Maya McFadden Photo
In another continuing sign that the pandemic is easing its grip on our area, officials announced that the Blake Field Drop-In Center—a pop-up facility (pictured) providing on-site Covid-19 testing and other services for the homeless amid the pandemic— will soon fold its flaps.
The shut down date is scheduled for Friday.
Livable City Initiative staffer Linda Davis made that announcement at Monday night’s East Rock Community Management Team meeting hosted by the chair David Budries via the Zoom teleconferencing app and attended by about 18 neighbors and officials.
The green tent went into business on May 4 providing food, clothing, testing, counseling, and even showers at the nearby East Rock Magnet School and has received 900 visits that included 106 showers, Davis reported.
The tent, which operated Monday through Friday between noon and 4 p.m., was operated by staffers from homeless service organizations such as Liberty Community Services and others, along with students, and volunteers from the neighboring East Rock community.
“They did well,” Davis said, pronouncing the seven-week effort a “success story,” with many of the homeless who came being linked up, as a result of their visits, to more lasting services.
Area resident Mark Aronson asked, via the chat function, why the decision had been made to cease operations.
“It was only for a month, a pilot,” replied Davis, “and no one has picked it up to carry it on, but they’re looking into” whether there’s someone interested in continuing the effort.
East Rock Alder Anna Festa thanked all the volunteers, many from the immediate neighborhood, who gave their time to the effort. “Thank you for your compassion and empathy,” she said. “I also think it was successful in placing many of the homeless into services.”
The tent, a triage facility, was pitched at Blake Field because it is near some of the encampments off the nearby I‑91 overpass and exit.
That has been a site where chronic, hard-core homeless people, who shun more traditional services, have gathered over the years.
A clear need for a permanent drop in resource center for the homeless with laundry, self sterilizing bathrooms and showers, mental health services, health clinic, housing support, substance abuse services could be paid for with some of the funds saved by defunding and transforming the police. Society needs to take homeless, mentally ill and substance abusing people off the shoulders of the police and instead decriminalize and address humanely these social ills.