The city of Sioux Falls has created a partnership with a local organization to create homelessness street outreach team.
After Sioux Falls created the Homeless Task Force, one of the main findings was that the city needed a better approach to engaging with homeless people.
Councilor Rich Merkouris, who was the chair of the task force, said the city lacked an outreach team that could better connect with people.
“Most of the time we think of calling 911 or using law enforcement for engaging with someone who is different than us or someone that we’re uncomfortable around, and oftentimes that’s not the best approach. Because anytime law enforcement arrive, the reality is emotions start to go up, walls starts to go up, and that’s not against law enforcement, that’s just the reality when authority arrive," said Merkouris.
South Dakota Urban Indian Health is the organization conducting this new street outreach program.
The goal is to build relationships with people experiencing homelessness and connect them to the resources they need.
Micheala Seiber, the CEO of the organization, said a disproportionate amount of the homeless population are Native Americans, and having shared values helps them build connections.
“We put our culture above all of the things we do, our indigenous values help us guide the work we do. And I believe that is what will make this successful, we are able to provide that cultural connection," said Seiber.
She added that many of the organization’s staff experienced homelessness themselves.
“What we’ve heard from folks is that they love coming to us because we’re compassionate, we’re judgement free, and we offer a really safe place for them to come in. And we aren’t trying to change them, we’re here for them when they’re ready if they’re ready to change and go into a different direction," said Seiber.
Urban Indian Health plans to use the funding from the contact they recently formed with the city to hire more staff so they can help more people.