REGIONAL ISSUES: Downtown’s new homeless outreach workers have been there themselves
Our "Regional Issues" series is sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University. As a top 20% global university, Virginia Commonwealth University is an unparalleled powerhouse of innovation and creative problem solving. VCU attacks challenges as opportunities. It's truly a university unlike any you’ve ever seen.
During our Birthday Week, we're proud to debut a new series titled "Regional Issues." Each month, we'll take a deep-dive look into an issue impacting the Richmond region, and look at the people developing solutions. Today, reporter Ned Oliver looks into homelessness.
The man starts trembling as Leon Dangerfield walks up.
He’s sitting on a stack of blankets in the back corner of a small, empty parking garage downtown. It’s dark and smells strongly of urine.
Dangerfield assures the man, a 20-something with long hair, that he’s not in trouble but he is going to need to clear out. The building is for sale and the owner has been complaining about people living here.
And by the way, has he been connected to any homeless services in Richmond?
It used to be that a business owner’s primary recourse when a person was sleeping on their property, blocking the door or otherwise impeding the flow of commerce downtown would be to call the police. These days, Dangerfield — who was once homeless himself — is far more likely to get the call.
He’s Venture Richmond’s social services outreach coordinator, tasked with connecting homeless people who find themselves downtown to whatever services might be available to help them off the street.
Sometimes that looks like getting them registered with the local shelter system, pointing them to the nearest church serving a free meal, or buying them a bus ticket to get them back to a family member’s house.
Today, it looks like handing a man two cigarettes and giving him a day to pack up his stuff in hopes that it leads to a longer conversation about getting help tomorrow.
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How VCU and the community work together to bring about positive change
“Community engagement is the pathway through which we connect the work that we do at an academic institution to real community impact, to making a difference,” said Maghboeba Mosavel, Ph.D., VCU vice provost, community engagement. “We do this through engagement with our partners and communities and through the relationships embedded in that engagement.”
“VCU brings research, students, expertise and resources into our partnerships,” she said. “Our communities also bring tremendous knowledge, strengths, resources and opportunities that benefit VCU and our students.” Read more.
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