SALT Outreach Inc.

The Elevate Prize money will help us scale up and double our impact by duplicating our mobile day service center model to a new city. The additional support can guide us as we expand for the first time to a new city.

SALT Outreach currently runs a mobile day service center for the homeless. We offer showers through a shower trailer, laundry through a laundry trailer, clothing and hygiene products through our clothing trailer, haircuts, mail services, transportation, food, and PPE. We also have a case management department which is run by an LCSW, MSW, and BSW along with several social work interns which help our unsheltered friends get to the next step to end their homelessness and ultimately help them transition to shelter or housing. 

Our outreach services engages the unsheltered by providing the most basic needs then our outreach team helps them transition to our case management team. SALT Outreach acts as a front-line organization for the homeless and relies on community partners and organizations to meet the needs of every person we serve through referrals. If there are any gaps in services or resources our case management team helps to meet those needs using SALT Outreach resources. 

I became a Christian when I was 22 years old and wanted to use my talents toward bettering the community. I felt that churches/people in the area were not united in service, I felt that young adults within the church were not given meaningful and consistent outreach opportunities, and I felt that churches were not exemplifying the character of Christ through their outreach efforts by showing and having a meaningful impact. I started SALT Outreach when I was 23 years old as a way to address all of those issues. Since then it has evolved greatly. We had 10 different outreach projects in the beginning but have consolidated our efforts on one outreach effort during the pandemic which is our homeless outreach. We entered 2020 still as an all volunteer organization but currently we have 33 team members, 14 staff members, and hundreds of volunteers. I believe the mobile day service model we have is one that will help to end homelessness in every major city so that is our vision. We want to expand this model to every city that has need and help end homelessness and share Christ to tens of thousands of unsheltered individuals.

The specific problem is addressing homelessness. Studies have shown that the most effective cities at ending homelessness have been ones where their is a healthy combination of day service centers and shelters. There was no mobile day service center in Orlando before we came around. Orlando was actually one of the largest cities without a day services center. Having it in mobile form provides an even lower barrier solution to day services for the unsheltered and we can go to any location. Endhomelessness.org shows that on any given night there are 553,742 people experiencing homelessness in the United States or 17 our of every 10,000 people. In 2018, the Point in Time Count shows that there were 2,053 people experiencing homelessness in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole county. Since the pandemic homelessness has been on the rise. Last year alone we were able to serve 1510 unique individuals with 30,000 units of service. We found that 30% of those we served to the next step to end their homelessness and 17% transitioned to shelter or housing all after services with us through a coordinated community effort. We do not work on an island but in partnership with all other community organizations.

We are the only comprehensive MOBILE day service center for the homeless in the United States. All day services we offer in such a way that we can operate outside which was advantageous during the pandemic. As a mobile day service center we have low overhead and start-up costs which allow us to easily duplicate our model and meet people where they are. Operating outside helps us to engage even more people than we would as an indoor facility and helps us to be in the element of those experiencing homelessness.

We are engaging more people per week than any other organization currently in Orlando that serves those that are homeless which we believe also is due to our services and the outside nature of those services through our trailers. Since we see this making a difference here we are believers that this can make a difference in any city that needs it and can adapt itself to meet the specific needs of that city. 

This year our goal is that 50% of those we serve take the next step to end their homelessness and 20% transition to shelter or housing. The steps we are taking to achieve this impact is as follows:

• meeting basic needs for those experiencing homelessness to build relationship,
• referring them to our case management team who then assesses the need, creates a plan, makes referrals, and holds them accountable to the plan,
• filling the gaps in services and resources in the community with the unsheltered if there is not a place we can refer them to, 
• strengthening our relationships with other community organizations that can help our clients take the next step to end their homelessness, 
• taking on social work interns from the local university to increase our capacity to provide case management services to the unsheltered,
• deepening relationships with donors, local governments, and corporations to help fund the operation so we can continue to grow.