The Coffee Oasis

• Patrick Steele, Director of youth programs in Kitsap County, The Coffee Oasis - steele@thecoffeeoasis.com
• I oversee two expansions, from Kitsap to Mason County and in Pierce County
• I’ve been with the organization for 22 years – volunteered for 8 years, then launched the job training program, did case management for 12 years, and as director for last 3.
• Have worked with homeless populations since age 19 after some lived experiences.
• Let me tell you a little bit about ourselves
• Martha – when are you opening? – Pat – no news to share
• The Coffee Oasis has a 22 year history of serving homeless and at risk youth in Kitsap County. Services include:
  • Street outreach
  • Drop-in centers
  • Case management
  • Underage crisis intervention team
  • Something else I didn’t write down fast enough
  • Several housing program
    • Underage youth shelter
    • Supportive houses
  • Host homes program
• Met with a group of moms that were concerned citizens that were seeking a model to come down into Pierce County, and they adopted us.
• Bringing a 6-bed Department of Social and Human Services licensed shelter to pierce county – working with Tacoma to get a special use permit to expand that to 12 beds.
• This Tuesday, I have the final Audit from the Department of Social and Human Services for our location. We have run the gamut around policies and procedures and structure – we’ve done client files, employee files, training expectations.  We are ready for the final audit.  Within 2 weeks we’ll have our license in hand. 
• James and Gerrit will know immediately – we’ll let this group know right away.
• We are also looking to bring a coffee house to our location – about 50% of our revenue comes from our coffee operations. (they make a good cup of coffee. –ed)
• Another expectation – as an organization – we are already in a relationship with A Way Home America, Anchor Communities Initiative, and have received some funding from the Office of Homeless Youth out of Kitsap county. We’ve been in the State boardrooms for the conversation about state funding. 
• Our Pierce County focus has been connecting with the community – meeting with The Rainbow Center, the Oasis Center, and many of you may have met Sid, the Youth Director for Pierce County – we are learning how to swim these waters.
• We aren’t a solution, but another resource.
• Currently as an organization in Pierce County, we have all staff hired and trained and ready to go. We’ve hired up a drop-in center team and case management teams.  We have a flurry of interview and conversations today about street outreach teams. 
• Martha – can we assume the young people in your shelter will come from your street outreach teams? Pat - we work with a bunch of coordinated parties out of Kitsap county – a mix of youth and adult.  If we find individuals at certain locations, we are referred there to make connections
• We run a mentoring program out of 9 schools, and are talking about what schools aren’t being served presently in Pierce County.
• Meeting these last couple weeks with Remann Hall.
• Unaccompanied youth can’t sign an Release of Information.
• Beds are for youth aged 13-17.
• Tiegan – you need permission for minors in the shelter – how does that work? Patrick – 13 year olds, can they do Coordinated Entry?  Gerrit – unaccompanied under 13 can be in HMIS, but deidentified – we can track information about serving them, but with no information that would identify them.    
• Martha – when does the drop-in center open? Pat - 2 weeks after day center opens, we will open the drop-in center. 
• Pat – should be opened by July 15^th.
• Al – You location is kind of remote from the center of action downtown. Martha – the price is good and on a bus line.  Al – transportation is an issues, but buses aren’t real regular.  When I went there, I noticed it was way out the tulies (interesting word, tulies. Or toolies. Or thules.  Seems there is little consensus on the word or the origins – but I like the story that is comes from the Latin for an area at the edge of the known world. In the case of the Romans, they meant the Shetland Islands.  But toolies/tulies/thules came to be used a little more generically as somewhere on the edge of nowhere. -ed).  There aren’t a lot of services in the south end, though.  What do you think your market for services will be in that area?  Pat – we’ll reach out to the two high schools in that area – to draw the youth in that area.  Also looking at transportation from other areas – how to go about that as an organization.  We’ve been raising funding for an in-house transportation voucher system.  We don’t want to limit access by not providing transportation. 
• Bryan – Uber and Lyft have transportation grants opening soon.
• Location – 64^th and Alaska – behind Winco on 72^nd.
• Question – being faith based, what does that look like. Pat - If you want to question our specific flavor of faith-based – I’m happy to post our policies and procedures. 
• Carolyn – impressive what you are going. You mentioned Remann hall – that the facility is under-utilized- how would that partnership work.  Pat – at the State and County level – there are unsecured Crisis Resiential Centers (CRCs) and secured Crisis Residential Centers – how to move individuals who have juvenile justices in the best settings, how to connect with them.  Not sure other groups doing things like that.  With the Becca bill going into effect, we lost our Crisis Residential Center about a decade ago, and I see the impact.  We are lobbing for an unsecure Crisis Residential Center off-site in Kitsap county.  It is folks with low barriers that could be housed off site instead of the in the juvenile justice system. 
• James- excited about these programs. Looking, as we open our day center, to connect youth to the day center.