South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Foundation to issue $300K in grants to police to help expand homeless services
For over four years, the Delray Beach Police Department’s Community Outreach Team has been helping homeless people get the resources they need — from showers to wellness visits. Last year, they placed 70 people in shelters and 15 in permanent housing.
And now the team is receiving substantial support from the Virginia and Harvey Kimmel Family Foundation to continue its efforts in the city.
Three annual grants of $100,000 will allow for the addition of a social worker to the three-member Community Outreach Team that includes two police officers and a licensed clinician who not only work with people who are homeless or in recovery but also those with behavioral health issues.
“The Community Outreach Team was established to address the homeless, addiction and mentally ill in our community,” Delray Beach Police Chief Javaro Sims said in a statement. “The team works at ground level, so they can truly understand the root causes and provide the necessary resources to make them whole again. We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. This is a community in distress and in need of assistance. We here at the Delray Beach Police Department aim to provide that relief. We are all community.”
Against a backdrop of the mobile shower truck that sets up at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church to provide services, the Kimmels made the $300,000 check presentation to Sims alongside Ezra Krieg, chairman of the Delray Beach Initiative to End Homelessness, and Perry DonFrancisco of the Delray Citizens for Delray Police.
“The Community Outreach Team has had an incredible impact. What we’re doing in Delray Beach should serve as a model for other municipalities in Palm Beach County, and possibly beyond the county,” Krieg said in a statement. “The Kimmels’ support is going to make them even more effective.”
According to the department, the social worker “will be designated to provide social services primarily to the homeless community and homeless prevention services to city residents.”
“We do it differently because we do it hands-on, with no expectations and never give up on the individuals we are assisting,” Ariana Ciancio, the department’s service population advocate, said in a statement. “There is a strong need to increase the existing social and outreach services currently provided to our community by the Community Outreach Team.”
For information about the Delray Beach Police Department Community Outreach Team, call 561-243-7841.
Visit delraybeachinitiativetoendhomelessness.org.