Preble Street’s work is never done in isolation. We are continuously making connections with other social service providers and nonprofits to better serve clients and the needs of the community. This month, we are highlighting Pastor Jeff Logan, Executive Director and co-pastor at Grace-Street Ministry in Portland. Share a little bit about yourself and what brought … Read more
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
During our 50 years in operation, Preble Street has had to adapt to changing needs and a shifting landscape many times. Never was this truer than in the days, months, and years that followed March 16, 2020. Five years ago this month, while the world was urged to stay home, a question loomed over staff … Read more
[A meal] is so comforting. It’s a feeling of home sweet home. There have been times when I’ve been hungry for so long and struggled for so long that I had a hard time digesting food… I know people that have gone without food so long that having a plate of food in front of … Read more
Portland, Maine, has a unique opportunity to drastically decrease encampment and unsheltered numbers with the opening of the new Riverside shelter and its 179 new beds. Read Preble Street’s seven action steps to address this public health, housing, and shelter crisis.
Portland is facing an unprecedented crisis in unsheltered homelessness, and encampment sweeps do not solve the problem. Instead, these sweeps traumatize the already vulnerable people living in these encampments and create another spike in needed items like tents and clothing as bulldozers and trash trucks take away their few possessions. There have not been nearly … Read more
Three years ago this month, in response to the dangers and restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Preble Street reimagined the way we provide meals and casework to people experiencing homelessness, and the Street Outreach Collaborative (SOC) was born. Revisit the 2020 PBS Newshour story about these changes:“Mobile outreach: A lifeline during COVID-19” No longer … Read more
The chalk writing on the doors near the Bayside Trail says, “I’m so ignorant to think we’d make it out of this thing TOGETHER…or alive.” The hearts surrounding the message give hope, but the ‘or alive’ just scratches the surface of the despair we all feel knowing that there is no ready, short-term solution for … Read more
The people who have been living at the Bayside Trail encampment deserve dignity and safety. No one should have to sleep outside in Maine or in unsafe or unhealthy conditions. Everyone should have access to toilets and safe drinking water and a roof over their heads. Preble Street will continue to work with the City … Read more
No one should have to live outside, but that is what is happening to an unprecedented number of Mainers right now. In Portland, the Parks Department recently counted 102 tents set up by people experiencing homelessness — a new record for the area. The encampment on the Bayside Trail is a visual representation of the fact … Read more