2019 Santa Clara County Homeless Point-in-Time Count
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Dates: Tuesday, January 29 and Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Time: 4:30 - 10:00am
Deployments Sites: San Jose, Palo Alto, Gilroy, and Mountain View
We need your help!
A complete and accurate PIT Count is critical to ending homelessness countywide. We need hundreds of volunteers to ensure a complete count.
Click here to register to volunteer for one or both days of the count: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SantaClara-PIT-2019
Download and share this flyer with friends, colleagues, your congregation, and your neighbors:
SCC Point-In-Time Count 2019 Volunteer Flyer.pdf
What is the PIT Count?
The Point-in-Time (PIT) count is a tally of people experiencing homelessness in Santa Clara County. Every two years, the PIT count is conducted during the last 10 days of January. The count includes both sheltered homeless (those living in emergency shelters or transitional housing) and unsheltered homeless (those living on the streets, in cars, or abandoned properties).
Why is it important?
Simply put, an accurate PIT count translates to more homeless funding for our community. Many government homelessness grants and funding allocations are determined by a community’s homeless PIT count. An accurate PIT count is vital to ensuring that Santa Clara County receives its fair share of resources needed to end homelessness. A 2017 study by UC Davis’ Center for Poverty Research found that a permanent $100,000 annual increase in federal homeless assistance decreases the size of the average community’s unsheltered homeless population by 35 single adults and 11 people in families.
How can I help?
Have you ever wondered how you can contribute to ending homelessness in our community? Volunteering for the PIT count is an easy way to participate in local efforts to solve homelessness. Despite being a one-time commitment, volunteers are an integral part of the PIT count, helping to support a robust and accurate collection of data on our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
What will you be doing?
Volunteers will be matched with a currently or formerly homeless guide from the community in order to conduct a visual tally of persons experiencing homelessness across Santa Clara County. Early on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 29th and 30th, guides will lead the team in canvassing their assigned count area, using their direct knowledge and lived experience to collect the most accurate data possible.
Volunteers will work in groups alongside their guide from 4:30am to 10:00am, meeting their team members at a central deployment center location (listed below) before walking/driving their assigned routes and aiding with data collection. Volunteers are asked to bring their vehicles to use in the count if they are able. Volunteers can participate on one or both days.
Deployments Available In:
- San Jose
- Palo Alto
- Gilroy
- Mountain View
What are the Volunteer Requirements?
Volunteers must:
- Be at least 18 years of age
- Carry a charged cell phone on the day of the count
- Be able to walk approximately 2-3 miles, if necessary
- Attend a 1-hour training session in the weeks before the count either in-person or complete an online training
- Commit to a total of 5-6 volunteer hours, including a 1-hour training session and 4-5 hours on the day of the count
- Volunteers with cars will be asked to help transport their team members to and from their field assignment on the day of the count, but a car is not required to volunteer
Questions?
Contact John Connery at [email protected] or call (831) 728-1356.