City of Angels Event
The crisis of homelessness in the City of Los Angeles has ballooned to 36,300 people in 2019 and 31% of this population is female. Since women are particularly vulnerable to systemic homelessness and are more likely to experience trauma when living unsheltered, the Downtown Women’s Center requires sustained and increased public awareness, advocacy, and funding to end homelessness.
My teammates and I came up with the solution to educate Angelenos about the issues related to female homelessness in LA and to raise awareness and funds for the DWC. But when faced with sheer numbers and statistics of women experiencing homelessness, it can sometimes become harder to understand the problem and discuss solutions. The DWC was actually founded because of a friendship that developed between its founder a woman experiencing homelessness. When the problem is personal, you cannot ignore it. That’s why we needed to create a space that shows the humanity behind the statistics. A space that reveals that these women could be your friend, family member, your neighbor, or even you.
We’ve created a pop-up experience that takes advantage of both the physical and digital spaces to jumpstart civic engagement in LA and shine a light on some of the most forgotten members of our city. Through this pop-up, LA residents will learn ways how they can assist the DWC and be part of the supporting community who also envision a future Los Angeles without homelessness.
This multi-sensorial installation invites visitors to see the people of Los Angeles who go unseen, hear voices that go unheard, and shine a light on the true meaning of the holidays. A journey to the “CITY OF ANGELS” is an immersive, artistic experience, that features layers of visual and digital storytelling to share with friends, family, and loved ones. All proceeds go towards The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC), the first center of its kind in Los Angeles with a mission to end female homelessness. Come enjoy:
Made by DWC Coffee Cart offering organic coffee, tea, and pastries / Made by DWC pop-up shop featuring handmade artisanal candles, soaps, and bath salts, including the limited edition “Be an Angel” series.
We invite you to BE AN ANGEL, and visit us at the “CITY OF ANGELS.”
Target Audience
DWC is located in Downtown Los Angeles next to Skid Row, an area of LA known for poverty, crime, and its large homeless population. We want to spread awareness of the DWC to other areas where homelessness is less visible. By placing the pop-up around higher income, high traffic places across Los Angeles, we can raise awareness for the female homeless crisis and expand the customer base of the DWC. For the purposes of this exhibit, we are using The Grove shopping center as our location, which receives 49,000 visitors daily.
This City of Angels event also has an app which enables attendees to have an interactive experience at the exhibition.