The “Be the Change” Mobile Unit has reached the two year mark. The organization was formed out of a partnership between “Artists Helping the Homeless” and Saint Luke's Hospital with financial assistance from a grant sponsored by Bank of America and the Homer McWilliams Memorial Hospital Trust. The mission of the program is to provide emergency transportation to and advocacy for Kansas City’s Homeless population, with an emphasis on using collaboration with community organizations and institutions as a means of reducing the social costs of Homelessness.
The volume and diversity of demand for these services far exceeded our expectations, and by year’s end we had taken 9,271 trips to deliver services to 1,538 individuals. 7,733 of the 9,271 trips involved providing over 70,000 miles of transportation to our clients. These individuals came in significant numbers from every section of the Homeless population, including Chronic Homeless, Families, Battered Women and at-risk youth. Our intervention model involves referrals from community hospitals, organizations or the public at large, followed by transportation to a partner organization that provides an appropriate service. We also provide follow-up care after placement.
When necessary the “Be the Change” program will also provide emergency intervention stays to our unsheltered friends in order to create a seamless transition of services.
Through the end of 2011, we have facilitated a 15,493 bed nights for 1,135 individuals, and provided another 2,407 nights of emergency intervention shelter to 76 individuals, bringing the total number of bed nights to which the “Be the Change” Mobile unit contributed to 17,900.
All of this is undertaken to improve the lives of the city’s homeless and create a more efficient and effective service delivery system city wide. We estimate that through these efforts we have provided services valued at $2,487,566 from transportation services provided and hospital costs avoided.
Transportation services were valued based on the common taxi cab pricing system of $2.50 per ride and $2.00 a mile after that. Hospital savings totaled an estimated $2,343,700 and were figured based on our service shortening the duration of hospital visits, providing transportation in place of ambulances, and preventing hospital visits altogether by delivering or brokering alternative, more appropriate services. Values associated with each of these categories were drawn from the Kansas City Police Department’s figures found in the video, "The Cost Of Doing Nothing"
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