Hey Local Guides!
So, I’ve used the “Lists” feature in Google Maps for a few months now and absolutely love it. I’ve created lots of fun lists like Top 31 Things to Do in Santa Monica, My Favorite Beauty Spots in Santa Monica and "Top Yoga Studios in Santa Monica, but I recently created a Google Maps List to do something a little different. And much more impactful. My latest Google Maps list is called LAHSA Winter Shelter Program to help connect people experiencing homelessness with a place to sleep in the winter here in Los Angeles.
If there are vulnerable people in your community who need a meal or place to sleep, you can use your Local Guide expertise to create a Google Maps list like this in YOUR local community. Remember that the core mission of Local Guides is to help create:
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A more helpful map
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A more local map
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A map for everyone (especially our homeless neighbors out there!)
It’s estimated that 1,000 people are experiencing homelessness here in my backyard of Santa Monica. Even though we have a pretty temperate climate here in Southern California, our winter nights can become dangerously cold for someone living on the streets so they turn to emergency winter shelters, which are run by groups like the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. I recently learned about all this from a guy who uses these resources. His name is Joe. I like to think of Joe as the unofficial Mayor of the Santa Monica Public Library Parking Lot. He knows everybody and everybody knows him.
We met, of course, in the parking lot. I park there when I go to the gym. Joe and I started exchanging hello’s a few weeks ago and one afternoon, he said, “It sounds like you’re really interested in helping people like us. You should check out the monthly meeting at Calvary Baptist Church where homeless people like me and residents like you get together and talk about how to make things better.” That’s when I started brainstorming of really practical ways I could help.
Joe’s a man of his word. We exchanged email addresses and he promised to send me the meeting flyer. A lot of people tell me they’ll email me stuff, but never do. Joe followed-up right away with the flyer, in addition to a document with all of the winter shelter locations in Los Angeles. I emailed him back with a few questions about this big document, which you’ll see below.
Here’s where Google Maps came in. The 2019-2020 LAHSA Winter Shelter Program document that Joe sent me was four-pages long and it was impossible to click on the addresses within the PDF to see where the shelters were on a map. A lot of people living on the streets in Santa Monica have mobile phones and can use free WiFi around the city, but it can be tough to scroll through such a huge document on such a small screen. It was also impossible to view the locations on a map. Now, LAHSA does have an interactive “Find a Shelter” map, but not a lot of people know about it. Joe didn’t know about it and he’s the primary distributor of homeless resources by the Santa Monica library. Anyways, Joe printed the big document for me at the library and gave me a copy.
It was a huge document and sort of overwhelming, so I copied all of the content from the hard copy into a curated list on Google Maps called LAHSA Winter Shelter Program. It has all of the winter shelters listed, along with the number of beds at each location, how to get there and whether it’s for men or women. It took me about an hour, but you can’t imagine how GRATEFUL Joe was for this list. He shared it with all the case managers and liaisons who he’s connected with and they were eager to learn more about how Google Maps could be deployed to help share information like this.
Joe was thrilled with the Google Maps and tells me he’s been telling everybody, including the case managers and homeless liaisons around town. I even get emails now from city employees asking me about my Google Maps lists. Joe wants me to train people how to create Lists on Google Maps at the next Community Dialogues on Homelessness meeting and has asked me to get up and speak at the next meeting.
What I like about using Google Maps vs. LAHSA’s version is that people experiencing homelessness can actually “Save” or “Favorite” a location, so they can remember it if they need to come back. They can also write a review or upload a photo to raise awareness of that place. Joe loves to take photos, so he was very excited about this feature. My husband and I purchased the domain name of www.LAShelters.org for about $12 that links directly to the Google Maps list. That way, Joe can easily tell people on the streets to look up “LAShelters.org” or “LAShelters.com” and they can easily find the information they need.
We all have the power to create an environment of lovingkindness in our neighborhoods and Google Maps is actually a vehicle to help make that happen! Joe said that other people are encouraged when they see Joe and me talking in the parking lot because it shows them that people care.
Anyways, if you live in a community where people are hungry or need shelter…consider making a Google Maps list that coordinates with your local resources! If you decide to create one too, please include the link below in the comments!
