The Well-Being Small Group of the Riverside Youth Council aims to focus on learning about the history of homelessness in Riverside and to spread awareness about the ongoing issue of homelessness in our local community through partnerships and social media campaigns with relevant organizations.
The City of Riverside currently experiences a growing epidemic of homelessness with the amount of individuals steadily increasing yearly. According to Riverside County statistics, there has been a 15 percent increase in individuals affected by homelessness in 2022, and a 12 percent increase in 2023. Among the Riverside County counts for this year’s increase are a 31 percent increase in homeless veterans, a 12 percent increase in homeless families with children, and a 6 percent increase in homeless senior citizens. In total, there are around 3,700 affected individuals in Riverside, with around 2,400 being unsheltered and receiving a severe lack of support and resources.
Starting last year, Riverside began to take initiative to not only conduct a count of homeless residents, but also to provide resources and sheltering services. Riverside aims to actively engage with homeless residents and connect them with housing and emergency medical care. Many organizations, including Family Promise of Riverside, tackle these issues within our community.
Family Promise is an organization with the goal of supporting families experiencing homelessness by sheltering them and avoiding trauma correlated with homelessness. They shelter people in a variety of ways that help ensure families will be able to provide for themself and continue functioning by granting educational programs that teach career pathways and lessons about financial capability. The local chapter of Family Promise of Riverside provides possible solutions for the prevention of homelessness within our community such as advocating for community based programs and rental assistance for financial security.
The Well-Being Small Group of Riverside Youth Council has partnered with Family Promise of Riverside in hopes to advance progress toward combating homelessness. Success of programs like Family Promise of Riverside and our own support can assist other similar programs. By doing this, we will hopefully move toward a community that provides for and helps uplift those in need.
For more information, please visit the Family Promise of Riverside link below: