Feedback from People with Lived Experience

Feedback from People with Lived Experience

Nominations Due November 1, 2016

 

The increase of home­less­ness in Metro’s tran­sit sys­tem con­tin­ues to chal­lenge the agency, result­ing in the need for more col­lab­o­ra­tion and coor­di­na­tion. With the adop­tion of Coun­ty and City of Los Ange­les strate­gies to address home­less­ness this year, Metro rec­og­nizes the need to address home­less­ness in and around the tran­sit sys­tem that will align with Coun­ty and City of Los Ange­les pri­or­i­ties. Metro is cre­at­ing a strate­gic plan to devel­op a coor­di­nat­ed and com­pre­hen­sive approach that main­tains a safe and clean envi­ron­ment for patrons while con­nect­ing home­less per­sons in the tran­sit sys­tem to ser­vices and resources. Metro has engaged Com­mu­ni­ties in Motion to lead and coor­di­nate the strate­gic plan­ning process that will involve com­pre­hen­sive com­mu­ni­ty and stake­hold­er engagement.

On Novem­ber 18 and Decem­ber 9, we held focus group ses­sions to gain feed­back and input from peo­ple with lived home­less expe­ri­ence, rep­re­sent­ing diverse per­spec­tive, expe­ri­ences and demo­graph­ics.  They pro­vid­ed sub­stan­tive input into Metro’s inter­est in devel­op­ing a com­pre­hen­sive and effec­tive approach to home­less out­reach and engage­ment.  This process taught us many impor­tant things, remind­ing us that home­less poli­cies and pro­grams need to be from the bot­tom-up, involv­ing peo­ple with lived home­less experience.

Our inter­ac­tive, intense and dynam­ic ses­sions cre­at­ed a space for par­tic­i­pants to lis­ten to each oth­er, as well as be authen­tic and honest.