"HOPE worldwide So Cal" Mobile App
HWW So Cal connects qualified volunteers with youth and teens in need of a connection to a caring adult. Sari Grant,Recruitment Administrator LA County Department of Children and Family Services
Los Angeles, Ca (PRWEB) November 04, 2014
HOPE worldwide So Cal is a satellite chapter of HOPE worldwide, a nonprofit organization that annually serves more than 1.5 million people within 70 countries globally.
HOPEww So Cal Chapter has approximately 6,000 volunteers who reach out and lend a hand to thousands of low to moderate income families and individuals throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino & parts of Ventura County. Our volunteers also provide financial support to a variety of HOPE worldwide outreach programs globally. Recently, the organization launched a multimedia application to provide their volunteers with a state of the arts tool to help keep them in the loop.
January 2014, over 2,460 HOPEww So Cal Chapter volunteers organized and participated in 33 Service projects in and around LA County in recognition of Martin Luther King Day. They had a total of 12,069 volunteer hours and together they reached out and served 7,615 people.
The volunteers met in 33 locations to remember the life and teachings of Dr. King through community service. They held a barbecue for foster children, oversaw the beautification of a Veteran’s hospital and a local high school, organized a children’s carnival, a community clean-up at a state park, fed homeless people, participated in a blood drive, donated books, canvassed neighborhoods with fire prevention information, visited a nursing home, assembled emergency food boxes, assisted at a therapeutic horseback riding facility, and a variety of other very impacting outreach projects.
"Although our volunteers conduct a variety of incredible outreach programs throughout Southern California and worldwide, with approximately 6,000 volunteers, spread out over 27,489 square miles, we wanted to provide each of them with a colorized multimedia presentation that featured photos, videos and a write up of each outreach program that was going on in So Cal as well as globally through HOPE worldwide," says Tony Newsom, Chapter Director of HOPEww So Cal.
“Many of our volunteers also have family and friends who have previously participated in our outreach endeavors and have expressed an interest in staying connected if we provided them with a medium that could inform them every time we were conducting a service project in their local communities," Newsom concluded.
According to CNN.com, “Americans use smartphone and tablet apps more than PCs to access the Internet.”
Recent surveys show that approximately 85% of adults and youth use smart phone apps as their primary source of information. Source: Compuware.com
For this reason, HOPEww So Cal has launched a new mobile app “HOPEww So Cal” to keep their volunteers & friends in the loop, in real time. The App is available for free on iTunes and Android and makes it easy for volunteers to know what’s going on at all times. [HOPEworldwideSoCalApp.org __title__ HOPE worldwide So Cal App])
The HOPE worldwide So Cal Mobile App Features:
- 27+ So Cal Outreach Projects & Photos
- HOPE worldwide Global Outreach Projects & Videos
- How to Get Involved Regionally
- More…….
The App is also updated regularly.
About HOPE Worldwide Southern California:
On May 15, 2012, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors presented a scroll to Tony Newsom, HOPEww So Cal Chapter Director, for the organization’s commitment to volunteer service over the past 18 years with the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services “DCFS.”
“In January 2013 HOPE Worldwide, So Cal began the ‘Increasing the Odds’ initiative to help provide positive exposure of LA County children featured on Wednesday’s Child by showing the Wednesday’s Child news segments to the faith-based community in Southern California. The ‘Increasing the Odds’ initiative has been successful because it has increased the number of people that view the Wednesday’s Child segments. This has helped us maximize our outreach efforts in letting people know about the urgent need for more adoptive families for the nearly 500 waiting children throughout LA County.”… Sari Grant, Recruitment Administrator, Los Angeles County, Department of Children and Family Services, Adoption and Permanency Resources (Los Angeles County DCSF)
Volunteers with The HOPE Driving Program provide rides to foster children so they may attend adoption related events as well as support and encouragement to the little ones as they seek a new family and the hope of a better life. The volunteers transport children to adoption fairs, helping the children to relax, play and be themselves.
The majority of all HWW So Cal volunteers are members of the Los Angeles International Churches of Christ (LAICC). The HOPEww So Cal chapter is forever grateful for the support that it receives from the LAICC Ministry staff, Elder couples and members.
In 2013, HOPEww So Cal in coordination with the Los Angeles County Department of Children Services and many of the Los Angeles Church of Christ Ministries began airing footage of KTTV FOX11 Wednesday’s Child Program featuring foster care children who are in need of permanent, stable loving families. The Wednesday’s Child Program is sponsored by the Dave Thomas Foundation. HOPEww So Cal launched this outreach effort to the faith-based community as ‘Increasing the Odds’...of foster care youth having a successful future (“ITO”.)
From Jan – Sept 2014 many of our volunteers watched the Wednesday’s Child videos at their local Sunday Worship Services. Twenty five of the adults who have seen the Wednesday’s Child videos at LAICC church services have signed up to serve as big brothers/sisters (a caring connection, particularly helpful for older teens who may be in danger of aging out of the system without a connection to a caring, responsible adult.)
In 2014, 5 adults who saw the Wednesday's Child footage at a worship service have expressed a desire to adopt and are in the process of learning more about adoption; 50 people who saw the Wednesday's Child footage as part of this program have taken the next step of attending an information session on adoption & foster parenting featuring representatives from the Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services and/or local placement agencies; and 25 adults who saw the Wednesday's Child footage at a worship service have volunteered to serve as a caring connection for a youth or teen in permanent placement in the foster care system - these volunteers are in the process of being screened/trained and should be ready to start serving in early 2015.
“We support HWW’s continued work in reaching out to the faith-based community by showing the Wednesday’s Child segments and by connecting qualified volunteers with youth and teens in need of a connection to a caring adult”...Sari Grant, Recruitment Administrator, Los Angeles County, Department of Children and Family Services, Adoption and Permanency Resources
One unique aspect of the HOPEww So Cal mobile application is the fact that this application features the ‘Increasing the Odds’ (ITO) program. This Program is only 1 out of 27+ other outreach programs featured on the App.
The App was developed by HOPE worldwide So Cal Chapter Leader Tony Newsom. Tony also developed the Los Angeles Police Pacific Safety & Directory App and The Los Angeles Police Cadet Program App.
For more information about HOPE Worldwide So Cal, you can download the App for free on: iTunes or Android. You can also enter “HOPE worldwide So Cal” in your app store menu.
You can also contact Tony Newsom for more details at: TonyNewsom007(at)gmail(dot)com
