BRATTLEBORO-Groundworks Collaborative, which operates a 34-bed overnight shelter and food pantry in Brattleboro, has launched an outreach program to identify and serve people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the community.
The four-member outreach team provides "street-based programming" to people who are not already connected to services. In addition to distributing basic supplies like water, snacks, socks, and wound care supplies, the staff connects people to housing services and to case managers who help clients access food stamps, health insurance, and other benefits.
Staff also help clients secure identification - "something that comes up all the time because it's the precursor to anything, especially employment," said Schrade.
According to Karli Schrade, who directs the outreach program and is also the director of shelters at Groundworks, the outreach team has made contact with 158 unsheltered people since the program began in February.
The outreach team includes a part-time health care professional who provides targeted health and mental health interventions. Though this staffer is able to triage complex health situations, the program ultimately aims for longer-term benefits by connecting people to primary care providers as well as substance and mental health-related services.
Schrade says the outreach program - like all of Groundworks' programs - is a "low barrier" program that doesn't require clients to be connected to other services, such as substance abuse treatment or mental health counseling, in order to receive its services.
"We fundamentally believe that no matter where people are on the substance-use spectrum, they should have somewhere to be," she said. "We remain accessible for people and don't have any requirements around sobriety or anything like that. Someone doesn't have to be motivated for treatment to receive services from us."
Groundworks conceived of the outreach program in 2023 in anticipation of the wind-down of the state's emergency housing program, which had been providing motel shelter to 1,250 households statewide [see related article].
New rules now limit motel housing to only those people with certain vulnerabilities such as age or disability. They also impose an 80-day limit during non-adverse weather and cap the number of hotel and motel rooms available statewide during non-adverse weather at 1,100 per night.
"We continue to plan for the chance that there is a large number of people that will be discharged from the motel program at some point," Schrade said.
Locally, fewer than half of all households experiencing homelessness are sheltering in motels. Groundworks tracks the number of households experiencing homelessness in the community through the state's Local Coordinated Entry Partnership model, which helps people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness to get connected to housing aid as quickly as possible.
From April through June, the Coordinated Entry program served 577 individuals in 400 households. A number of people met the definition of being chronically homeless.
Schrade says that many of the team's referrals come from people exiting the state's motel program, or from Groundworks' drop-in center on South Main Street. Schrade said her team is exploring ways to expand the program beyond Brattleboro, and in the meantime will attempt to make a connection if they hear of the need.
The outreach team collaborates with the town of Brattleboro and local service providers, including Pathways Vermont and Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS), to identify and assist people experiencing homelessness.
"It's been really helpful to have allies and community partners," Schrade said, praising the staff at Brooks Memorial Library and Caz Clark, the Brattleboro Food Co-op's manager of security and outreach [see related article].
Schrade doesn't talk about "a light at the end of the tunnel" when speaking about her work. "I wouldn't put it that way," she said.
"But through collaboration, we've been chipping away [at the problem]," she said. "And, you know, one person being housed is a small victory. It doesn't solve the larger issue but helps to keep us moving forward."
This Special Focus item by Ellen Pratt was written for The Commons.