The Rescue Alliance (RA) is a coalition of faith-based organizations addressing homelessness in New York City and New Jersey.
What began in 2008 as Don’t Walk By, a now annual winter outreach to New Yorkers living on the street, has developed into year-round efforts to collaboratively tackle homelessness in our city. The Rescue Alliance staff works to foster and facilitate collaboration among the RA Members and partners.
Last year you helped us raise over $10k! This year our goal is to raise $25k to support not only Don’t Walk By, but our other Rescue Alliance Initiatives. To date, Rescue Alliance has seven initiatives (below), including a brand new Don’t Walk By coming to Newark in 2020! To give, click here.
Mobile Care Management Initiative
A collaboration amongst RA Members and partners that not only meets our homeless friends in highly concentrated neighborhoods by connecting them to critical resources and relationships, but also provides the follow-up care that is often necessary in order to be effective.
MCM sites include The Bowery Mission’s Tribeca Campus, The Salvation Army’s NY Temple, and we are working on a new collaboration in Harlem (coming soon!).
Re-entry Initiative
A brand new collaboration between Prison Fellowship (at Rikers Island), The Bowery Mission and The Salvation Army seeks to drastically reduce recidivism by partnering with incarcerated men and women to create a plan upon release. After spending time in Prison Fellowship’s Discipleship Program, qualifying individuals will (1) be picked up directly from Rikers Island by The Salvation Army, (2) receive emergency assistance available from their Manhattan Citadel in Harlem, and (3) having already agreed to a new plan with The Bowery Mission’s “Choose Help” program, begin immediately upon release (programming in Harlem).
Emergency Shelter Initiative
The collaborative efforts to find safe, temporary shelter for our homeless friends has never been more challenging! Planning conversations include members of every Rescue Alliance organization, along with New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS), the Emergency Shelter Network (ESN), human.nyc, Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS) and NYC’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS). With more than 4,000 individuals sleeping on the streets and subways each night, we’re continually looking for ways to aid our friends who do not make use of the NYC shelter system (for many reasons, mostly due to safety and conditions).
Samaritan Beacon Initiative
Partnering with Samaritan out of Seattle, Washington, this collaboration seeks to provide digital wallets to our homeless friends, giving access to direct shopping experiences throughout the city while also connecting them to regular counseling services with our trusted partners. Samaritan also provides an app for users to download on their phones, providing everyday NYers the opportunity to share resources with “beacon holders” that can lead to effective outcomes. This collaboration is in development. Our RA Members are awaiting funding in order to launch a roll out. If interested in helping fund this initiative, please contact Rescue Alliance Executive Director, Brian Moll.
Detox Initiative
In December we concluded a multi-year study tracking the relationship each of our member organizations has with detox facilities throughout the city, gauging bed availability and, importantly, the rate of referred individuals returning to one of our partner organizations. Two next steps to this initiative include strengthening the relationship with detox facilities where we have seen the best results, and opening discussions about the potential for our very own detox facility. To note, news of the City’s upcoming closure of detox facilities inside hospitals is raising alarm for our organizations and we are planning more conversations around this reality.
Don’t Walk By (DWB)
Our annual outreach in February has three primary goals. First, to serve our friends on the street by partnering with the best agencies in the city to provide both temporary relief and access to long-term help. Second, to empower everyday New Yorkers who care and want to help. We do this through training and the outreach itself. Third, DWB serves as a catalyst for collaboration. We consistently see agencies give RA collaboration a “trial run” through partnering on an event like DWB, then step into more collaborative opportunities after a good relationship has been established. This year we hope to serve nearly 2500 guests and volunteers through our outreach.
Don’t Walk By - Newark
Building on the success of Don’t Walk By (Manhattan) we are embarking on a different city in the fall of 2020. Our RA Members have been doing good work in Newark for years, and we would love to cultivate collaboration in the city among members and (coming soon) partners! Our goals will be the same as DWB-Manhattan, but will allow the realities of this city to determine the way we serve our neighbors best.
Rescue Alliance Summit on Homelessness (and regular workshops + trainings)
On March 28th, 2020, we are holding our inaugural Summit on Homelessness. This Summit seeks to educate, equip, and inspire everyday New Yorkers to be fully engaged on behalf of our homeless friends. This event is sponsored by Hope For New York, Rescue Alliance, and CityServe.
Date: Saturday, March 28th
Time: 10am - 2pm
Location: The Salvation Army’s NY Temple (120 West 14th)
We also regularly facilitate workshops throughout the city inside churches and nonprofits to equip those who want to help but don’t know how. We annually train about 2500 individuals. If your church would like to host a training please reach out: hello@rescuealliance.nyc