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MHP operates more than 30 programs across five counties. One of our most critical is Street Outreach, which works every day to support people experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia and Delaware Counties.
Our Outreach Teams engage individuals with empathy and respect, offering critical support, resources, and pathways to housing stability and supportive services.
Last year, our outreach teams had more than 5,000 encounters with people experiencing homelessness, and this year we are on track to exceed that number. Our Delaware County Outreach program, Delco PATH, served more than 350 people just in the month of October 2025.
Delco PATH's Outreach Specialists work to improve the quality of life for people experiencing homelessness. It is the only street outreach team in Delaware County.
The teams operate seven days a week (including during extreme weather) 24 hours on most weekdays and 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on weekends.
Outreach looks different for everyone. Sometimes, it’s simply stopping, listening, and building a trusting relationship, which serves as a bridge to future engagement in services and housing.
Depending on the season, Delco PATH can interact with as many as 20 people in a single day, especially during the summer and fall when more people are living outside. Outreach teams meet people where they are. During the frigid winter months, staff work hard to connect people to shelters and warming centers, while recognizing that many individuals prefer to remain outdoors due to traumatic past experiences. Our goal is always safety — helping people get warm, stay alive, know they’re not forgotten, and to serve as a bridge to a brighter future.
In addition to shelters and warming centers, the outreach teams also utilize MHP's Project Share Recovery Learning Center in Upper Darby. Project Share serves as a welcoming center and an opportunity to further engage participants in recovery including connections to an array of services, both in-house and through partnerships, recovery groups, showers, and washers and dryers.
When someone is ready to accept shelter or housing support, our teams guide them through Coordinated Entry, a centralized process used by Delaware County to refer people to available housing and services. Outreach staff can transport individuals directly to housing in a program van or provide bus passes to help them get there.
Delco PATH teams can travel more than 100 miles in a single day. When they connect with someone, staff assess their immediate needs and can provide food or outreach bags containing basic hygiene and safety items, including blankets, hats, socks, gloves, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and sanitizing wipes.
Even when people choose to remain on the street, our staff continue to show up day after day, to build relationships and continue offering resources and support for however long it takes. It can take dozens of conversations before someone says yes to help. A few times each month, those efforts lead to success. People move off the street and into safe, stable housing, where they can begin working with peer support and other mental health and wellness services that help them continue their path to recovery.
People experiencing homelessness deserve dignity, care, and hope. Our staff believe deeply in that truth, and they do this important work because they are passionate about it and because many of them have lived experience and have walked a similar pathway.
They are invested in helping people, and they know this work matters. For them, outreach is more than a job — it is a calling.
TO WATCH VIDEO OF DELCO PATH IN ACTION, CLICK BELOW
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