United Way's Everyone In is a campaign to end homelessness in Los Angeles by holding politicians accountable to progress, tracking spending, and organizing the public to fight for housing and services in their communities. Our overarching goal is to ensure L.A. keeps its promise to our most vulnerable neighbors by building 10,000 units of supportive housing in 10 years.
Through grassroots action, community management and multichannel ads programing, Everyone In serves as both a watchdog and organizer for public action. Polling shows that the vast majority of Angelenos want to end homelessness, but there is widespread apathy and resignation. We're organizing and inspiring people to act on their values.
In 10 years, we will secure housing for 45,000 people, and keep many more from becoming homeless in the first place. The ultimate objective is to make homelessness in L.A. rare and temporary.
Our Everyone In campaign utilizes a multi-platform communication and activism strategy, rooted in transparency, to keep politicians on the hook for the promises they make, increase engagement and in-person participation, share successes, and rally individuals and communities to push for meaningful, long-term solutions for homeless individuals, couples, and families.
We hold leaders accountable. This past March, L.A. City Council members pledged to support a minimum of 222 units of supportive housing in each of their districts by July 1, 2020— 3,330 units in total, or one-third of L.A.'s 10,000 unit goal. To ensure that each council member is fulfilling their obligations, we created a 222 Tracker that lives on our website, documenting each council member's progress and allowing residents to share that progress on social media. The goal is to apply strategic pressure on our elected officials and push them to build more supportive housing in every neighborhood in L.A. County.
We also tell the story of homelessness in L.A. County in a way that influences the hearts and minds of voters and the general public. This year, we created an integrated campaign around L.A.'s homelessness count that spanned across print, web, and social. By making the county's data on homelessness public, readable, and actionable— including an interactive, regional map— we inspired people to take action and use their voice to influence change.
We get folks involved, extending that involvement beyond the digital sphere, and create leaders within our organization. After all, impacting change on a large and complicated issue like homelessness requires smart, dedicated allies. Via our online "Get Involved" kit, any individual can step up and use their voice and passion to move our goals forward. Every week, we reach thousands of people through email and our organizing team; in turn, they help pass community measures, influence legislation, and continue our education efforts.
Since launching this past March, Everyone In has engaged over 750,000 people across social media, email, and our website; additionally, we've inspired thousands of Angelenos to attend in-person events and rallies, directly impacting key policy decisions and aligning our community around shared goals.
While those numbers are impressive, we want to meet and exceed our goals by activating Angelenos to build more housing units and fund more supportive services.
We've created digital tools to help them get it done, while inspiring people to move from passive to active involvement. Our campaign has motivated more folks to come together and flex their collective strength - whether by attending meetings and rallies or convincing friends and family to accept desperately-needed supportive housing in their neighborhoods.
These combined activities are directly and positively impacting the trajectory of our goals, which include:
