Downtown Homeless Resource Hub Transitions To New Corazón Day Center & Resource Hub In City Of San Antonio

Press release from the City of San Antonio:

July 2, 2021

SAN ANTONIO – For the past 16 months, the City of San Antonio Department of Human Services Homeless Division has worked alongside Corazón San Antonio, Centro San Antonio, SAPD's HOPE Team, Municipal Court staff, and other partners to operate a resource hub for unsheltered homeless clients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Downtown Resource Hub has been located at the San Fernando Gym, providing food, COVID vaccinations, showers, hygiene items, information on COVID-19, masks, case management, ID Recovery, clothing and connection with community resources (e.g. employment, behavioral health and medical services).

Beginning on Monday, July 5, the City’s COVID response Homeless Resource Hub will transition to Corazón San Antonio as a permanent Day Center and Resource Hub which will be located at 504 Avenue E on the campus of Grace Lutheran Church. The Day Center and Resource Hub will provide a range of essential services to unhoused community members.

A formal ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony is planned for Thursday, July 8, at 5:30 p.m., followed immediately by “Neighborhood Voices” focus group with facilitator Demonte Alexander.

At the new center, clients will receive warm meals, day center activities, access to hot showers at Christian Assistance Ministries next door, shelter from weather, and safe places to meet with outreach workers, case managers and recovery groups.

This marks a transition from the community’s COVID response launched in April 2020 to a longer-term co-location of services, involving longtime service partners like Christian Assistance Ministries, Haven for Hope, and the City of San Antonio Department of Human Services Street Outreach Initiative.

Select services, including the Corazón Medical Clinic, Corazón Dermatology Clinic, The Alamo Street Choir, Wednesday Night Recovery Circle, and Sunday Morning Café will continue to be hosted at Travis Park Church, Corazón’s current location, with transportation provided to clients.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said, “The revived Corazon Day Center and Resource Hub is a welcome and timely addition to our homeless initiatives in San Antonio. This past year has taught us all that we are stronger when we work together as non-profits, governmental departments, and outreach specialists. We are thrilled that Corazon San Antonio will partner with DHS, Haven for Hope, Christian Assistance Ministries and others to provide improved case management and preventive services as to our unhoused neighbors. Thank you to all agencies, staff and volunteers that created the Resource Hub model over the last 16 months during these trying times. Your work did not go unnoticed and saved lives.”

Gavin Rogers said, “It has been such a joy to partner with so many great organizations to create the Resource Hub in downtown San Antonio. We are grateful that the Department of Human Services allowed us to continue some of our services to our unhoused neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic at the San Fernando Gym Hub. This group initiative sparked a desire to reopen the Corazón Day Center that was open from 1999 to 2008 and provided clients with daily preventive resources to get off the street or seek respite. We are excited that this new Day Center and Resource Hub will create new partnerships with DHS, Christian Assistance Ministries and Haven for Hope so we can work in collaborative ways to solve some of the remaining problems that limit our unhoused neighbors. Over the last few months, we have listened to our clients and have learned what many want in a day center and how we can learn to better understand our common humanity. At Corazón we strive to seek unconditional love and justice in action toward all neighbors and we know this new center will be one way we reach that goal and honor our commitment to our friends on the street. Through this project more clients will find places to call home.”

Morjoriee White, Homeless Services Administrator at the Department of Human Services, said, “It’s been an exciting journey to see this initiative transition from our immediate COVID response to assist individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness to now a more long-term initiative within our homeless response system. When we started this program early in the pandemic, shelters had closed their intake offices and resources were limited, which left the unsheltered without basic resources. I want to extend a big thank you to the many partners and volunteers who have supported the City throughout this initiative. Their service and commitment have been exemplary. As we transition this program to the Corazon Day Center and Resource Hub, I am confident that our partnerships will continue to make greater impact in the lives of our neighbors experiencing unsheltered homelessness.”

David Stone, Board Chair of Corazón San Antonio, said, "COVID-19 only reinforced that offering low-barrier options for accessing essential services is critical for moving the unsheltered individuals we serve out of crisis mode and into a place where they are open to building relationships and receiving guidance like counseling or referral support. We are thankful to DHS for past and current support of this new initiative and look forward to partnering with many other organizations as we grow.”

To visit the new Corazon Day Center and Resource Hub, please contact Gavin Rogers, Corazón San Antonio Executive Director, at 210-275-6744 or email gavin@corazonsa.org. To learn more about Corazón Ministries, please visit www.corazonsa.org. To learn more about the City of San Antonio’s Homeless Services Division, go to https://www.sanantonio.gov/humanservices/HomelessServices

This press release was produced by the City of San Antonio. The views expressed here are the author’s own.