This FREE HRC webcast, which aired on Thursday, April 8, 2010 described effective strategies for street outreach with people experiencing homelessness. The webcast featured Jeff Olivet and Steven Samra of the Homelessness Resource Center.

View the complete webcast recording: Effective Street Outreach: Why It's Important, How YOU Can Do It Better!

Download the PowerPoint presentation: Effective Street Outreach: Why It's Important, How YOU Can Do It Better! note: by opting to download this file, you will be redirected to a third party site for the download.

This HRC webcast highlighted best practices for conducting effective street outreach with people experiencing homelessness. Presenters offered an overview of effective approaches to outreach and engagement, “dos and don'ts” for outreach workers, and new trends in outreach. The webcast addressed how outreach practices have changed to adapt to new service models like Housing First, Rapid Re-Housing, and other promising practices.

About the Presenters

Jeff Olivet, MA
Jeff Olivet is Director of Training for the Homelessness Resource Center. He has been working on issues of homelessness, poverty, and HIV since 1993, and has worked as an outreach worker, case manager, housing director, activist, writer, and trainer. Jeff has also worked as a consultant, trainer, and writer with the National Center on Family Homelessness, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, and numerous other organizations. In addition to his work on homelessness, Jeff has worked with public hospitals and clinics around the country to improve health care access for poor and underserved patients, and has been involved in international health projects in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. He holds a Master of Arts in English from Boston College and a Bachelor of Arts in English and French from the University of Alabama. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife Hannah and their children, Atticus and Lucca.

Steven Samra, MPA
Steven recently joined the Homelessness Resource Center team as a Recovery Specialist. He is also a Veteran’s Services Coordinator with Operation Stand Down Nashville. He spent 30+ years in and out of homelessness while battling addictions, then "got it together" in 2000 and received his BA and MPA at Cal State University Chico. Since then, he has dedicated his life to serving those who are still on the street. For the past three years, Steven has worked as a street outreach worker and you can currently find him assisting homeless veterans in and around Nashville, Tennessee. He serves on the Board of the Nashville Coalition for the Homeless, co-founded and writes for The Contributor, a street newspaper produced and sold by the homeless, is a staff writer for Change.org’s homelessness section and blogs at Stone Soup Station. In his spare time, he breathes.