes training like that in the Laura fellowship can make a difference by creating a strong argument to life pay as workers learn to better help more people. "The long-term fix for me is more productivity," said Szlasa, who is also a commissioner for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Belit Paulissian was among the April fellows. She decided to go into the homeless service industry when her work as a TV producer dried up. While in line the other month at the the Midnight Mission cafeteria with her fellow students, Paulissian said that if she lands a job in homeless service work she expects to make less than what she was earning when the entertainment industry was healthier, but that she wants to find stability while helping others. "Hopefully," she said, "I am going to do this." Later that day, Paulissian and others walked a few blocks to the Sidewalk Project's drop-in center, which caters to unhoused women who use drugs or engage in sex work. The organization's executive director, Soma Snakeoil, explained how people can come to the center to receive supplies that help make drug use safer and get help if they experienced sexual violence. Others simply need to rest after staying awake for nights in an attempt to protect themselves from assault. "I hope you have very successful careers and protect your minds and bodies and give a lot of good back to the community," she told the fellows. As the group walked out, Snakeoil urged them to take a box of Narcan, the anti-overdose medication. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
The fight to reduce homeless service worker burnout in grueling industry
Josh Hoffman sat before a room of aspiring homeless service workers and talked about why it's important not to get discouraged. To make his point, the veteran in the field recalled a story of a woman with mental health issues who repeatedly refused to move into a new building because because birds in the neighborhood told her it wasn't safe. As a result, she remained on the street, but a couple of years later things changed. Hoffman said his team received a call from another organization saying the woman was now housed and was willing to follow through with the application process because she had already done it several times with them and felt comfortable. 'If we had never gotten that call we would have figured ... our work with her hadn't really had an impact on her life, but it did,' said Hoffman, now director of homeless services at the Little Tokyo Service Center. 'Planting seeds,' one attendee remarked. 'That's the perfect analogy,' Hoffman replied. Helping people get off the street can be a grueling, poorly paid job, one where workers often feel unsafe and lament that they haven't received enough training on how to help, or an explanation of what to expect, when dealing with people facing some of the worst moments of their lives. Recent studies have found those factors contribute to widespread burnout and turnover among L.A. County homeless service workers, harming the ability to solve a crisis where thousands sleep on the streets. Now, a new weeklong fellowship is trying to change that by helping aspiring workers be ready on Day One. In April, the Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy, Laura for short, welcomed 15 fellows as part of its second cohort. Fellows received a stipend to attend and learned about different medicines to reduce side effects of streets drugs and how to use the county's online system that service workers employ to connect people to housing. They also learned about actions in their personal lives they could take to reduce burnout and toured multiple service providers on Skid Row. At the Midnight Mission, fellows ate at the cafeteria that feeds hundreds a day, toured a dormitory, a soon-to-open women's 12-step program and an education center with computers, books and musical instruments. At the end, the mission's chief communications officer, Georgia Berkovich offered fellows her number. 'You can always call for questions, ideas — whatever,' Berkovich said. Justin Szlasa, who founded the Laura fellowship, said that it can take months or years for homeless service workers to gain the contacts and knowledge dispensed over the five-day learning program. By fast-tracking training, the fellowship seeks to educate aspiring workers about what they are getting into and give them the tools to succeed, including a plethora of contacts they can turn to when problems arise. 'You are less likely to burn out if you are embedded in a community and you have peers and a support system,' said Szlasa, the director of homeless initiatives for the Future Communities Institute, which puts on the fellowship. The first class in October was funded by actor Keanu Reeves, who is a friend of Szlasa's, with the second bankrolled by the United Way. Szlasa is working to find funding for additional sessions. Meghan D'Zmura, a former server at an upscale Italian restaurant downtown, was in the April group and described the fellowship as a 'CliffsNotes master class' on social work that helped her land a job in May as a resident services coordinator at the Weingart Center on Skid Row. D'Zmura said her experience with homelessness as a child motivated her in the past to volunteer to help unhoused people, but there was also so much she didn't know before joining the fellowship, including the nuts and bolts of how to navigate a complicated web of agencies and services. 'It will be a very fulfilling, but probably taxing, position,' D'Zmura, 35, said shortly before starting. 'But I am prepared.' One contributing factor to burnout is pay. According to a 2023 Rand Corp. study, L.A. County homeless service workers on average earn about $40,000 to $60,000 a year, leaving little left after paying for rent and other necessities. The analysis focused on front-line workers employed by nonprofits who serve as a backbone of L.A. County's homeless response and connect people with housing, job training, food assistance and medical care. Nonprofits executives told report authors that they would like to pay more, but the government contracts that fund their work don't pay enough to allow it. If pay is lifted that can mean less money for other things like beds, of course. But Rand economist Lisa Abraham, who co-wrote the report, said higher pay could pay dividends in the homeless sector, citing one study that found that after wages were increased in nursing homes, residents had fewer preventable health conditions and reduced mortality. 'These front-line workers are directly in touch with the homeless population,' Abraham said. 'Having a talented, strong workforce that feels supported, that feels motivated to work ... that's likely to translate into outcomes for their clients.' Los Angeles city and county officials have taken some steps recently to enable higher pay for at least some workers, but advocates say more is needed. Szlasa said he hopes training like that in the Laura fellowship can make a difference by creating a strong argument to life pay as workers learn to better help more people. 'The long-term fix for me is more productivity,' said Szlasa, who is also a commissioner for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Belit Paulissian was among the April fellows. She decided to go into the homeless service industry when her work as a TV producer dried up. While in line the other month at the the Midnight Mission cafeteria with her fellow students, Paulissian said that if she lands a job in homeless service work she expects to make less than what she was earning when the entertainment industry was healthier, but that she wants to find stability while helping others. 'Hopefully,' she said, 'I am going to do this.' Later that day, Paulissian and others walked a few blocks to the Sidewalk Project's drop-in center, which caters to unhoused women who use drugs or engage in sex work. The organization's executive director, Soma Snakeoil, explained how people can come to the center to receive supplies that help make drug use safer and get help if they experienced sexual violence. Others simply need to rest after staying awake for nights in an attempt to protect themselves from assault. 'I hope you have very successful careers and protect your minds and bodies and give a lot of good back to the community,' she told the fellows. As the group walked out, Snakeoil urged them to take a box of Narcan, the anti-overdose medication.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Entertainment Workers Are Finding New Careers in Homeless Services — With a Little Help From Keanu Reeves
The past few years have seen many entertainment workers questioning whether it's sustainable to stay in the business in L.A. And despite pushes for more incentives and #StayinLA efforts, there's no clear turnaround in sight. Take Monica Tracey. The former production manager for NBC and The Asylum recently completed a five-day intensive training program with Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy, or LAURA — and is already putting her problem-solving experience to work with a street medicine organization. With over 75,000 unhoused people in Los Angeles County alone, the situation remains dire, and it's proved very challenging to find enough case managers and housing navigators to help unhoused people move into housing and get crucial medical care. Enter LAURA (Los Angeles Unhoused Response Academy) — a five-day training program that seeks to connect people changing careers with a fast-track path to becoming a case manager or another position in the homeless services area. LAURA isn't only for those transitioning out of entertainment, but several people in the first group of fellows were exploring new careers beyond TV and film, where they worried opportunities have all but dried up. The pilot week last October was backed by Keanu Reeves, who knew LAURA founder Justin Szlasa from when they worked on the documentary 'Side by Side' together. The second LAURA cohort of 10 participants will start April 10, this time with backing from the United Way. Szlasa, currently a commissioner with the county's housing board LAHSA, joined the program's sponsor Future Communities after being on the board of the SELAH homeless outreach organization, which has become a springboard for several former industry creatives to move into social services and politics. 'In terms of frontline workers, about 8,000 work in homeless services and there's about 2,000 open spots. There's a lot of unfilled need, with a 30% attrition annually,' says Szlasa. Of the six participants in the pilot program, which focused on Downtown L.A.'s Skid Row, five were offered full-time jobs and four are already working, Szlasa reports. The goal is to run five sessions a year, with at least two in Hollywood, where he sees a strong need. During the program, people from agencies and organizations that provide housing, medical care, addiction services and other areas lead tours and briefings on their specialties, giving participants a quick but intensive course in how the byzantine homeless services system works. With increasing scrutiny on accountability for the many organizations receiving public funding, it's crucial they recruit enough trained workers to get people efficiently housed and treated. Tracey started volunteering with SELAH after observing the scope of homelesness in the city. 'It's so prevalent here, in L.A. you cannot escape it,' she says. 'So that kind of did tug on my heartstrings. And then with the way the business has been, it's been awful this past year.' After completing the LAURA program, Tracey was hired by Akido Labs' Street Medicine team as a lead care manager. Tracey has a caseload of 30 Skid Row-area patients dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues in addition to other health issues. She also helps her clients move to the next step to obtaining temporary or permanent housing. It's not entirely different from managing the many challenges of a big production — except that the issues are life and death instead of whether the director got the wrong lunch delivered. 'I've always been pretty good in crazy situations, and I love putting out fires,' Tracey says. 'And now, this is real life.' 'I'm making a lot less,' she admits, but sighs, 'Television is really changing now.' Another participant in LAURA's pilot program, filmmaker Adam Assad, worked in the art department on various productions and is still deciding whether a career in entertainment will be viable. 'Obviously filmmaking has always been a dream, but this is more of a rewarding line of work,' he says. 'So if it's something I can make work permanently, that would be the goal.' But the salaries in social services are a roadblock, Assad says, so for now he's working for L.A.'s Metro transit agency. 'When you first start, the salaries are very low,' Szlasa admits, 'but they can move up relatively quickly.' He'd like to find funding to help bridge that gap and make it more feasible for people to enter the profession, particularly for those used to higher salaries. 'It's been a struggle,' says Assad, describing the one-two-three punch of the pandemic, strikes and streaming companies producing less. But that pause gave him time to volunteer in homeless services and start thinking about other careers. 'I always thought I can't be a case manager because I don't have a degree in social work or whatever. And it's like, no, you can do this and we can help you. You can link up with people who are hiring right now,' Assad says. It's going to take a lot of effort to solve the homeless crisis in Los Angeles, but programs like LAURA can bridge gaps in the system — and maybe open up new career paths at the same time. (Pictured above: LAURA program leaders Justin Szlasa, left, and Dr. Julie Hudman, far right, visit Homeboy Industries with the first class of LAURA Fellows.) Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
