PHILADELPHIA – Managing Director Michael DiBerardinis announced the City’s latest efforts to improve the quality-of-life in the Kensington and Fairhill neighborhoods. These new initiatives expand upon the efforts that began in 2016 with the start of Mayor Kenney’s administration and included the cleanup of the Conrail railroad property in summer 2017.
“In 2016, the City launched an interdepartmental effort to finally take this neighborhood back from decades of crime, neglect, and poverty, and drug addiction,” said DiBerardinis. “The City spent tens of millions of dollars last year alone on sealing vacant properties, cleaning up lots, installing new LED street lights, increasing police presence and offering drug treatment and housing to addicted individuals.
“In 2017, Conrail finally agreed clean up its property, which for many years had harbored and attracted drug activity from across the region to Kensington. Long before the cleanup began, we increased outreach activity near the railroad property to try to link people with drug treatment and other social services. And when the cleanup work began, the City set up a full-time social services hub to engage people and get them help, rather than simply pushing them elsewhere. Since the start of the clean-up effort, outreach teams have successfully engaged with over 3,000 people for direct services, including housing and drug treatment.
“But, as anticipated, not everyone that was engaged was ready to accept help. Some did relocate from the railroad property to underpasses in the area, but the sad reality is that many more of the people who currently reside in these new encampments have come to this area since the cleanup work started. Now, the City is launching several new resources and initiatives to continue addressing the ongoing challenges in Kensington and Fairhill.”
The newest efforts in this area are described below.
• Warm Handoffs began in early December at Temple Episcopal Hospital. This initiative engages overdose survivors with certified recovery specialists right in the Emergency Department before they are discharged to try to link those individuals to behavioral health care and treatment options. This effort will be scaled up to additional North Philadelphia hospitals over the next few months.
• The City is funding a mobile van that will travel 2-3 days each week to the underpass encampments to offer services and try to get people into treatment, starting in mid-February. It will be operated by Prevention Point.
• The City has also funded an additional 10 winter beds in the area, with a total of 40 shelter beds in service, and is identifying a provider to add 30 more beds in January.
• The City will provide toolkits for residents with cleanup supplies, educational materials for how to access services, and blue light bulbs that residents can install by their front doors to enhance safety and discourage loitering as well as no trespassing signs in both English and Spanish. Residents can get these kits at El Barrio Es Nuestro community meetings starting in 2018. The first meeting is January 20, 2018 at the Salvation Army at 3160 N Mascher Street.
• The City is dedicating funding for the Fire Department to create a dedicated overdose response unit in the neighborhood. This team, comprised of EMS, a social worker, and certified recovery specialist, will travel with medic units when responding to overdose calls in the area. Should the individual refuse transfer to an emergency department, the social workers and certified recovery specialist would engage the individual and try to get them to access treatment, naloxone, and overdose education. When not responding to calls, the unit will follow up with people they had previously engaged, and engage other key community members. This is expected to be fully active by mid-summer.
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