Show Love To Our City - 2020 Point-In-Time Homeless Count

Friends,

With this new year, I propose that the Chicago Peace Corps Community recommit to collectively participate in one volunteer event each month, for the benefit of the beautiful people of this city.

As James Baldwin once wrote, “Everything now, we must assume is in our own hands; we have no right to assume otherwise." Let us once again be inspired to a call to act on behalf of others. 

Here’s how you can help your city this month.

Event: Point-in-time homeless count
Date: Thursday, January 23rd
Time: 9 pm - 3 am

In Brief: A genuine attempt to count the homeless in the third largest city in the country.

Why participate? The data gathered on the homeless in Chicago serves as a basis for federal funding, for service and resource planning, and to raise public awareness about homelessness.

The Point in Time Homeless Count provides the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) a “snapshot” of Chicago’s homeless population. Required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be conducted on the street by HUD every two years, Chicago finds the data gathered annually is more useful to demonstrate the need for federal funding, service and resource planning, and raising public awareness about homelessness. Teams of volunteers canvass the entire city in a span of a few hours over the evening. Training and materials are provided that night.

If you plan to attend, please mark "Attending" above and then contact Griffin Smith at griffinmariesmith@gmail.com or 708.560.6477 for more details. Griffin will follow up with meet-up details for the CAPCA crew! 

To read more about the volunteer opportunity, please visit 

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/fss/supp_info/Homeless/2020PITCount/2020PITHomelessCountFAQ.pdf