In mid-December, we received an email from the Ulster County Department of Mental Health. They asked if we would be interested in signing on as a subcontractor on a grant from NACCHO: the National Association of City and County Health Officials. Specifically, they wanted to know if we would be up for reviving or rebooting our Mid-Hudson Project Reach Out (PRO) program to provide support and referrals to Ulster County residents with substance use disorder issues. We said yes, collaborated on a grant application, and were very pleased to learn that it was funded!

Street Outreach will offer many of the same services as PRO but is not van-based. Services include referrals to full spectrum addiction treatment (including in- and outpatient services and transportation to intake/admission appointment as needed), Expanded Syringe Access Program (ESAP), Syringe Exchange Program (SEP), Narcan training, HIV/HCV/STI testing counseling and navigation, case management, and food assistance.

Though we wish we could bring back PRO to the entire Mid-Hudson, we are thrilled to restore it to one county at least, and to have found a brand-new funding partner in Ulster County Department of Mental Health.