Kim Schweickert on Women and Family Homelessness and OUR Place

One of the very first episodes of Renoites was with Ben Castro of RISE, the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, in which we talked about homelessness in the Reno area. That episode was recorded shortly after the opening of OUR Place, the designated area shelter for women and families.

Recently, a listener reached out asking for an update on OUR Place. On this week's episode of the podcast, we deliver exactly that! Kim Schweickert has worked with unhoused individuals in Northern Nevada for many years, and is currently the Human Service Coordinator at OUR Place, under the Washoe County Human Services agency.

Conor and Kim talk in this episode about the services that OUR Place provides and how it fits in the to ecosystem of homeless services in Washoe County, the different models of addressing homeless and terminology like "shelter resistant" and "housing first," the challenge of making an exit plan from a shelter environment when there isn't much affordable and accessible housing in the area, untreated mental illness and it's connection with substance use, and a whole lot more!

This is the last normal episode of this season of Renoites, though there are still a couple live episode recordings to come, so keep an eye out for those. We'll be back with new regular episodes in the beginning of 2024, so please reach out and let Conor know what you'd like to hear! Who would make a good guest? What topics are important to you that we should cover? Send your emails to conor@renoites.com

Thank you so much for listening! Please consider supporting Renoites on Patreon at http://patreon.com/renoites