In Sioux Falls, as early as May, the first “street outreach” team will work with the city’s homeless population to connect local organizations that follow intervention models used in Rapid City and metropolitan areas nationwide. You can see.

The street outreach strategy uses teams of trained individuals to identify and interact with vulnerable people within the community to try to get them the help they need, and delegates some of that responsibility to law enforcement. Take away from the agency.

Michaela Saber, CEO of South Dakota Urban Indian Health, said she plans to present the plan to downtown business leaders and hold a public information meeting at her downtown Sioux Falls office.

“The best way to stop all this interaction with law enforcement is to be more involved[with people in need]on the street.”

The group’s Wo’Okiye Project (“help” in Lakota) started in May with 11 staff, some of whom have experienced homelessness or addiction. They work in the community, “serving as a pipeline and supporting law enforcement agencies responding to low-level calls.”

Funded by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, the pilot program, outlined by the Sioux Falls Homeless Task Force and unanimously approved by the city, allows the City of Sioux Falls to conduct street outreach activities. It is done at the same time as requesting the group’s bids to coordinate. Board meeting in March.

The two-year contract has an annual budget of $250,000 and closes on April 27th for proposals to qualify for the partnership. The city additionally has three he options to extend for one-year terms. The contract was awarded on May 15th and the partnership is expected to start next month.

Seiber confirmed that Urban Indian Health will submit the proposal. Other organizations such as the Union Gospel Mission and Southeastern Behavioral Health were also mentioned as potential candidates during the task force process.

The effort finds among civil servants in Sioux Falls and Rapid City that the causes of homelessness and drug addiction are complex and often conflated with mental health problems, and that getting to the root of the problem is simply a matter of diet. We acknowledge that it may have a more lasting impact than providing Or temporary shelter.

“We’re looking beyond law enforcement responses to a more holistic and personal approach,” said Sioux Falls’ efforts to address homelessness as a public health concern. Vanessa Sweeney, Clinic Services Manager, Falls Community Health, said.

“We’re not just looking at immediate challenges like loitering and panhandling, but what’s the situation that got us to that point.”

The street outreach strategy also addresses the reality that Native Americans make up a disproportionate number of South Dakota’s homeless population, and in some cases, it can be meaningful, especially when police first arrive on the scene. creating cultural and linguistic barriers that hinder certain interventions.

“Law enforcement agencies can be well-equipped and well-trained, but they often start out in a hostile position to the individuals we are dealing with. We want to hear that message,” Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Sam told Newswatch in December 2022.

“People who come from different backgrounds and perspectives and who have the time to build relationships can be the ones who guide them towards positive change.

South Dakota Housing for Homeless Consortium Latest Homeless Count, conducted January 25, 2022, puts the number of homeless individuals in the state at 1,389, an increase of nearly 50% from five years ago. (955 in 2017).

Rapid Cities had 458 (up 53% from 2017) and Sioux Falls had 407 (up 26%). These figures are generally considered to be underestimated because it is difficult to find and identify homeless people, especially in the dead of winter.

Native Americans, who make up 8.8% of the statewide population, will account for nearly 70% of the state’s homeless population by 2022, including 76% in Rapid City. In Sioux Falls, where 36% of the homeless population is indigenous, according to the count, they are using Rapid City and other communities as a model for “collaborative projects” to find the sources of people’s struggles and focus them on available services. We are working on a response. Ready.

Saiber, who grew up in Siseton and is a member of Siseton Warpeton Oyate, said: “It puts us in a unique position to take on this role.”

With 37 full-time and part-time staff, South Dakota Urban Indian Health shadowed Rapid City’s street outreach organization, Journey On, in the afternoon to visit a site in Pima County, Arizona, to learn more about the crisis. I learned. efforts to cope.

City requests for proposals require a minimum of 30 hours per week. It calls for “proactive intervention coverage in designated areas identified by the city,” during which street outreach staff can “engage with homeless people in a productive and compassionate way.” It is expected. Outreach team members direct people to behavioral health, addiction treatment, or training/development programs as appropriate.

All interactions are recorded in the Helpline Network of Care database. This is an infrastructure system that allows social service agencies to share information with each other.

City officials acknowledged that street assistance programs are likely to evolve over time.

“This is progress, not perfection,” Sweeney said. “All the nuances of where we go are partly determined by the people we are trying to help. What are their needs? In some respects we have to follow their lead in accommodating us enough to help.Sketch that now. It’s hard to do

— This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization online at sdnewswatch.org.