Data indicate that Chicago's homeless population has fallen over the last several years. But that doesn't mean the challenge of homelessness is going away. In a new study, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) reports that 58,723 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2019, down 16% from the year prior. The decline is part of a trend seen du...

For the first fourteen years of the agency's history, The Night Ministry staff conducted outreach on their feet, supporting the community members they encountered while walking the nighttime streets of Chicago. Realizing that many of those individuals had unaddressed health challenges, in 1990 The Night Ministry added a mobile health care component...

By Paul W. Hamann, MA, MNAPresident & CEO The Night Ministry was formed 45 years ago when a diverse coalition of Chicago-based congregations hired the Rev. Tom Behrens to reach out to individuals struggling with homelessness, isolation, and despair during the lonely overnight hours. Tom was a minister of the United Church of Christ. But as he t...

By 2015, The Night Ministry's Health Outreach Bus had been on the road for 25 years, providing free health care to Chicagoans experiencing poverty or homelessness, but the agency sensed it could be making a wider impact on the streets. "There was this inkling that we could reach more people who were really falling between the cracks if we were a li...

The Crib, The Night Ministry's overnight shelter for young adults experiencing homelessness, owes much to a group of young change makers called Homeless Experts Living Life's Obstacles (H.E.L.L.O.). For years, H.E.L.L.O. members would meet weekly to discuss their experiences and insights as young Chicagoans struggling with homelessness. Their big b...

On August 3, 2006, the residents of The Night Ministry's Open Door Shelter–Lakeview packed up their belongings and made the journey, along with the shelter's staff, to a newly rehabbed facility in Chicago's West Town neighborhood. The move came nearly 14 years after the Interim Housing Program, providing up to four months of supportive shelter to y...

By the close of the 1980s, Chicago's population of unsheltered young people had reached an estimated 10,000 individuals per year. State law prohibited nonprofits from operating group shelters for them, leaving youth experiencing homelessness with few, if any, options for a safe place to spend the night. "At the time, if you were a young person, you...

Even before Dr. Aaron Brinkman joined The Night Ministry's Street Medicine team as a Volunteer Physician, he sought ways to provide medical care to those living on the streets. Though Brinkman had a busy professional life as a primary care physician and a National Guard Commander, a television show featuring Pittsburgh's pioneering street medicine ...

How are the coronavirus and its impact on our economy and society affecting young people, adults, and families experiencing homelessness and poverty? What adjustments has The Night Ministry made so it can continue to serve during these challenging times? What can you do to help support our work and to help make sure the needs of Chicago's homeless ...

Young people served by The Night Ministry have faced a variety of disruptions and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to interviews conducted with several clients of the organization's Youth Programs, their experiences of the changes, adversities, and opportunities brought by the pandemic, while sharing some commonalities, have also ...

The sounds of Spanish are often heard along the routes of the Health Outreach Bus and the Street Medicine Team, The Night Ministry's Health Outreach programs that bring free health care and other essential resources into communities across Chicago. "Staff are out speaking Spanish with people every day," said Stephan Koruba, Senior Nurse Practitione...

Volunteers play an essential role in The Night Ministry's ability to effectively fulfill its mission. Out of caution, the agency suspended volunteer shifts at its Health Outreach and in its Youth Housing Programs when the pandemic began. However, with cases trending downward and vaccination access expanding, The Night Ministry began to bring volunt...

Dear Friend, There are phrases that have been spoken and written so many times over the last year or so that they have nearly lost their meaning. "Getting used to the new normal." "We are living in unprecedented times." "We're all in this together." I'm sure you can think of others. Frankly, I'd be happy to never hear or read them again. Yet a...

For more than a year, The Night Ministry's Street Medicine Program has been welcoming medical residents—physicians who are receiving their post-graduate training—to join staff in providing health care and supportive services to Chicago's unsheltered homeless population. The residents gain valuable hands-on experience while assisting the Street Medi...

Serving on The Night Ministry's Board of Directors is an extension of the professional life of Bennett Applegate, Jr. Applegate is an attorney whose legal practice focuses on the financing and development of affordable housing. "If you look at the spectrum of housing solutions, I'm involved in the area of permanent housing, whereas The Night Minist...

Millions of Americans have received three rounds of pandemic relief stimulus payments from the federal government. But many individuals experiencing homelessness who are eligible, and could benefit greatly from the economic assistance, have only gotten a portion of what they are entitled to, or they have not received anything at all. "Many of the f...

Keith Belton brings unique experience and perspective to The Night Ministry's Street Medicine Team. As a Peer Support Advocate, he has struggled with many of the same challenges that some of The Night Ministry's clients do. "I grew up in an abandoned building on the West Side of Chicago," Belton said. "With my mom, there were five of us kids living...

The killing of Adam Toledo by the Chicago Police is yet another grim and sobering reminder that people of color, in particular youth, are far more likely to be killed by police. Adam was a victim of not only a police system in need of major reform, but societal forces that continue to discriminate against youth of color while withholding opportunit...

During tax season, it is unsurprising that many residents at STEPS, The Night Ministry's transitional living program for young adults experiencing homelessness, might need a hand with their taxes. Though STEPS provides housing to young people ages 18 to 22, it is not the program's only focus. In addition to case management services, clients are als...

To better serve Chicagoans experiencing homelessness or poverty, we are modifying the Health Outreach Bus schedule beginning January 1, 2021. After a trial period serving Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, we have determined that there are other areas of the city where our services are more critically needed at this time. Two of those areas are&nb...