After several hours of public comment Tuesday, amid a long Board of County Commissioners meeting, a group founded last year, the Lived Experience Advisory Board, made a presentation about how it’s trying to help improve local homeless services.
“People closest to the problem are closest to the solution,” Echo Gill, one of the two members present, said. She says she used to mother everyone when she stayed at shelters, so she felt it was a natural progression for her to take on this type of helpful role now.
LEAB which was founded by the Nevada Homeless Alliance with funding from HUD has started doing surveys including in the domestic violence support realm, interviewing leaders of different local agencies, frontline staff and clients, before making recommendations for improvements.
”Sometimes I felt like we were unheard. You feel like maybe you’re just a little bit below them, and maybe your needs aren’t being met,” said Lawrence Dodson, the other team member present, concerning challenges faced by the unhoused when trying to get back on track.
Dodson said he bounced around shelters and in and out of homelessness for a decade.
The organization is currently working on an updated resources flyer and helping train UNR students looking to work in the homelessness services sector.
LEAB’s overall goal is to give recommendations on how to improve homeless services in northern Nevada, and how people experiencing homelessness are treated.
“I hope you continue to work with the county,” Commissioner Clara Andriola said at the conclusion of their presentation. “Those that have lived experiences I think really make a huge impact.”
For many years, local advocates have asked for people who are unhoused or have survived homelessness to have more of a role in shaping ways to help, including on the Community Homelessness Advisory Board.