The United Way of the Plains is looking for volunteers to help with the annual Point-In-Time Homeless Count for Wichita and Sedgwick County.

The agency will be looking for 160 volunteers to help with the Homeless Count on January 23rd, 2025, from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.   United Way Continuum of Care Planning Manager Cole Schnieders said, “Every volunteer will be trained and paired with an experienced professional. These data collection teams will be speaking directly with our homeless neighbors. In some ways, this is our largest community outreach event of the year. We want everyone homeless to know they matter, and we want to end their homelessness.”

The Homeless Count is a national effort conducted once a year by professionals and volunteers to estimate the number of Americans who don’t have safe and stable housing.  Results are reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the data is also used by local government and agencies for funding decisions, a study of local trends, efforts to reach underserved persons, and programs to increase awareness of those experiencing homelessness, both sheltered and unsheltered.

The local count is led by the United Way and the Coalition to End Homelessness in Wichita/Sedgwick County, which is made up of local government, non-profit agencies, and community stakeholders who want to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in Sedgwick County. In 2023, members of the Coalition housed or kept in housing 1,433 individuals.

Those interested in volunteering can learn more on United Way’s web site, unitedwayplains.org.   Training will take place in early January, so volunteers are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible. The deadline to sign up is Thursday, Dec.12th.

The last Point-In-Time Homeless Count in Wichita-Sedgwick County was conducted on Jan. 25, 2024. Results showed a total of 691 homeless persons in Wichita-Sedgwick County compared to 702 in 2023 and 690 in 2022.