Downtown Services Center

The Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) is committed to working with and for people who are without homes living in the Downtown BID area. The BID's Homeless Programs have two primary goals:

1. Reduce the numbers of people living on the streets and in the parks.
2. Coordinate "continuum of care" service providers in the BID.

The Downtown BID created and operates the Downtown Services Center (DSC) as a multi-service, comprehensive, drop-in center for homeless adults in the center of its district.

The DSC was created to achieve three goals:

1. Coordinate and co-locate existing services programs dispersed throughout the city. Previously, Downtown's homeless people with multiple needs had great difficulty connecting to, and sustaining a relationship with, service providers, as such services were spread out over the city.
2. Provide services in the heart of the Downtown BID area where they are most needed. Rather than move the services - and the potential problems associated with a homeless services center - outside of the Downtown area, the BID is committed to addressing needs homeless people's by offering services within a high tolerance and low barrier environment.
3. Create a model that others can replicate - BIDs, as well as city governments or non-profit agencies. In 2005, the BID plans to introduce outcome measurements to the management practices of the DSC. These will permit this model to be more effectively replicated by others as they build on DSC successes. The successful applicant will take these outcome measurements and use them as a baseline for change and development in the future.

History

In January 1999, the Downtown DC BID recruited 20 homeless service providers to co-locate existing staff together in a new homeless service center which became the DSC. Prior to these services being co-located in the DSC, they were only available at disparate sites throughout the city. The BID was able to recruit these providers to the program by offering to provide rent, administrative, management and computer and telecom-munication costs associated with operating an office. The providers understood that they could accomplish more on behalf of their homeless clients if they co-located with other homeless service agencies. The BID worked out a long-term building use arrangement with a Downtown church and opened the center in June that same year.

The DSC is currently located in the basement of the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ. Due to current plans to develop the church site, this location will only be available for another year.

In addition to providing space and general administrative support, the DSC employs two outreach workers that engage homeless persons directly on the street and offers laundry and shower facilities, facility management for a soup kitchen, and oversight for case managers provided by other agencies. This innovative model has broken new ground in the way services are provided and the results have been remarkable.

"Partner provider" agencies and the BID's DSC staff provide the following services:

• Breakfast
• Medical treatment
• Substance abuse treatment
• Education and training
• Housing
• Legal Services
• Vocational rehabilitation
• Social Services
• Psychiatric services
• Hygiene
• Employment
• Veterans Assistance

In addition, the DSC is integrated with other parts of the BID program, especially:

Safety and Maintenance (SAM's) Program - SAM employees offer assistance on the streets 12 hours a day. They are trained to be attuned to people who are homeless -- to identify their needs and be respectful of their rights. Their aim is to help people move off the street.

Direct Street Outreach - The BID also employs two full-time street outreach workers who spend 80 percent of their work week connecting with homeless people on the street and encouraging them to come to the DSC. Since April 1998, the BID street outreach workers have assisted more than 900 people. This consistent and persistent presence in the lives of people on the street has convinced many individuals to connect with services and move off the streets into some sort of shelter or housing program.

Other programs that the BID has implemented to support the work of the DSC include:

• An anti-panhandling program to encourage homeless people to seek long-term solutions to their problems
• A collaboration of organizations (Travelers Aid, Greyhound, Department of Mental Health, the Community Partnership) working together to put a social worker at the bus station to work with newly arrived, mentally ill people who are at risk of decompensating and becoming homeless
• A program to educate building managers, including the development of a homeless referral guide which is in every major office building in the BID
• A working group to address the lack of coordination in the street mobile feeding programs and to address the need for a dinner program for homeless men.

This Street Information Card shows where to find shelter, meals, clothing, health care, and legal services. Download the card (PDF, 284 KB) to print and give to a person on the street, or request printed copies by email.