OUTREACH UNITED RESOURCE CENTER INC

Programs: The Basic Needs Program provides case work and case management services and emergency assistance to individuals and families. Services include warming center, family shelter, day shelter, transitional shelter, emergency groceries and personal care items, breakfast and hot noon meals, homelessness prevention intervention, rent and utility assistance, prescription vouchers, local transportation, clothing and furniture, case management, budget counseling and life skills classes to promote self-sufficiency.

In year 2009, the OUR Center conducted 28,671 interviews with individuals seeking assistance and distributed 887,571 pounds of groceries to 16,202 households. The Basic Needs Program’s Hospitality Center served 143,179 meals and the Clothing Bank fulfilled 4,973 clothing requests with 183,020 items of clothing. In addition, the Center provided furniture items and appliances to families in need. The OUR Center provided shelter to 185 families, rent vouchers to 376 households and utility shut-off vouchers to 679 households. In the year 2009, due to current economic conditions, the OUR Center expects to serve 40 % additional households.

The Day Shelter served 730 individual men and women without homes with emergency food, showers, laundry, personal care items, clothing, prescriptions, glasses, tents, sleeping bags, towels, identification and birth certificates, mail and voice mail service, backpacks, repellent, job referrals, and Salud Clinic Mobile Unit screenings and follow-ups. From October 2009 through April 2010, the Warming Center served 91 unduplicated persons. The Center has been opened a total of 73 nights with a total of 1004 people served. Two meals, shower and laundry vouchers were provided each client.

In response to increasing individual and family homelessness, the Basic Needs Program concentrates on developing plans that meet the immediate needs of clients and assists them in improving their financial stability and working toward self–sufficiency, especially preventing future homelessness. The Center has added case management staff to provide the supportive services needed to prevent homelessness. The Center has developed a series of self-sufficiency strategies, titled, Pathways to Self-Sufficiency (PASS), to strengthen clients’ skills to reduce their reliance on external resources in order to survive.

The populations served are generally low-income families and individuals as well as populations with special needs such as persons with disabilities and mental illness and with substance abuse issues