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INCREASING OUTREACH <br />Through learned experiences, the City of Santa Ana has realized that proactive outreach and engagement has the biggest impact on <br />the community at large. In 2019, the City expanded City Net's contract to include additional teams of two staff members working five <br />days a week, from 7 a.m. to 5:50 p.m. Two days a week, City Net teamed up with SAPD to respond to calls together. <br />In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City began to look at outreach differently. As calls for service continued to <br />increase, it became clear that a more persistent response to those living on the streets was needed. The City of Anaheim had recently <br />formed a Community Care Response Team, utilizing City Net for a call center as well as in -person outreach. Anaheim 911 dispatchers <br />diverted non -emergency, homeless -related calls to City Net, and both City Net's in -person and phone outreach teams had expanded <br />hours of operation. This program has been highly successful in Anaheim, and fit the bill for what Santa Ana needed. The Santa Ana <br />City Council authorized and awarded a contract to City Net to expand their services and start a pilot program for the Santa Ana <br />Multidisciplinary Response Team (SMART) to receive 911 dispatch calls seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., expand outreach <br />hours from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and have teams on the streets seven days a week. SMART includes homeless services outreach case <br />managers, a safety coordinator, and access to medical, mental, and behavioral health assistance in the field without an additional <br />call. <br />SMART Pilot Program Goals: <br />1. Exit homeless individuals from the streets of Santa Ana. <br />2. Divert approximately 500 calls a month for non -emergency, non-violent, <br />homeless -related services to facilitate a quick connection between individuals <br />experiencing homelessness and appropriate services; <br />5. Provide safe COVID-19 information and interventions to vulnerable homeless <br />neighbors. <br />4. Develop a pilot for a regional response to homelessness that connects homeless <br />neighbors to housing solutions throughout the region, through full participation in <br />the Orange County Continuum of Care. <br />