Riverside County begins effort to challenge misconceptions about homeless
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A woman cradling her child, a worried elderly woman, a couple who just lost their home -- for the next two months, billboards and bus advertisements will showcase the lesser-known face of homelessness in Riverside County.
The images accompanied by surprising statistics are part of a new $200,000 county awareness campaign: "The homeless. They're not who you think."
The signage across the county along with a new Web site and radio and television spots are intended to challenge misconceptions and direct people to county resources to help with homelessness.
A common stereotype of homeless people is that they are mostly male vagrants, alcoholics and drug addicts, but about half of the county's homeless are women and children, said Ronald A. Stewart, a manager of homelessness programs in the county's Department of Public Social Services.
"We are trying to reposition what homelessness is in the mind of the average resident of this county," Stewart said. "We are trying to dispel myths . . . and portray what homelessness really is in Riverside County."
Billboards went up last week at roadsides and bus shelters in Riverside, Corona, Perris, Moreno Valley, Temecula, Palm Springs and other communities, according to county documents.
The campaign forms part of the county's 10-year plan to end homelessness, endorsed by the Board of Supervisors in fall 2007. Publicity funding comes from the county's general fund, Stewart said.
Nan Roman is president of the National Alliance to End Homeless, a nonprofit education and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., that has been tracking 10-year plans to end homelessness in communities around the country.
Roman said she could not comment on the specifics of Riverside County's campaign, but public education is a key part of many of the roughly 300 10-year plans already completed and in the works nationwide.
"Most people in advocacy believe if the community had a better understanding of the problem, there would be more political will to solve it," she said.
The county billboards announce that one in every five homeless people is a child; about 150 people age 62 and older sleep on Riverside County streets each night; one in three homeless men in the U.S. is a veteran and other statistics.
Much of the information comes from the County of Riverside Homeless Survey administered to hundreds of adults over a period of 10 weeks in 2007.
The publicity also instructs people who are homeless or at risk to call 211, a 24-hour hot line that connects callers with human services resources in the county.
The line, established in 2005, offers referrals for needs ranging from health care, housing and food to youth programs, legal help and volunteer opportunities.
Reach Julia Glick at 951-368-9442 or jglick@PE.com
HOMELESSNESS IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY
See the new Web site and ads from Riverside County's new campaign, "The homeless, they're not who you think."
If you or someone you know is homeless or at risk, call: 211 or 1-800-464-1123
