2 News Nevada is partnering with the City of Reno this week to present stories about Homeless Nevada that highlight the city's initiatives and the individuals it assists.
Join us this week as we bring you accounts from people who have experienced homelessness, and have gone through programs to help them change their lives.
The Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, often known as RISE, is the focus of our discussion on Monday night. The RISE Team is working on the Pathways pilot Program, which has already begun to make a difference. Having begun in July 2023, six people have found housing after leaving the streets.
Before the start of this program, the people they are helping had—on average—been homeless for ten years.
These teams are assisting people in overcoming obstacles that may prevent them from accepting assistance, such as protecting their animals.
Today, we examine the journey into housing for Bonnie Pace, a story produced by the City of Reno:
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Robert (R): "My name is Robert Downs. I'm a Field Specialist with RISE. This experience with Bonnie Pace and the Pathway pilot has been awesome and tremendous, and I'll never forget it."
Bonnie (B): "Hi, I'm Bonnie, and I'm here with these people who have been helping me get my life turned back around and back on the right path. And I appreciate them very much."
Mary (M): "My name is Mary Ortega. I'm the Clean and Safe Outreach Coordinator under the City Manager's office. The Clean and Safe team is partnered with the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality to run this Pathway pilot program."
B: "In less than six months they had me off the river in an apartment. I'm very happy - very, very happy."
R: "Bonnie Pace - I've known her for over 20 years. She's lived underneath the Greg Street Bridge. The first time that I met her, I met her with daughter Arlene and her son, were behind GSR. And, she had lots of cats—lots of cats—she loves her kittens."
B: "They got—a gal came out—Feral at Heart, her name is Rachel, came out. The Humane Society and they all worked out, and she came out with traps. And we got all the cats, all the little ones taken in and all the other ones fixed before I got off the property."
M: "Bonnie's been outside for a really long time. She's had outreach teams come and talk with her in the past. Eventually, she got to a point where she was like, I'm tired of this, like, let's figure out how to move forward. Her relationship with the team - she felt comfortable coming to them, and they were able to act fast."
R: "Providing services for houseless neighbors is a tremendous task, and working with Caitlyn and Mary has been amazing. I've learned a lot to organize and prioritize our houseless neighbors. It's not so simple, but the endgame to that is very positive."
M: "So the reason that I felt that Robert was the best person for this is because he was always there at the same time that we were providing care and support to everybody that he lived with."
R: "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be an advocate. I've always wanted to know how I can give back; now I'm giving back and learning how to. But if I just stayed in one spot - she found me, they found me. And within no time, I was in the field helping, helping our houseless neighbors."
M: "The Pathway pilot program, the concept is really about housing first and taking individuals who used to live outside to engage with their neighbors that they used to live next to and providing them with peer-to-peer services and helping them walk through the process of getting housed."
R: "She was struggling there for a minute, but she never gave up. She's always in good spirits; she's very feisty, very perky. She just needed a little help; she just needed help asking for help. And once she asked for help, then there was just no turning back. So the Pathway pilot did actually help her put her back on her own path that she was trying to proceed on. You know, it's just a little push. There you go; you got it now - let's do this together."
B: "I went; they helped me go in and get my retirement started, so we had everything going in the right way. They helped me get my hair straightened out and housing. We're slowly turning my life back around where it should be."
R: "Any and everything that she asked, we accomplished to the best of our abilities. It's very important for each and every individual of the Pathway pilot. It's very important to see that whatever they need is met if we can do it. We're going to accommodate that because that's very important."
M: "Many of us who have lived outside and who have lived experience are able to connect with the individuals that are out there on a much deeper level and understand what the barriers are from preventing them from accessing the services in the first place or in the past."
B: "For 11 years I slept on the ground, rocks, whatever. And now I'm in a - I had a hard time adjusting to sleeping on a mattress. I find myself sometimes lying on the floor. But I got my kitties - I love my kitties. Yep, they were born wild, but they're now house cats."
R: "It takes a team to build the pathway of success for these people, so it's not one person on the team; it's the whole team."
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2 News Nevada will next examine one of the biggest obstacles to ending homelessness - specifically, how city programs are assisting with access to low-income housing. We'll cover that Tuesday in our 7:00 p.m. broadcast.
