Leverage strengths.
Create change.

Friends & Neighbors of Pennsylvania, Inc. (F&N) is a “for impact” organization operating in York County, Pennsylvania.

Our mission is to create change by boldly applying best practices and innovative solutions to stubborn problems that hurt our communities and prevent opportunities.

Coordinated Street Outreach Program

Friends & Neighbors’ Coordinated Street Outreach program is building relationships with and providing services to our unsheltered neighbors in the City of York. Depending on the need, specific services may include physically guiding a service recipient to shelter, helping to make phone calls for benefits and other types of connections, providing transportation support in order to return to a safe sheltered place, providing supplies to those choosing to remain outdoors, or those who cannot access shelter space for various reasons.

With each engagement, advocates build respectful and trusting relationships with these service recipients and are able to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying circumstances that have led to the recipients’ current situations. This often allows advocates to suggest and coordinate additional service opportunities through the collaborative network of services providers. Ideally, this leads to stable housing for the service recipient.

Collaborative Relationships

First and foremost, we coordinate collaborative relationships because we believe they are required to create and sustain change in our communities. No single entity or individual is as capable as a truly collaborative network. This is the basis for our axiom “Leverage strengths. Create change.”

Build Community

There are barriers to participation that limit opportunities. We want to identify and eliminate the barriers so that everyone is free to use their talents, gifts, and passions to participate in the living network that is our community. Positive relationships can overcome many of the root causes behind stubborn problems so we support individuals and organizations that intentionally seek to walk alongside others.

Foundational Issues

We seek to uncover and contend with the foundational issues or needs that can prevent our neighbors from reaching their full potential or even enjoying a basic standard of living. Affordable housing for all is an example of a “cause” in which we invest our time, talent, and funds.

Collaborative for Stable Housing in York County

The primary goal of this initiative is to significantly improve the effectiveness of all services and processes related to homelessness and housing insecurity including the application for, use, and distribution of funds. A new operating framework to address homelessness and housing insecurity is required which will be created by adapting a known successful Collective Impact Model. The model addresses all issues that lead to housing insecurity including physical and mental health concerns, addiction, violence, trauma, lack of job skills, generational poverty, etc.

Current Needs

Friends & Neighbors is part of the York County Coalition on Homelessness Code Blue Planning team. Each Monday during winter months the team meets to discuss the weather conditions for the upcoming week and confirm the code blue shelter and/or daytime warming station schedule. Due to the increased number of clients who are unable to stay in code blue shelter, emergency shelter, and/or daytime warming stations, F&N’s Coordinated Street Outreach team will visit unsheltered client locations throughout the county prior to (and if necessary during) extreme weather conditions.

The goal is to prepare the unsheltered clients as much as possible for the extreme weather event. Shortly after each episode of extreme weather, the team plans to re-visit these locations in order to repair tents, replace survival gear, and to provide wellness checks in case someone needs medical assistance for possible hypothermia, etc. The increased need for survival gear and staff support is a constant concern as we try to keep people alive this winter

Friends & Neighbors of Pennsylvania, Inc.