5 years of “social work without walls”

When someone is focused on day-to-day survival, there is little time to attend to long-term goals. Accessing the limited available resources requires sorting through a convoluted web of systems and can be impossible to navigate alone.  Every day for the past 5 years, the small but mighty Street Outreach Collaborative (SOC) at Preble Street works … Read more

Basic Needs −> Shelter −> Long-term Solutions

50 years ago, Joe Kreisler founded Preble Street as a real-world training ground for his students at the University of Southern Maine and a place for Portland’s most vulnerable residents to receive basic services—meals, clothing, bathrooms, etc.—and to connect to resources for healthcare, mental health treatment, employment, and more. “I am a human being. Part … Read more

Preble Street in Bangor

Since its start as a small social work agency in Portland, Maine, Preble Street has been guided by its commitment to mission and empowering vulnerable Mainers. Earlier this year, this commitment led Preble Street to assume operations of Hope House, a 56-bed emergency low-barrier shelter in Bangor, after Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) announced the shelter … Read more

We all need a safe place to call home

No one should have to live outside. Everyone regardless of who they are or where they come from needs a safe place to call home.  There are hundreds of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Maine this winter, living outside in the cold… in parks, under bridges, beneath overpasses, and in many other places not meant … Read more

Social work is at the heart of the MaineHealth-Preble Street Learning Collaborative

People who are homeless experience severe physical and mental health outcomes, facing many barriers to accessing healthcare and treatment. These barriers can include things like the high cost of care, a lack of insurance, distance or transportation, and even prejudice from the medical community. The MaineHealth-Preble Street Learning Collaborative (MH-PSLC) is a low-barrier, walk-in medical clinic in … Read more

Supporting survivors of trafficking

Photo from a human trafficking awareness event hosted earlier this month in Preble Street's Healing Center.

“One of the biggest misconceptions, specifically here in Maine, is the mentality that it doesn’t happen here. It absolutely happens here, and that is why our program is in existence.” Hailey Virusso, Preble Street Director of Anti-Trafficking Services There’s no one face of human trafficking… a survivor can be someone who got pesticide poisoning, forced … Read more

The first 24/7 Preble Street program in Bangor

A sad reality of emergency shelters is that they are always at risk of closing their doors. Over the past fifteen years, at least nine shelters in Maine have closed due to funding issues.  Site-based Housing First is the long-term permanent housing solution for many of the people in Maine experiencing chronic homelessness, but until the … Read more

A look back at 2024

2024 was a year full of many difficult challenges and lessons but also a year full of progress on important issues. After 50 years, Preble Street understands how important it is to recognize the positive while still holding space to learn from the obstacles we’ve faced.  As 2024 comes to a close, Preble Street looks … Read more