Advocates change signs along Echo Park Lake to draw attention to homelessness

ECHO PARK (KABC) -- A group of artists temporarily changes the signs surrounding Echo Park Lake to spread awareness about the homeless crisis.

The group is called Attention Echo Park, organized by Emma Thorne-Christy.

"I was walking on the lake one morning because I live nearby and I was looking at the signs and I was like I feel like this is a missed opportunity for something," said Thorne-Christy.

Just as the sun came up Thursday morning, seven members of Attention Echo Park installed the signs.

They look almost identical to the old signs.

"We had different people collecting research and writing the text for all of this because it's bilingual which is very important to our team because the existing signs here aren't bilingual which seems like a missed opportunity to engage our Spanish speaking community," said Thorne-Christy.

"We had graphic designers that did it, got it printed, installed it and we also have a team doing an online presence here for this as well," she said.

On the signs, you can find stories from formerly homeless people, resources for the homeless and as well as resources for people who are looking to give back and volunteer.

The creative group did not get permission from the city but decided to install the signs anyway.

By installing them on Thursday, they were able to take advantage of the extra foot traffic from the Echo Park Rising Music Festival.

"They're completely installed temporarily where they'll have no damage to the city property which was really important to the team. We're doing something to elevate the park not destroy it," she said.