Volunteers are needed to conduct a headcount of the homeless in the greater Morgantown area while also surveying the service agencies that tend to that population.

West Virginia Universitys Division of Public Administration and Morgantowns Community Development Office are partnering on the project, which also features assistance from outreach agencies Caritas House and the Mon County Homeless Initiative.

The headcount and survey begins Jan. 22 and will run through Feb. 9.

Those interested in volunteering may attend a training session Jan. 20 from 9 a.m.-noon at Morgantown Municipal Airport. The session will be in the Training Room of the ARFF Building.

The training includes insights on how to approach the homeless and what to wear during the survey. Volunteers will contact service agencies in person or by telephone to ask their about current workloads and the numbers of homeless they might see at any given time.

Survey findings will be plugged into the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentsContinuum of Carereport for the region, and for Morgantowns Community Development Block Grant.

The information will be used to determine which projects would most benefit the regions homeless.

For more information on the project and volunteering, call Caritas House Inc. at 304-598-5111; or David Bott, director of Morgantowns Community Development Office at 304-284-7508.