Tuesday, City Council invites local Long Beach photographer Duke Givens to show his big ideas on helping homelessness.
KIDS CORNER Along the LA river is where many unhoused people live in Long Beach. They sleep there because of the freeway overpass. The overpass acts as a roof from the rain and shade from the sun.
“God inspired all of us and he put a great inspiring heart inside of us.”
~ Duke Givens
According to the city’s Point-in-Time homeless count there were 2,034 homeless in 2020. This was a 7% increase from the year before.
Sometimes it feels like there are more unhoused people when I’m out with my parents.
Since COVID 19 a lot of people have lost their job which means that the homeless count may be higher.
You would think that there is no one to help the unhoused. Well, there are some people in Long Beach who are making an impact. That’s why we’re putting the spotlight on Duke Givens.
Homelessness is a huge problem in Long Beach but Duke Givens has a creative solution. He gives the unhoused boots, trash bags and pays them hourly to clean our Freeways.
When asked why he cares so much he says, “God inspired all of us and he put a great inspiring heart inside of us.”
I would be afraid to walk up to a homeless person. Duke is different. He says, ”I have a gift at making friends so I have the people’s trust.”
As a City, Duke’s confidence teaches us we can be better leaders and friends too.
Duke Givens is also a photographer. He’s photographed celebrities such as rapper, singer and actor Snoop Dog. Duke explained that he grew up with Snoop Dog and they are good friends.
Fun fact: “Snoop can type over 70 words per minute,” said Duke.
Roberto Uranga is the 7th District councilman and he put on his boots to help Duke and the unhoused too last week. It’s important for City officials to show compassion. Councilman Uranga did that when he helped with the clean up.
It’s great to see that Duke is inspiring City officials to work harder on homelessness.
Duke was grateful for the Councilman’s help because it brings attention to how we can impact homelessness in Long Beach. He wrote on facebook, “today was truly inspiring getting insight from one of our city officials.”
Duke Givens is a great role model for many people including myself.
This coming Tuesday, March 9 2021, a few City Council members are inviting Duke to City Hall to give a presentation. He’s going to talk about the good we can do to help make things better. You can check out his presentation here.
Long Beach has big challenges but each person can use their talent to make an impact. Duke is an artist. He used his creativity to find a solution to cleaning Long Beach Freeways and friends in need. You can use your individual talent to help Long Beach too.
Wrapping up the kids corner, if you would like your story about Long Beach to be featured on Kid’s Corner email the editor, me, at ShemaiahJoy967@gmail.com
Editor's Note: Shemaiah Joy is a 5th Grade student at Minnie Gant Elementary School and the editor of the Kid’s Corner column here at TheMemo.
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