LAS VEGAS, Sept. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Las Vegas
Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS), the world's leading developer and operator
of integrated resorts, today announced an expansion to its
corporate citizenship commitment to address homelessness in the
Las Vegas area. Through grants
totaling $320,000 to local non-profit
organizations Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and
HELP of Southern Nevada, LVS will help support the availability and
effectiveness of stable housing in the Las Vegas area for homeless youth and
adults.
Las Vegas is disproportionately
impacted by homelessness. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) reports that Las
Vegas trails only New York,
Los Angeles, Seattle and San
Diego in the size of its homeless population. Given these
sobering statistics, LVS is increasing its commitment in this
second year of a multi-faceted, long-term effort to address the
issue of homelessness in Las
Vegas. In 2015, LVS provided two grants totaling more than
$100,000 to NPHY and STREET
Teens to support the organizations' drop-in centers for youth
and to expand educational resources. This year's increased support
will allow NPHY and HELP of Southern
Nevada to provide safe and stable housing and supportive
services to homeless adults and youth.
"Homelessness is a pressing concern in our own backyard and
adversely impacts nearly 7,000 individuals and more than 2,000
youth in Clark County. As a
business leader in the area, we are dedicated to making a continued
positive impact to improve lives of those most vulnerable in our
community," said Ron Reese, senior
vice president of global communications and corporate affairs at
Las Vegas Sands.
The $170,000 donation to NPHY will
fund two key initiatives that will expand its emergency shelter,
allowing it to double the number of clients that can be housed per
year, and expand accessibility of its Drop-In Center from five to
seven days a week and expand their hours. At the center, homeless
youth can fulfill immediate needs such as food, clothing and
hygiene supplies, and be connected to resources to help them become
independent, including crisis counseling, life skills classes, and
educational and employment assistance.
"When youth become homeless, it often happens very quickly and
unexpectedly. Being young and homeless is incredibly frightening
and dangerous. The funding from LVS will help NPHY provide safe and
stable housing and resources to more youth so they can focus on
building healthy, productive lives," said Arash Ghafoori, executive director at
NPHY.
LVS also has donated a $150,000
grant for HELP of Southern Nevada,
to support the Housing First Harm Reduction Model in Las Vegas. In recent years, many homeless
programs and advocates have shifted to such "housing first"
approaches that couple housing with supportive services and
intensive case management instead of treatment-based models that
require beneficiaries to prove "housing readiness" through
enrolling or completing treatment programs. HELP of Southern Nevada was the first organization in
Las Vegas to use the housing first
principle.
The LVS funding will allow the organization to hire three new
case managers and increase supportive services, particularly during
nights and weekends. Additionally, with this funding, HELP of
Southern Nevada will also be able
to pursue other public grants that require recipients to secure
matching private funds.
"Numerous studies find that the Housing First model ends
homelessness for chronically homeless individuals faster, more
often and more permanently than treatment-based approaches. This
approach also lowers taxpayer costs by reducing reliance on
expensive services such as jails, psychiatric hospitals and the
ER," said Terrie D'Antonio, CEO and president for HELP of
Southern Nevada. "Funding from LVS
will increase the number of our case managers and supportive
services, which are the linchpin to ensuring that the housing first
model works."
LVS' focus on homelessness is part of the company's corporate
citizenship program, Sands Cares. Announced in 2014, Sands Cares
manifests the company's core corporate social responsibility focus:
supporting people in the company and the hospitality industry,
making local communities where LVS operates a better place to live
and reducing environmental impact on the planet. Sands Cares
provides a cohesive approach to corporate and property-level giving
and support in local communities where LVS operates to address the
most pressing issues and help make them better places to live. For
more information about Sands Cares and key initiatives, please
visit www.sandscares.sands.com.
About Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is the world's leading developer and
operator of Integrated Resorts. Our collection of Integrated
Resorts in Asia and the United States feature state-of-the-art
convention and exhibition facilities, premium accommodations,
world-class gaming and entertainment, destination retail and dining
including celebrity chef restaurants and many other amenities.
Our properties include The Venetian and The
Palazzo resorts and Sands Expo in Las Vegas, Sands Bethlehem in
Eastern Pennsylvania, and the
iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Through majority ownership in Sands
China Ltd., LVS owns a portfolio of properties on the Cotai Strip
in Macao, including The Venetian
Macao, The Plaza and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Sands
Cotai Central and The Parisian Macao, as well as the
Sands Macao on the Macao
Peninsula.
LVS is dedicated to being a good corporate citizen, anchored by
the core tenets of delivering a great working environment for more
than 50,000 employees worldwide, driving impact through its Sands
Cares corporate citizenship program and leading innovation with the
company's award-winning Sands ECO360° global sustainability
program. To learn more, please visit www.sands.com.
About the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
(NPHY)
NPHY began in 2000 when a group of concerned
community members formed a coalition to address the growing problem
of unaccompanied homeless youth in the Las Vegas Valley.
Confronting legal barriers preventing homeless youth from accessing
life-saving services, the group successfully fought to get the
landmark "Right to Shelter" law passed by the Nevada Legislature in
2001. Today, this law still makes it possible for abused and
neglected unaccompanied homeless minors to receive critical
services they might otherwise not be able to access. Since then,
NPHY has grown from a small citizen coalition to the most
comprehensive service provider for homeless youth in Nevada, bringing resources, safety and
well-being to thousands of homeless youth each year. For more
information, please call NPHY at 702-383-1332 or visit
www.nphy.org.
About HELP of Southern
Nevada
HELP of Southern
Nevada operates nine departments, consists of 112 employees
and serves more than 100,000 unduplicated clients each year. The
services HELP provides assist low-income families, homeless teens
and adults among other individuals, to become more self-sufficient
through direct services, trainings and referrals. Programs
available include Shannon West Homeless Youth Center, Emergency
Resources Services, Framing Hope Warehouse, Weatherization,
Community Alternative Sentencing, Work Opportunities Readiness
Center, Holiday Assistance, Homeless Services, Behavioral Health
Services and Mobile Crisis Intervention. For more information, call
HELP of Southern Nevada at
702-369-4357 or visit www.helpsonv.org.
Contacts:
Kristin McLarty
kristin.mclarty@sands.com
702-414-3218
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SOURCE Las Vegas Sands Corp.