Forging Community Connections on the Frontlines

Our Outreach and Public Safety Team works on the frontlines, connecting people to care while keeping streets, parks, and public spaces safe. Through mobile services, hazardous waste cleanup, overdose response, and relationship-building, the team bridges community needs with center-based services.

Learn more about how this work happens every day and why it matters.

OnPoint NYC’s Outreach and Public Safety Team (OPST) are a vital part of our organization, serving as a bridge between our center-based work and the greater community. These teams most visibly operate a community syringe cleanup hotline and clean hazardous waste from streets, parks, and open spaces, keeping our communities safe. However, they also serve a pivotal role in OnPoint NYC’s community outreach, service delivery, and information gathering efforts.

Working in East Harlem, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx, our Outreach and Public Safety teams provide mobile services in high-need areas, and engage directly with the community. Most of the OPST staff members are from the communities we serve, and often have lived experience with substance use, sex work, or homelessness, making them credible messengers that can gain trust with those they encounter.

As Jason Beltre, Director of Community Initiatives and Low-Threshold Services, shares, “Our OPST teams allow us to keep our finger on the pulse of what is happening outside of the walls of our organization. It gives us boots on the ground ambassadors: people that are educators and champions of our mission, they go out and educate folks and bring people in.”

Additionally, our mobile units, through on-foot interactions, service from our vehicles, and community events, increase the amount of care and support we can provide. “We have our vehicles,” says Jason. “We go on foot, we meet the people where they are. We bring all the services that OnPoint NYC has to them.”

“We’re collecting hazardous waste. We’re intervening in overdoses. We’re distributing coats and clothing and blankets and sleeping bags, Jason shares. “We’re connecting people to care. We’re connecting people to housing. We’re connecting people to detox and treatment. And so this happens in a very organic way in the places that we go out to in the community.”

OPST staff also help save lives – they distribute narcan kits in the field, reverse overdoses, and provide medical care when needed. OPST teams also can identify changes in the drug supply or usage patterns, allowing our services to adapt rapidly in response to these shifts.

While participants on the street may not be familiar with OnPoint NYC, positive interactions with our mobile units often lead to them coming into the center for a deeper level of care.

“When relationships develop, they feel more comfortable and then they can take advantage of the full range of services OnPoint NYC has,” says Jason. They often become participants in our Overdose Prevention Center or Drop-In Centers, where they begin making deeper changes and improving their quality of life – including finding stable housing, accessing benefits, starting medication-assisted treatment, managing chronic illnesses, and more.

This is important, as many of the people OPST engages with are often overlooked, and in need of assistance. “Lots of the people that we serve, it’s the last stop for them,” says Jason. Many have experienced trauma, discrimination, and other wrongs by various systems – such as the criminal justice system or the hospital system – and have no other means of support. “There are many people that are in need and need a lot of advocacy and support and guidance, and we’re here to do that,” he shares.

“I think we really can never lose sight of the fact that those people who do use drugs and do engage in sex work, they are also part of the community,” says Thomas Blazsek, Field Service Manager. “So for people whose needs are otherwise neglected, we are always there to respond.”

“I know for a fact that we have seen the change in many of our participants’ lives,” he says.