Beverly Hills Corporate Sponsors Participate in 7th Annual HomeWalk

A record crowd of more than 13,000 people participated in the seventh annual HomeWalk in Exposition Park Saturday, part of United Way of Greater Los Angeles' campaign to end poverty in Los Angeles County, organizers said.

More than $500,000 was expected to be raised, which will be matched by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, according to Christine Marge, United Way of Greater Los Angeles' director of housing stability.

One of the top corporate teams in Homewalk is the Beverly Hills Korn/Ferry International office and City National Bank, also in Beverly Hills.

"City National is a longtime United Way supporter, and we’ve been involved with HomeWalk almost since its inception," said Chris Carey, vice president and chief financial officer of City National. "This is our sixth year as an event sponsor and, once again, we’ll have a team of colleagues lacing up their running shoes to support the cause."

Carey said they're bankers, and numbers tend to resonate with them.

"When it comes to homelessness, the numbers are staggering," Carey tells Patch. "There are about 58,000 people who live, eat and sleep on the streets of Los Angeles County every day. About one-third of them are women and children, and another 9,000 are military veterans. United Way HomeWalk is a great way to unite as a community and raise the funds needed to give them the home they deserve."

Los Angeles Lakers all-star guard Kobe Bryant served as the event's honorary chair for the third consecutive year.

"I'm sure everybody here is not a Laker fan," Bryant told the crowd at Exposition Park before the start of the 5-kilometer walk and run.

"I see some Clipper shirts and I'm sure there's a Boston Celtics fan somewhere, but the most important thing, the thing that unites all of us, is that we can inspire and challenge each other to be better and do something great for each other."

Bryant said in a 2012 interview he became interested in trying to end homelessness because "it's an issue that's kind of faded into the background."

United Way of Greater Los Angeles President and CEO Elise Buik called Bryant and his wife Vanessa "amazing advocates."      

"This is an issue that is always pushed in the shadows," Buik said. "To have someone of Kobe and Vanessa's stature focused on helping to end homelessness in L.A. and leading by example , we're forever in your debt."

Marge attributed the record number of participants to "more and more people realizing homelessness is not only a crisis, but it's a solvable crisis."

"People are eager to be involved and be part of the solution. We're just thrilled that there are 13,000 people out here who want to be part of the solution.

"What we know is that a lot of these people won't just be out here today. They're going to be engaged throughout the year in solutions throughout Los Angeles County."

The biennial Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count conducted this year by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority found that there were 58,423 homeless people in Los Angeles County, a 16 percent increase over the 50,214 in 2011.

Los Angeles County has long led the nation in the number of homeless people.

"No Angeleno should be without a home of their own," Mayor Eric Garcetti told City News Service earlier this week. "It's a human crisis and a budgetary one. We can't approach this crisis as unsolvable and simply throw up our hands or think that temporary shelter is enough."

United Way of Greater Los Angeles is in the midst of a 10-year plan to "create pathways out of poverty," including ending chronic and veterans homelessness in Los Angeles County by 2016.

The plan's other elements to end poverty are increasing the high school graduation rate, which "has a tremendous influence on being able to shift out of poverty," and cutting the unemployment rate for veterans in half over the next five years, Marge said.

The effort to reduce homelessness, dubbed "Home For Good," began in December 2010 in conjunction with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

The plan focuses on moving individuals into permanent housing with support services. It has provided housing for 10,870 chronic and veteran homeless individuals since its start, according to the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

"This model is proven to improve health and other outcomes for formerly homeless people in addition to being cost effective," Garcetti said.

"We saw incredible success by matching job programs, health care, mental health treatment and other services with quality housing in my council district. As mayor, I will pursue an agenda to broadly apply this approach."

Homelessness is caused by people who are "already living in extreme poverty" and then "experience some kind of traumatic event" such as "an injury at work where they're no longer able to work," a "health care crises" or "the onset of mental illness," Marge said.

Focusing on permanent solutions is the key to ending homelessness, Marge said.

"For quite some time, we've used both public and private resources on managing the issue, basically helping people be more comfortable when they're out on the streets, making sure they have a place to sleep for the night and food to eat," Marge said.

"What we need to see is a continued shift to focus those limited resources on permanent solutions, making sure they have a permanent place to live."

United Way of Greater Los Angeles will begin a 100-day campaign Dec. 1 to raise funds and "engage the public in volunteering and advocating for this issue," Marge said.

"It is possible to end homelessness," Marge said. "For many of us, it's unfortunately been a part of our reality for so long that we take for granted it doesn't have to be this way. There are solutions."