Katina Holliday, founder and CEO of Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH), has been awarded the Los Angeles County African American Employee Association’s Community Impact award for her work with LA’s homeless population and formerly incarcerated mothers recently released from prison.
Katina Holliday, founder and CEO of Holliday’s Helping Hands (HHH), has been awarded the Los Angeles County African American Employee Association’s (LACAAEA) Community Impact award, which was recently presented at a black-tie gala held at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Miss Holliday, a former family nurse practitioner, was among the honorees at the “Rising In Power & Prevailing in Excellence” event. She was recognized for helping LA’s homeless population as well as formerly incarcerated mothers recently released from prison.
“It's an honor to have received this award along with several other African American community leaders whom I admire. Though we are involved in different fields, we all share one common goal—improving the lives of our fellow Angelenos,” says Miss Holliday, who founded her eponymous nonprofit in 2018. “Each of us works so hard to improve the lives and well-being of all our residents no matter their circumstances.”
Miss Holliday’s 200-employee-strong HHH is fast becoming recognized for transforming the lives of disenfranchised populations and readying them to become productive and independent citizens. One key to its success is helping clients develop “roadmaps” for their futures — detailed, comprehensive plans that help them hone their lifestyle skills, plan monthly budgets, job train, prepare for job interviews and become good neighbors and citizens.
In addition, the organization also offers the Shine Ambassador Program to help these vulnerable individuals train and prepare for jobs in the food service, landscape maintenance, screen printing and customer service fields. The three-month program is designed so that enrollees are able to build their resumes in preparation for future employment.
Homelessness is a particularly challenging problem in LA since the pandemic. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which coordinates the annual count for most of the county, found that the region’s homeless population grew by 4.1% from 66,436 in 2020 to 69,144 in 2022. The percentage of those individuals living indoors in shelters also increased from 28% to 30%.
Presenting the award to Miss Holliday was the LACAAEA, which was founded to support the professional development needs of the Black community in LA County and discourage bias through thoughtful elevation of African American culture. For more information, visit www.LACAAEA.org .
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