Councilmember Curren Price presented a recognition to Veronica Lewis for 21 years of service at Homeless Outreach Program, Integrated Care Services (HOPICS), including 14 years as director. The chamber featured statements from community leaders and a certificate presented to Lewis; no formal council vote or ordinance accompanied the recognition.

Councilmember Curren Price described Lewis as “a pillar in the South LA community” and credited her for strengthening partnerships that furthered HOPICS’s mission. Several speakers—Joyce Kelly (identified as Lewis’s mother), Reba Stevens (community advocate), and other councilmembers—joined the tribute and recounted Lewis’s community work.

Veronica Lewis spoke to the council and framed her work as an effort to “change the status quo” and to address systemic harm. Lewis said HOPICS used harm-reduction street work to prevent overdose deaths: “Hundreds of lives have literally been saved from overdose reversals through our harm reduction street work,” she told the council. Lewis also said she was stepping away from her role at HOPICS but would continue to advocate on homelessness and related systems: “I’m still here fighting. I’m not going away. I’ll just be here in a different capacity.”

Speakers at the recognition stressed Lewis’s leadership on housing, mental health, substance use recovery and reentry services. Several councilmembers thanked Lewis and highlighted ongoing needs for funding, service coordination and humane treatment of people experiencing homelessness.

No formal motions tied to the recognition are in the meeting record; the event was ceremonial. The transcript shows offers of continued partnership from councilmembers and an invitation to Lewis to remain engaged in advocacy after leaving HOPICS.