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 Neighbors' Consejo challenges decision makers to address root causes of homelessness and to provide dignified emergency shelter for survival needs.
"Every night we built relationships with the hardest to reach in order to create the trust and shared humanity that breaks isolation"
-Arnoldo, Street Outreach Counselor
The Government of the District of Columbia estimates that on any given day 9,776 adults and children are homeless and in need of shelter, transitional housing or long-term housing. Roughly 43 percent are parents and children living together in families; approximately 57 percent are single adults. During the last year on record (2001), an estimated 16,350 people in DC were homeless at some point.
Our Bilingual Street Outreach program represents the starting point in the Neighbors' Consejo 'continuum of care' for individuals living on the streets. A team of two full-time outreach workers spends their days canvassing diverse neighborhoods within Ward One and visiting area homeless shelters, health care facilities, churches, street corners, alleyways, and local feeding programs to establish contact with individuals in need of assistance.
Our outreach team makes contact with hundreds of men and women living on the streets each year. Two full-time outreach workers spend their days canvassing diverse neighborhoods within Washington D.C.'s Ward One and visiting area homeless shelters, health care facilities, churches, street corners, alleyways and local feeding programs to establish contact with individuals in need of assistance.
Neighbors' Consejo's outreach workers and case managers work with men and women living on the streets to initially locate a permanent bed in a shelter and then the case management process begins. Bilingual case managers provide comprehensive crisis stabilization and supportive services for each of the individuals recruited through the street outreach program, directly addressing obstacles to obtaining and maintaining self-sufficiency. After an assessment of each client's personal and family situation, an Individual Service Plan is developed. Physical and mental healthcare, housing and shelter, immigration and legal issues, domestic violence, substance abuse, and basic needs, such as food and clothing, public benefit eligibility and emergency financial aid, are addressed.
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Hypothermia Outreach and Prevention
Funded by the D.C. Department of Human Services and the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, Neighbors' Consejo worked in partnership with Meridian Hill Baptist Church, Sacred Heart Church, and La Casa Shelter to prevent hypothermia among the D.C. homeless population.
Throughout the winter of 2002-3, Neighbors' Consejo's bilingual outreach teams took to the streets and alleys of Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, and Adams Morgan. The teams provided hundreds of blankets and made 532 contacts with men and women living on the streets. One of every three people reached accepted transportation in Neighbors' Consejo's van to nearby hypothermia shelter facilities.
In addition 128 blankets were given to individuals who refused to take shelter and emergency services were called for 4 men who were found in hypothermic states.
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HIV/AIDS Outreach and Prevention Program
In 2002, Neighbors' Consejo received funds from the D.C. Department of Health-HIV/AIDS Administration to initiate a comprehensive HIV-prevention and education service program. Within the first six months of 2003, Neighbors' Consejo developed a sensitive and culturally-appropriate pilot program that aimed to increase the access of Latino men and women to integrated case management, bilingual outreach, referral services and counseling that focused on HIV and AIDS prevention.
Community Outcomes
In 2002 alone, the HIV/AIDS Outreach and Prevention project served more than 661 heterosexual Latino/Hispanic men and women who required bilingual supportive services and preventive counseling due to unsafe sexual practices and perceptions that increased the risk for HIV/AIDS.
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