FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shawn Flaherty, 703-554-3609
Pathway Homes Receives Nearly $300K in Grants to Help Launch a Mobile Shower Service to Address Homelessness in Region – Mobile Outreach Unit to Connect People with Supportive Services
Pathway Homes, a regional nonprofit providing mental health -services—starting with safe, stable housing—to individuals marginalized by poverty and inequity, has received grants from Virginia Housing, Cafritz Foundation, Potomac Health Foundation, and Amazon totaling close to $300K to support the planning and launch of a new program called Mobile Outreach Unit (MOU).
Using a retrofitted trailer, MOU bring services including showers directly to people experiencing homelessness in Northern Virginia, starting in Fairfax and Prince William Counties.
“Ending homelessness requires innovation. With these generous grants from visionary funders, we are on our way to launch our Mobile Outreach Unit, enabling us to reach deeper into the community. Providing a wheeled response to those facing homelessness will help us meet the needs of the unsheltered and provide interaction with case managers to help people move off the streets,” explained Sylisa Lambert-Woodard, CEO, Pathway Homes. “We look forward to getting on the road by the fourth quarter.”
A recently completed feasibility explored hosting and parking this new innovative program at Pathway Homes’ headquarters. Modeled after a similar effort in Orlando, Pathway’s MOU will be a customized trailer offering a low barrier mobile drop-in center for people experiencing homelessness throughout Northern Virginia. MOU is commonly known as an acronym for Memorandum of Understanding.
Pathways intentionally claimed MOU for its new program to represent a symbolic agreement between the community and those experiencing homelessness to offer human dignity, support, and opportunity. Currently only two of Northern Virginia’s 41 shelters offer shower drop-in services. The Pathway Homes’ trailer will have a shower, case management support, and other direct outreach services.
MOU will be moored by a Community Hub (the Hub) located at Pathway Homes new headquarters in Fairfax City. The Hub will include a food pantry, a supply storage area, and a training center. Through the trailer, Pathways will also distribute hygiene and wellness kits to guests who need them.
Pathway Homes collaborates with Fairfax and Prince William Counties which utilize a centralized homeless response system to manage their coordinated intake process. Many homeless people are unaware of or lack access to this process. Pathway’s MOU will help connect those unhoused to the intake portals of Fairfax, Prince William, and surrounding jurisdictions, enabling them to access housing services and escape homelessness.
Lambert-Woodard added: “By bringing Pathway’s services directly to those in need, we can build trust and restore dignity to those experiencing homelessness who otherwise may not seek services on their own. This will become another important and collaborative tool to help prevent and end homelessness in our community.”
Pathway Homes’ supportive services focus on helping individuals attain and strengthen the skills needed to manage their mental and physical health and remain stably housed. Its highly skilled team provides the coordinated care and intensive treatment participants need to maintain their home, enhance personal relationships, develop healthy life habits, and achieve their personal goals.
Note: photo below is an example of a mobile shower unit in San Francisco.
About Pathway Homes
For more than 45 years, Pathway Homes has enabled tens of thousands of people in the National Capital region with serious mental illnesses and other co-occurring disabilities to access affordable housing and critical supportive services to help them recover their lives. Following a housing-focused model, Pathway Homes is a partner in preventing and ending homelessness, touching nearly 2,000 lives each year and ensuring access to affordable stable homes in permanent supportive housing units.
