City Outreach Diary: September 2023

Everyone’s experiences are incredibly diverse and unique. Our main goal is to build trust with people through active listening and responding to what they need. 

Maintaining close relationships  with the folks living outside in Santa Cruz and following up on the things we talked about during previous visits is a big part of our work. We go out with water and snacks to ease anxiety and help with people’s basic needs by handing out laundry vouchers, basic first aid supplies, Narcan and other outreach tools.  

Some people don’t have a phones so we let them use our phones to reconnect with family, manage appointments and whatever else they may need. We can refer people to healthcare, mental health support, general government assistance and other financial support. We ask everyone in need if they would like assistance with drug treatment and offer them assistance with referrals drug and alcohol rehab and detox. 

We engage Emergency Medical Services (EMS) quite often when we find someone in danger, in very poor health, or unable to care for themselves. We work closely with our community partners throughout the refer people to appropriate services that they may qualify for. We work very closely with our partners —and by no means is this a complete list of tools in our toolbox— at Housing Matters, county mental health, Downtown Outreach Workers, Downtown Streets Team, Homeless Person’s Health Project, Encompass, Abode, Downtown Streets Team, Janus, and the Homeless Garden Project.   

People living outside will most likely have touched a handful of these organizations, so we assess and try to connect people with the most appropriate services and help them navigate the system. 

One of the most impactful things that we do is schedule folks for intake into the City Overlook up at the Armory and 1220 TCC. At City shelters, people have access to case management, in a safe, stabilizing and secure place to live-- which changes everything and provides the foundation for people to move towards more stable housing. 

I’d like to share a recent success story about one of our clients Loren (they/them). Please note that names have been changed for privacy reasons.  

The City Outreach team has known Loren for years and always had a good relationship with them. Loren went missing during the 2023 winter storms and we were growing increasingly concerned for their safety. We asked about their whereabouts at every encampment that we visited and with every caseworker that we came across. People had seen Loren, but we were always just one step behind. Many reported that they weren’t doing well. 

Loren was missing for almost 3 weeks. When we found them on the levee they hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink for 3 days and were looking dehydrated and in very poor health. We immediately devised a plan to get them clothes, food, water, and medical and mental health support. They were unwilling to leave the levee even though it was pouring rain at the time. We spent two hours talking with Loren about their recent experiences and needs, and were able to enroll them into shelter, provide them warm, dry clothes and blankets- thanks to donations from the community,  

Fast forward. Eventually we were able to assist Loren with obtaining case management, and after 6 months of being in a shelter and working closely with a team of professionals this person has now been in stable housing for 7 months. 

Loren’s story illustrates how complex it can be to move from living on streets into housing . This is just one case out of hundreds that we’ve worked on over the tenure of our outreach and shelter work with the City. This is the challenge and also the triumphs of this work.