About
The Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition (WSHC) is an alliance of over 30 organizations, public agencies and faith communities committed to ending hunger and homelessness through service coordination, public education and advocacy.
WSHC is a non-profit volunteer organization that operates under the administrative umbrella of Community Partners. We were founded in 1982 to serve the Westside of Los Angeles County, and are the oldest coalition in the county working on behalf of the homeless. Throughout our history, the WSHC has proven to be an effective tool in providing high-quality programs and services for those in need in our community.
Although individual agencies have the ability to provide separate services for people in need, the efforts of the WSHC help coordinate all services on the Westside in order to provide a true continuum of service care for the community. Members work together to provide services that include initial intake and service referrals; showers, food and clothing; on-going case management; emergency, transitional and permanent housing; medical care; mental health treatment; HIV medical and social services; job training and placement; and substance abuse treatment. Member agencies have been instrumental in Santa Monica’s chronic homeless project, as well as continuing to advocate for low income and homeless people at the local, state and national levels.
Check out our calendar to find out about meetings and events hosted by the Coalition, including the Celebrating Success Breakfast and Super Bowl-A-Thon events.
WSHC Operating Principles
The Coalition asserts the importance of making clear statements that define the basic beliefs, values and parameters by which its leadership body will operate. An organization’s operating principles describe what a community should be able to expect from one another.
1) Human Dignity: We affirm the dignity and worth of all members of our community.
2) Equal Access: We believe all people have a right to equal access to resources that maintain a decent standard of living (e.g., housing, food, medical care, mental health treatment, etc.)
3) Integrity: We are committed to operating ethically, honestly, and transparently.
4) Empowerment: We believe in the empowerment of those we serve.
5) Compassion: We treat each other and those we serve with compassion.
6) Shared Responsibility: We recognize that homelessness and hunger are systemic issues andthat it takes a community to combat their effects.
7) Advocacy: We are committed to helping people break the cycle of poverty by changing the systems that maintain their poverty.
8) Common Ground: We value diversity of perspective while uniting around a common purpose.