Volunteers needed to conduct survey with people experiencing homelessness

The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness needs volunteers to help conduct our Albuquerque Point in Time count. The Point in Time (PIT) count is when we count the number of people who are homeless in Albuquerque on one given night.

The PIT is important for two reasons. First, the federal government requires that we do a PIT count in order to receive over $4 million annually in federal funding for housing and services for people experiencing homelessness. Secondly, we do a PIT count in order to show our political leaders that homelessness is a significant problem facing our community and to obtain good local data about homelessness.

The night of our PIT count will be January 25, 2009. That is, we need to count the number of people who are homeless on January 25, 2009. To do this, we need to conduct a short survey with people as they access services that homeless people are likely to use between January 26th and February 1st. The survey will ask people where they spent the night of January 25th.

We will need volunteers the week of January 26th to February 1st to help conduct this survey. Volunteer shifts will be about 2 hrs long and we will have shifts that need to be filled in the morning, afternoon and evening. We need volunteers to help conduct the survey at various service locations, such as soup kitchens, Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless and St. Martin's Hospitality Center. We also need volunteers to assist outreach workers in going out to the streets to conduct the survey with people who are unlikely to access services.

Please contact Lisa LaBrecque at the NM Coalition to End Homelessness if you would like to volunteer or if you need more information at 217-9570 or Lisa-L@nmceh.org.