In August 2023, the Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department launched the Alternate Response Program, a partnership with Centerpointe Street Outreach, to respond to emergency calls for homelessness needs. This partnership was designed to provide a more compassionate response to calls for service involving the unsheltered population. Their approach has revolutionized law enforcement and community partnerships. Let’s discuss the impact of this program and how your community might be able to model the Lincoln program.
According to the 2023 Point-In-Time Count by the Lincoln Homeless Coalition, there were 418 individuals experiencing homelessness in Lincoln. The count is a tally of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night, typically taken every January. Lincoln’s total homeless population decreased by 57% between 2007 and 2022.
According to the Coalition, 429 homeless people lived in the city at the start of 2023. Twenty-four percent were considered unsheltered, 19% were adult survivors of domestic abuse, and nearly a fourth of them were children.
Who is Centerpointe?
Centerpointe is a privately run healthcare company that partners with local and regional government agencies to provide mental health care, substance abuse treatment, primary medical care, and more to individuals in need. Centerpointe was awarded $2 million to operate a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) for two years in Lincoln.
CCBHCs are responsible for directly providing (or contracting with partner organizations to offer) nine required types of services: Crisis mental health services, Screening, assessment, and diagnosis, including risk assessment, Patient-centered treatment planning, Outpatient mental health and substance use services, Primary care screening and monitoring of critical health indicators/health risk, Targeted case management, Psychiatric rehabilitation services, Peer support and family supports, and Intensive, community-based mental health care for members of the armed forces and veterans.
How does the Alternate Response Program work?
Primarily designed by Lincoln Mayor Gaylor Baird, the Alternate Response Program is the result of a multi-year partnership between the Lincoln Police Department, Centerpointe, the Downtown Lincoln Association, and the city of Lincoln’s Urban Development Department.
The Alternate Response Program functions at the 911 dispatch call center, Lincoln’s Emergency Communications Center, to determine the appropriate level of response needed for every emergency call involving an unsheltered individual. For calls involving unsheltered persons, which do not require medical attention and no law violation has been alleged, Centerpointe Street Outreach Team members will be dispatched to the scene.
911 dispatchers have been given a series of questions to determine what response is needed to minimize individual dispatcher bias. As a backup, Lincoln Police Department officers will be available to respond if Centerpointe staff cannot be on the scene within 20 minutes. This replaces the department’s prior approach, which was to have two uniformed Lincoln Police Department officers respond to every call involving an unsheltered person.
What is the Centerpointe Street Outreach Team?
The central goal of the Centerpointe Street Outreach Team is to ensure that individuals have their basic needs met and to connect them with homeless services. Staff meets these goals by building individual relationships with unsheltered individuals and helping to reduce the stigma associated with homelessness. Individuals currently unsheltered or at risk of becoming unsheltered may receive assistance from the outreach team.
Services provided by the Centerpointe Street Outreach Team include:
- Provide basic needs such as food, water, tents, sleeping bags, etc.
- Coordinate services within CenterPointe and the community
- Outreach nursing assessments and comprehensive assessments
- Complete All Doors Lead Home (ADLH) housing assessment
- Check in’s and documentation for Coordinated Entry & Balance of State
- Individuals must check in a minimum of every 2 weeks
- Documentation for the annual Pointe in Time count
- Release planning with Lancaster County Corrections & other providers
- Enrollments and documentation for the city’s current Emergency Rental Assistance Program
- Harm Reduction Education
- Engage individuals who have experienced an overdose or are at risk of an overdose
- Connect individuals to services
- Assist individuals in accessing Narcan
How does the Alternate Response Program save Law Enforcement Resources?
“By redirecting these calls for service to the community partners who can best address the human services needs of unsheltered individuals, our LPD officers have more time to focus on calls requiring law enforcement,” Lincoln Police Department Chief Michon Morrow said.
“This new alternate response gives both CenterPointe and LPD the opportunity to react more appropriately and compassionately to concerns regarding the unsheltered while helping to decriminalize homelessness and allowing Outreach to stay in constant contact with the people we are working with so that they aren’t missing out on opportunities they may be given,” Centerpointe Homeless Outreach Coordinator Matt Martinosky said.
The department also designated Melissa Ripley as a homeless outreach officer.
“It’s important for us to have just a friendly face that can go out not always on an enforcement side of things, but also on an advocacy side of things as well,” Ripley said.
She spends much of her time walking around in areas where unsheltered people spend time, building relationships, connecting them with help, and providing supplies, like hand warmers and socks, in the winter.
How Does the Alternate Response Program Impact Homelessness Needs?
The program also allows for more compassionate interaction with one of Lincoln’s vulnerable populations, Lincoln Police Department Homeless Coordinator Melissa Ripley said.
“Often, those experiencing homelessness also experience a stigma and shame associated with being unsheltered. Having uniformed police officers contact you repeatedly, when you’re not doing anything illegal, can contribute to that shame and stigma,” Ripley said. “This new approach creates a more dignified response and is a much less dehumanizing way to contact people and still accomplish the same outcome.”
An outreach worker, Kate Michael, said the program allows people to connect by stripping away titles.
“We get to be ourselves,” she said. “I don’t have a bunch of labels or letters behind my name, I’m just a person coming to see them. And I’m a peer as well, so I have my own lived experiences that I get to apply.”
What is Next for Lincoln, Nebraska?
The advent of the Alternate Response Program is partly aimed at tackling the overwhelming number of mental health related calls that Lincoln Police Department and 911 dispatchers receive.
Lincoln Police Department officers have reported that one of the biggest challenges in dealing with this population is capacity limits within the care system. As in many communities, Lincoln offers several mental health resources to its community members. However, bed shortages, waitlists, and capacity limits often prevent an individual from accessing in-patient or emergency mental health care when needed.
In addition to adding more in-patient beds and increasing capacity for residential mental health care facilities in the community, Lincoln plans to launch a co-responder program where mental health officers respond to emergency calls alongside law enforcement officers. Co-responder programs have been gaining popularity nationwide due to their many cost-saving and community-building benefits.
If implementing a co-responder or homeless outreach program in your community, consider how a cloud-based software program like Julota can help support your efforts. Connecting important stakeholders and ensuring that stakeholders have access to real-time confidential patient data will bolster community services significantly.