Going in Dark

Street outreach teams are known for their shiny vests. Ours say street outreach on the back and have the HOPES logo and team member’s name on the front. The vests help keep us safe by letting other people see where we are. (They are especially bright under headlights!) They also help people we meet feel safe as we approach. (People wearing reflective vests are probably not out to cause harm.)

Surprisingly, the reflective vests are often the only bright and shiny clothing we wear while on outreach. Although we wear our vests as a “best practice” for overall safety reasons, there are times that we take them off and “go in dark.” This usually has to do with confidentiality and protecting the security of someone’s location.

Sometimes people reside in a location where they are not really supposed to be. As an outreach team, we hope to help them end their homelessness and leave that spot and the streets. This can take time. In the meantime, we meet people where they are.

A key element of street outreach is maintaining confidentiality. An important component of that is not giving away the location of someone’s spot. We will go and meet someone, even if they are in a location in which they could be asked to leave. Recognizing this, we make efforts to go to and from the location unseen and without attracting attention. We take off our vests for the visit, “go in dark,” and then put on our vests again when we return to our vehicle after the visit.

Taking off our vest sometimes seems to go against our usual practice of wearing vests, but confidentiality trumps bright vests when we are going to visit someone we know in a place they want to keep secret. We don’t do this too often, but sometimes one “best practice” is more appropriate to a situation than another, especially when it comes to maintaining confidentiality and a strong relationship with someone who is experiencing homelessness. Otherwise, we like our vests!

Staying on Script

First impressions are important. During street outreach we walk up to people we don’t know in the middle of the night and start talking to them. Knowing what to say can be a challenge. One classic example from our team was one of our volunteers (who was excellent at street outreach), who had the lead one night at 2:00 a.m. He rolled down the window of the outreach vehicle and asked someone, “Hi. Do you need anything?” The person emphatically said, “No!” and turned away. We laughed and told our colleague, “Dude, you sounded like you were a drug dealer or something!” He said that wasn’t what he wanted to say, but it’s just what came out. Indeed, that happens sometimes during outreach.

Usually, we start out from a distance with a greeting to make sure that the person knows we are coming and to try to show that we have friendly intent. Then we quickly start trying to explain who we are, what we do, and engage with the person. Sometimes there is a very short window of opportunity to accomplish this.

If I am taking the lead on a contact with someone we don’t know, I will usually start off something like this:

“Hi, how ya doing?” (While approaching)

“My name is Scott (pointing to name tag on vest) and that’s Ben (or whoever else is on my team that night) (pointing to my teammate). We are the street outreach team (pointing to patch on vest that says HOPES Outreach). We come out at night to look for people who might not have a place to stay and be sleeping outside to see if we can offer some assistance.”

At that point, someone who is not homeless will often say, “Oh no, I am just heading home from work,” or something like that. Sometimes a person will respond with something and then we follow their response. If they don’t say anything, we try to read whether they appear to be concerned about anything. Sometimes we will add something to the effect of: “We aren’t the police, or city, or (name of business near we we found them), or anything like that, so we aren’t hear to hassle you or ask you to move or anything.” Then we might offer something,

“It’s pretty hot out, would you like some water?” (Show bottle of water) or “It is pretty cold out, would you like some coffee or hot chocolate?” or “It is cold tonight, do you need a blanket?”

From there, we just follow the person’s lead and see where the conversation goes. We don’t always say the same thing and different team members approach the first contact a little differently, but it is always good to have a rough idea of what you might say when you meet someone. It helps us stay on script, even if the script has a lot of places where it says “add lib here.”

We have it in hand

When we are driving around during outreach and stop to check a spot or to get out and talk to someone we see near the road, one of the things we consider a “best practice” of sorts is to make sure we have something in our hands. Carrying our backpacks, thermoses, and other items helps us in a couple of ways as we conduct street outreach. First and most obvious, it means that we have the items someone might ask for with us and can quickly provide water, food, or other things that we carry. But there are more subtle reasons for carrying something with us when we are walking, even when the vehicle and supplies are nearby.

Aside from wearing reflective vests, people can see thermoses, bags, or bottles of water in our hands. This helps project the image that we are not a threat. Imagine that two people are approaching you on the street at 1:00 a.m. You would quickly want to try to figure out what their intentions are. Now imagine the difference between people approaching with their hands in their pockets versus people approaching carrying bags, thermoses, bottles of water, or other items. We believe a simple thing like having bottles of water or other outreach items in our hands helps make us appear more safe to people as we approach.

Once we do approach, we say hello and start to explain who we are and what we do. When we tell people we can offer them some coffee, water, or something to eat, they are immediately looking to see where these things are going to come from. We have found that saying, “Would you like some water?” while holding out a bottle of water has a much better response than asking “Would you like some water?” and not having any visible. That first transaction of sorts when we can provide some water or coffee often opens up discussion, but if we don’t have it in hand, people are more likely to decline the offer and we may have missed an opportunity to engage.

Aside from having coffee, water, or other items right with us when we offer them, they also help validate who we are. We start by telling people who we are, but people may be a little skeptical out on the streets at midnight. Having outreach items with us on hand helps “back up our story” and help people come to the conclusion that we really are who we say we are and that we are safe.

So that’s why we try to carry things with us. It is not something we read in a book. It’s one of the lessons learned in the field at night. Of course, the way we learn is from the times we meet something without anything in our hands and wish we had. We have been getting better at this over the years!

Back on the Streets (in a good way)

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to us all since March 2020. At the HOPES Center office we had to make some major adjustments to who is in the office and how we operate, while still serving people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness. On street outreach, we started wearing face masks. It seemed like a sort of barrier while trying to engage with people on the streets, but it is what we had to do to keep everyone safe.

Unfortunately, our Wednesday night team leader, Warren Williams, contracted COVID-19 in the fall of 2020. (It was not related to exposure during street outreach.) We had to make some adjustments on our outreach team composition and schedule, but continued to provide street outreach serves while Warren was on sick leave battling COVID and starting his recovery from the virus.

Last night Warren returned to street outreach, leading the Wednesday night team. We are so thankful for his recovery, as well as his commitment to serving people who are experiencing homelessness and are unsheltered.

Outreach Risk Factors

Street Outreach is usually not how people tend to imagine it. Street outreach teams are out on the streets at night all throughout the year. When people think about being on the streets at night, many often worry about our safety. We are also concerned about team safety, but tend to assess the various risks differently. Unlike some of the images people have of the streets at night, our HOPES Center’s outreach teams have never been threatened by anyone we have met or served during outreach over the years (so far so good). Our number one threat is a natural one: Ice.

Although we have not been threatened or victims of crime during outreach, many of us have slipped and fallen on ice at least once during outreach in the winter. This often occurs after a snow, when plowed or shoveled snow melts in the sun during the day and then freezes on parking lots and sidewalks at night. It can be worse if it is concealed by a dusting of snow. We have gotten better though, and frequently remind each other to watch out for the ice as we are out and about.

The winter of 2020-2021 is still just starting, but the ice is there. So far our progress is reminiscent of an African proverb: Slipping is not falling. We hope to keep it that way all the way through to spring.!

What’s the Temperature?

If you tell us the average temperature in Racine, WI for a given month over the last few years (or even project into the future), we can give you an estimate of how many people were or might be living on the streets. We have always known that the number of people living on the streets decreases dramatically in the winter and increases again in the summer. From our semi annual Point-in-Time data, we know that people who are unsheltered make up about 4% of the Racine’s homeless population in January and 7% - 10% in late July. We decided to explore the relationship between seasons and unsheltered homelessness further.

We took the number of individuals with whom our street outreach team had contact for each month from October 2016 to September 2020. We then took the average temperature for each of those months. We found that the number of people living on the streets in Racine during any given month was the average temperature for that month (in Fahrenheit) multiplied by 0.63. If we consider that we only counted people with whom we had contact and that there might have been a few more that we didn’t see, can can say that the number of people on the streets in Racine during any given month is roughly half of the average temperature for that month. This specific to the number of people homeless in Racine and would not apply directly to other communities, but we assume the general principle is the same: When it gets colder, many people find a way to get off the streets one way or another.

The data held true for most months, whether summer or winter. The one month that was unusual was the polar vortex in January 2019. That is the only month when the number of people unsheltered in Racine was markedly higher than the average temperature. We did street outreach during the polar vortex and there were only a couple of people unsheltered. What happened in that month was unusually high temperatures early in the month followed by the polar vortex at the end of the month, resulting in an average temperature that doesn’t reflect the severity of the extreme cold experienced during the vortex.

So what was the average temperature in Racine last month? Divide that by two and that is approximately how many people were living on the streets at some point during the month.

Stocking Up

Most of our outreach supplies come from in-kind donations. The holiday season is truly a season of giving and we are thankful to churches, neighborhood groups, and individuals who have decided to help people experiencing homelessness by donating supplies to HOPES. Most of the supplies are exactly what we need: Water, Hand Warmers, Ramen Noodles, Granola Bars, Thermal Socks, Blankets and Sleeping Bags, and even some fuel cards. The supplies we get in during the holiday season usually carry us through the winter and we are truly grateful for the generosity and thoughtfulness of the Racine community.

The Longest Night

On Saturday night during outreach, we were chatting with some people who were unsheltered, after having provided some extra blankets, soup, and warm food. One was hoping that a job application would be successful and the other was looking for an apartment. They also spoke about someone we knew who had been homeless in the recent past and had been housed through HOPES Center’s rapid rehousing program. After two years in the program, he had taken over his apartment and was paying for it on his own. Shortly after that, he had some health problems related to underlying conditions. He recently passed away from COVID-19.

Tonight we officially enter winter. It is the longest night of the year. Our street outreach team will be out tonight, but before that there will be the Longest Night Ceremony here in Racine. Each year we have a service to remember those who passed away during the year while experiencing homelessness. This year the service will be a virtual service because of the pandemic, but we will still be remembering:

• Michael L.

• Kevin S.

• Erasmo G.

• Troy D.

There are others who passed away in their homes, having recently left homelessness and become housed, like the one we were informally remembering during outreach on Saturday night. We wish the best for those who serve, hoping to help them end their homelessness as quickly as possible, but unfortunately sometimes we mourn we someone passes away while homeless or after having just recently left homelessness.

Longest Night Service on Monument Square: 2019

Super Warmers!

This morning Racine woke up to a coat of frost on the ground and people’s windshields. It is the winter season and for outreach that means keeping people who are outside warm until they are in shelter or housing. We provide warm blankets, sleeping bags, and thermal socks at night to those are on the streets. We also include hand warmers in our winter street outreach kit. By quantity, we provide more of these to people experiencing homelessness than anything else through the winter.

Hand warmers come in a plastic package. They are small, paper-like packets that become warm when the package is opened and they are exposed to the air. They warm cold hands, cold feet, and cold bodies. People also open them and put them under blankets and in sleeping bags to warm them up before bedding down for the night. They are extremely helpful and very much appreciated by the people we serve on the streets.

Although we don’t usually endorse specific products, we learned through experience that people gave a lot of unsolicited positive feedback about Super Warmers, and often requested them specifically if we have them in our kit. Super Warmers are a larger type of hand warmer made by Hot Hands. They are reliable (always get warm), warm, and long lasting. A Super Warmer stays warm all through the night.

We still have a long way to go as we enter the winter of 2020 - 2021. We don’t know how cold it is going to get, but… we are in Wisconsin. We hope to keep Super Warmers in stock in our outreach kits throughout the season. We are fortunate that so far people from our generous community bring them in as in-kind donations and we have never had to purchase any hand warmers, blankets, or thermal socks. That’s one of the reasons we love Racine!

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The Spot

In street outreach terms, a spot isn’t a roundish mark or discoloring on a cloth. It is the location where someone spends (or spent) the night. People often talk about their spots., sometimes with a high degree of ownership over a specific location. Part of street outreach is going to known spots where people stay to see if they are there. It also includes going to spots where people used to stay to see if anyone is there or if there is evidence that someone has been there recently.

Last night we were checking on a few spots where people have been lately. We were looking for particular individuals who we know in their spots. We also checked a few other spots to see if there was any evidence of “activity,” meaning some kind of sign that someone has been there. One of those places is under a large spruce tree along the edge of a park. Early this month we randomly went among the trees there and found a cardboard box that had been cut up and laid on the ground on top of a piece of plastic. It clearly looked like a place where someone had slept, although there were no belongings or other items. We left a bottle of water and brochure. Another night we went back to check that location. The water was gone, the brochure was still there, and the boxes had been moved a little. Still no belongings though. We keep checking, thinking that one night we might find someone sleeping there. So far, we haven’t.

When people leave the streets, the often leave things behind. This is sometimes the case with people who lived in tents (the kind you buy in a store or home made from tarps). There are several tents still standing in wooded areas in the City of Racine and in Mt. Pleasant, long after their occupants have been housed. Because they are spots that were known by other people who were homeless, we periodically go back and check those as well to see if there is a new occupant. On Monday night we checked a tent that is still unoccupied, but we later found someone in “Randy’s spot,” now that Randy has been housed and is no longer on the streets.

People’s spots change and move, and people eventually get housed and leave the streets. But knowing and checking the “spots,” both in active use and from the past, is a major part of street outreach. We never know who we might find.

(Not a) Shelter

Street Outreach is not a shelter. The street outreach team doesn’t have rooms and they don’t have motel vouchers. Those are shelter services. Street outreach doesn’t have rental assistance. That is a homelessness prevention service. Street outreach serves people who are unable to enter shelter, or who decline to enter shelter, for whatever reason.

The main general shelter in Racine for men, women, and families is HALO. Women’s Resource Center (WRC) provides shelter for people who are fleeing domestic violence. The Transitional Living Center of Burlington (TLC) has some shelter space for women in the western part of the county, and SAFE Haven of Racine offers shelter to children in crisis. Shelters in Racine are often filled to capacity and during the current COVID-19 pandemic, they are stretched to the limit and using waiting lists. Despite the tremendous efforts of HALO, WRC and the other shelters in southeast Wisconsin, it is not easy to get into shelter, especially during the pandemic.

Most people seem to go into shelter from doubled-up situations, meaning that they were staying with people and were told to leave immediately before entering shelter. People who are unsheltered (living outside) also enter shelter, but they appear to be the minority in shelter. When there are waiting lists in shelter, and especially when shelters are using motel vouchers, street outreach gets a lot of calls from people seeking shelter. Most of these are in very tenuous, unstable living situations with friends or family. A very small minority are actually staying outside as their ordinary sleeping location. The calls almost always come in during the morning or early afternoon hours and our advice is always the same: “If you haven’t been able to get into shelter, keep calling all your friends and family and trying to find a place to stay. If you end up sleeping outside, call us and leave a confidential message where you are sleeping. The team will check there the next time it is out.” We almost never get that second call. People are resilient and given the option of having to sleep outside or finding another place, most people find another place.

Street outreach does connect people to housing services and, yes, even shelter. We took a number of people from the streets to shelter as the cool fall weather started. But street outreach isn’t a “back door” into shelter or way to get around the shelter’s waiting list. It is first and foremost a service to people who actually sleep outside as their ordinary place of residence. From that starting point, street outreach teams meet with people to help ensure that they are safe, warm, and can get connected to services.

On the West Side

Did you know street outreach covers all of Racine County? Last night we were in Burlington. We usually don’t find anyone in places like Caledonia, Union Grove, Raymond, Dover, Yorkville, Kansasville, Norway, Waterford, etc., so we don’t go there as often. We do cover the entire county a few times a year, with more frequent trips to Burlington. Over 95% of our street outreach contacts, however, take place in the City of Racine or Mt. Pleasant.

The Outreach Kit

We always carry the same things in our street outreach kit when we are out in the field:

• Blankets and Sleeping Bags

• Socks

• Water

• Food

  • Warm Burritos

  • Ramen Noodles in cups (chicken, beef, spicy chicken, or spicy beef) We have the hot water to make them in thermoses.

• Coffee and Hot Chocolate

• Granola Bars

• Hygiene Products

• Handwarmers (in the winter)

• Informational brochures with services available for people experiencing homelessness in Racine

When we first started doing street outreach at night, we took out anything that people gave us. For example, someone might give us some juice boxes and we would hand them out. Then, we found that people would request juice boxes (or whatever else we had been given) and we would have to say that we don’t have any and that it was a one-off thing. There was an expectation that we would have juice (or whatever) followed by disappointment.

Now, we always carry the same items, but we always have them. We had hot and spicy chicken ramen noodles Saturday night, we will have them tonight, we will have them next week, and we will have them next year. Consistency allows the people we serve to know what to expect, allows the teams to best organize their supplies when they head out, and allows HOPES to ensure that we are able to maintain stocks of our outreach items.