Left to Right: Prevention & Outreach Specialists, Sheila Crump
and Linda Flowers, and Team Leader, Jim Davis.

Revamping its programs this year on the tail of the merger last fall, MSC has recently added Prevention & Outreach, a critical new component of its services to homeless men. Prevention & Outreach aims to reach all of Charlotte’s homeless members - in camps and on the streets – so that MSC can fully achieve its goal of ending homelessness within our community.

Further expanding our “streets-to-housing” approach, Prevention & Outreach is comprised of several national best practices, including Street Outreach, SOAR (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery) Disability Determination and Diversion.

Street Outreach has been in full force in recent months, connecting homeless people with shelter services and/or other services – especially those who are not yet ready to come in off the streets. Often times homeless people do not want to come into the shelter because of severe mental illness or substance abuse issues. Sometimes married couples are living together in camps and don’t want to be separated by going to different shelters – one for women and one for men. Our staff initiates contact with camp inhabitants to show them we care, building trust which we hope will eventually lead to the acceptance of support services, shelter, and/or housing.

Prevention & Outreach services are led by Jim Davis, who has 15 years experience in homeless services. Davis has been with MSC for two years and was formerly an Intake Team Leader at the Statesville Avenue Campus. “These services are really a break-through for homeless people in our community,” said Davis. “I’m really excited to see the results.” Since we began Street Outreach in November, we’ve already been able to move one couple from a camp to a hotel. Davis and MSC outreach specialists Sheila Crump and Linda Flowers travel to different homeless camps in the area to speak with homeless people, let them know about MSC and other available services, and connect them with support services where they can get food, medicine, and other services.

With Prevention & Outreach, MSC is working to help our homeless citizens get the help they need and put an end to homelessness in our community – one person at a time.