Friday, Jun 17 2011 8:21AM
MEND held the conference to help area nonprofit organizations pool resources and ideas regarding how to help disadvantaged residents.
Roughly 200 representatives from 40 nonprofit organizations in Southern California convened in Los Angeles for the Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) conference titled "Two Checks or Two Grants Away from Poverty."
The purpose of the gathering was to bring together nonprofit organizations to prioritize their goals and pitch ideas to accrue resources to curb poverty.
"There's a lot of hard-working people that have lost their jobs, and in many cases, they've lost their homes," Marianne Haver Hill, president and CEO of MEND, told the Los Angeles Daily News. "They desperately want to work, but there are no jobs out there. We need to stand with them, reach out to them, help them, in this time of need."
Florence Green, co-chair of the MEND conference, added nonprofit organizations should be a first resort for homeless and disadvantaged residents to turn to rather than local municipalities and emergency healthcare services.
However, resources for many nonprofit organizations in the region are thin this year. Additional funds are needed to help them obtain new resources to aid residents living in poverty.
MEND is the largest nonprofit organization aiming to end poverty in the San Fernando Valley. It serves 32,000 disadvantaged individuals per month.