Q. What is the
Manhattan Outreach Consortium?
A. The Manhattan Outreach Consortium is a coalition
of seven neighborhood-based homeless services organizations
working together to reduce the number of people living
on Manhattan streets by helping them obtain housing
and reintegrate into their communities. Through a
new $4.5 million contract with the NYC Department
of Homeless Services (DHS), the Consortium is the
single point of accountability in the borough responsible
for all outreach and housing placement services. The
Manhattan Outreach Consortium includes Goddard Riverside
Community Center (lead agency), Center for Urban Community
Services (lead support agency), Common Ground Community,
John Heuss House, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, The
Bridge, Inc. and Urban Pathways.
Q. What is Goddard
Riverside’s role in the Consortium?
A. As the lead agency, Goddard Riverside holds the
contract with the City and administers the Consortium,
providing quality assurance and fiscal oversight.
In addition, Goddard Riverside is responsible for
outreach and housing placement in its catchment area,
as well as night and weekend outreach and coverage
for the northern part of Manhattan.
Q. What direct
services does Goddard Riverside provide as part of
the Consortium?
A. Goddard Riverside workers identify and contact
homeless men and women – targeting chronic street
dwellers – in the agency’s catchment area
through outreach on foot and in vans. As a first step,
outreach workers offer housing options. All clients
are evaluated for mental illness, screened for TB
and HIV, and offered a complete physical. Goddard
Riverside staff develops a unique service plan to
assist each client with the ultimate goal of securing
permanent housing. The plan might include psychiatric
or medical care, screening for substance abuse and
referrals to treatment, help with obtaining entitlements,
escort to housing sites, employment services, or support
in reconnecting with family and other social networks.
Each member of the Manhattan Outreach Consortium provides
these services within their catchment.
Q. What are the
hours of operation and where is Goddard Riverside’s
catchment area?
A. The Manhattan Outreach Consortium operates 24 hours
a day, seven days a week. Outreach program business
hours for each of the seven member agencies are 5:30
a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. During these
hours, each agency’s program serves its catchment
area. Goddard Riverside’s catchment area is
110th to 59th Street on the West Side, including Central
Park. After hours and on weekends, Goddard Riverside’s
catchment expands to all of Upper Manhattan from Inwood
down to 59th Street (Urban Pathways covers 59th Street
to the South Street Seaport). See the reverse side
of this page for a map of all the catchment areas.
Q. What is Goddard
Riverside’s expertise in working with the homeless?
A. Goddard Riverside has a 28-year track record of
providing effective services to homeless individuals,
and is especially expert in working with people with
mental illness and those who have been living outdoors
for long periods of time. In addition to outreach
and housing placement, Goddard Riverside offers rehabilitation,
social and professional guidance, competitive employment,
transitional and permanent supportive housing. The
Other Place gives its members a place to congregate
during the day with access to meals, health services,
counselors who provide life skills training and art
therapy. TOP Opportunities offers job training and
placement and is the venue for two businesses: a horticulture
service, Green Keepers, and a mailing service that
employ formerly homeless adults. Safe Haven, a temporary
residence, provides intensive support to those seeking
permanent housing. ACT (Assertive Community Treatment)
Team is a unique model of mobile mental health treatment
for clients who suffer from severe mental illness,
many of whom are or have been homeless. Goddard Riverside
also operates five permanent supportive housing facilities.
Q. How can I alert
the Consortium of a homeless person who needs help?
A. Call 311.
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