The Street Outreach Services program is designed to provide core PATH services in non- traditional settings such as encampments, parks, or other locations not meant for habitation. Core services are those that assist individuals experiencing homelessness to engage and assess fundamental barriers in their life that prevent them from obtaining mainstream services from both PATH and partner organizations. The Street Outreach Team also works closely with other community organizations, local Law Enforcement, and the Department of Transportation to facilitate encampment clean ups when necessary.
Street Outreach provides the following services to the community:
- Waste Management – Weekly, the Street Outreach Team will engage and assist encampments to monitor, manage and facilitate encampment clean ups and enable homeless individuals to police their own by providing garbage bags and hauling away any waste products once bags are full or encampments clean ups are completed. By doing so, PATH provides a service that enriches and beautifies the community while helping homeless individuals to sustain a sense of self-worth and preserve their dignity.
- Nutrition Distribution Program – Weekly and as donations are available, the Street Outreach Team provides hot or cold meals, nutritious snacks, and most importantly, clean water to individuals experiencing homelessness in identified encampments.
- Encampment Monitoring & Administration – The Street Outreach Team identifies and engages encampments and monitors activities throughout known locations utilizing the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) provided by the Tehama County Continuum of Care. By monitoring the activity, the team is able to identify camps that have been abandoned more quickly and coordinate clean ups with community partners.
- Case Management and Coordination – It is PATH’s goal to assist program participants in assessing and defining their case plans through active case management and navigation of obstacles that prevent them from obtaining support and referrals to partner services. Case Managers periodically work with the Street Outreach Team to conduct assessments and establish plans to coordinate and facilitate migrating program participants to the PATH PLAZA Navigation Center, PATH Transitional Housing, or referral to Rapid Re-Housing.
- Community Clean Up Events – Periodically, the Street Outreach Team sponsors a community clean up event which involves PATH employees, volunteers, Transitional Housing program participants, members of the faith-based community, agency partners, and the local community at large to select an area that needs beautification and come together to pick up trash, dispose of hazardous materials or other items that do not breakdown naturally in our environment and to leave Red Bluff and the surrounding area a little be better than we found it; everyone doing their part.