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UPDATE:
A change to the panelists was made due to Professor Blasi’s unavailability. We are very fortunate to be joined by Shayla Myers. Shayla is a Senior Attorney at Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles who specializes in issues related to housing and homelessness, with a special focus on the criminalization of poverty.
PRESS RELEASE
Each night, more than 65,000 Los Angeles County residents sleep in parks, on the street, and alongside freeways. To get off the streets, they need social services, healthcare, sanitation, and mostly affordable housing. Yet local governments’ chief response is to treat homelessness as a criminal matter with armed police officers who lack specialized training to address unhoused residents’ needs.
That’s why on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m., Care First South Pasadena is hosting a free community webinar on Policing Our Unhoused Neighbors. Register for the free Zoom webinar here or by sending an email to: carefirstsouthpas@gmail.com. You will receive a Zoom link to the webinar.
This one-hour event will feature presentations by UCLA Professor of Law Emeritus Gary Blasi and Dr. Robin Petering, policy co-chair of Ktown for All.
Blasi has worked tirelessly to advocate for homeless families and individuals, low income tenants, low wage workers, veterans, and victims of discrimination. He has received numerous awards for his legal services to vulnerable and marginalized populations and is recognized as the “go-to lawyer for community groups.”
Petering is the founder and senior researcher at Lens Co., a research and advocacy consulting enterprise and the policy co-chair for Ktown for All. She currently oversees several evaluation contracts with agencies across the country that serve young people who are experiencing homelessness.
Petering is regarded as one of the leading experts in the field of research on young adults experiencing homelessness informed by her personal experience as a front-line worker and volunteer in agencies that serve this population.
Care First is a group of South Pasadena residents seeking a city budget that prioritizes the health, safety, and welfare of our community. This budget would center on health solutions and services provided in the community so that police intervention is the last option, rather than the first and only response.
For more information on Care First South Pasadena go to: carefirstsouthpasadena.com
