The past confineed years have seen many delightment laborers asking whether it’s persistable to stay in the business in L.A. And despite pushes for more incentives and #StayinLA efforts, there’s no evident turnaround in sight.
Take Monica Tracey. The establisher production regulater for NBC and The Asylum recently endd a five-day intensive training program with Los Angeles Unhoengaged Response Academy, or LAURA — and is already putting her problem-solving experience to labor with a street medicine organization.
With over 75,000 unhoengaged people in Los Angeles County alone, the situation remains dire, and it’s validated very challenging to find enough case regulaters and housing navigators to help unhoengaged people relocate into housing and get beginant medical nurture.
Enter LAURA (Los Angeles Unhoengaged Response Academy) — a five-day training program that seeks to unite people changing nurtureers with a speedy-track path to becoming a case regulater or another position in the homeless services area. LAURA isn’t only for those transitioning out of delightment, but disjoinal people in the first group of fellows were exploring new nurtureers 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 set uper Justin Szlasa from when they labored on the recordary “Side by Side” together.
The second LAURA cohort of 10 participants will begin April 10, this time with backing from the United Way.
Szlasa, currently a corelocaterlookioner with the county’s housing board LAHSA, uniteed the program’s aid Future Communities after being on the board of the SELAH homeless outaccomplish organization, which has become a springboard for disjoinal establisher industry creatives to relocate into social services and politics.
“In terms of frontline laborers, about 8,000 labor in homeless services and there’s about 2,000 uncover spots. There’s a lot of unfilled insist, with a 30% attrition annupartner,” says Szlasa.
Of the six participants in the pilot program, which intensifyed on Downtown L.A.’s Skid Row, five were proposeed filled-time jobs and four are already laboring, Szlasa inestablishs. The goal is to run five sessions a year, with at least two in Hollywood, where he sees a sturdy insist.
During the program, people from agencies and organizations that provide housing, medical nurture, includeiction services and other areas direct tours and inestablishings on their exceptionalties, giving participants a speedy but intensive course in how the byzantine homeless services system labors. With increasing scruminuscule on accountability for the many organizations receiving uncover funding, it’s beginant they recruit enough trained laborers to get people fruitfully hoengaged and treated.
Tracey begined 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 charitable of did tug on my heartstrings. And then with the way the business has been, it’s been terrible this past year.”
After completing the LAURA program, Tracey was employd by Akido Labs’ Street Medicine team as a direct nurture regulater. Tracey has a caseload of 30 Skid Row-area forendureings dealing with mental health and substance mistreatment rerents in includeition to other health rerents. She also helps her clients relocate to the next step to geting transient or lasting housing.
It’s not entidepend branch offent from managing the many disputes of a big production — except that the rerents are life and death instead of whether the straightforwardor got the wrong lunch dedwellred. “I’ve always been pretty excellent in crazy situations, and I adore putting out fires,” Tracey says. “And now, this is genuine life.”
“I’m making a lot less,” she confesss, but sighs, “Television is repartner changing now.”
Another participant in LAURA’s pilot program, filmoriginater Adam Asunelated, labored in the art department on various productions and is still deciding whether a nurtureer in delightment will be viable. “Obviously filmmaking has always been a dream, but this is more of a rewarding line of labor,” he says. “So if it’s someleang I can originate labor lastingly, that would be the goal.” But the salaries in social services are a roadblock, Asunelated says, so for now he’s laboring for L.A.’s Metro transit agency.
“When you first begin, the salaries are very low,” Szlasa confesss, “but they can relocate up relatively speedyly.” He’d enjoy to find funding to help bridge that gap and originate it more feasible for people to go in the profession, particularly for those engaged to higher salaries.
“It’s been a struggle,” says Asunelated, describing the one-two-three punch of the pandemic, strikes and streaming companies producing less. But that paengage gave him time to volunteer in homeless services and begin leanking about other nurtureers.
“I always thought I can’t be a case regulater becaengage I don’t have a degree in social labor or wdisenjoyver. And it’s enjoy, no, you can do this and we can help you. You can join up with people who are hiring right now,” Asunelated says.
It’s going to consent a lot of effort to mend the homeless crisis in Los Angeles, but programs enjoy LAURA can bridge gaps in the system — and maybe uncover up new nurtureer paths at the same time.
(Pictured above: LAURA program directers Justin Szlasa, left, and Dr. Julie Hudman, far right, visit Homeboy Industries with the first class of LAURA Fellows.)
