Coffee & Connections Meeting: Miracle Messages and Downtown Streets Team

Downtown Streets Team is a Union Square Cares program, which offers workforce development opportunities to homeless individuals around the Union Square community. Since launched, 21 members have been permanently housed and 23 have received full-time employment. DST members were responsible for removing over 210,000 lbs of debris last year.
Miracle Messages is a new program of Union Square Cares where a person experiencing homelessness records a message to a loved one, often with the help of a volunteer. Their extensive network of digital detectives attempt to locate the loved one and deliver the Miracle Message. 20% of reunions have led to housing and 80% have led to a positive outcome, all at a fraction of the cost of other interventions.