Outside In (organization)

History

Three founders, Dr. Charles Spray, Arnold Goldberg, and Mary Lu Zurcher founded Outside In in June 1968 and it was one of the earliest free clinics on the west coast. The organization was founded to serve Portland's "alienated youth", some of whom were illegal drug users and most had mental health issues. The needle exchange program is one of the earliest in the US. Although originally scheduled to open in July 1988, the actual opening was delayed until November 1989 over insurance issues. It was started as a pilot project involving 125 drug addicts. Bud Clark, the mayor at the time expressed concerns that it maybe seen by some as encouraging drug use. In September 2002, Portland Business Journal reported some prospective donors refuse to donate to Outside In, because of its needle exchange program.

Some of the group's early work involved staffing a 24-hour crisis hotline that was later spun off to form the Metro Crisis Intervention Service.

In November 2017, two staff members were stabbed on the job; as a result, in May 2018 the workers of Outside In voted to unionize, with Oregon AFSCME as their parent union.

Willamette Week reported in April 2019 that Outside In employees are members of AFSCME along with a handful of other private nonprofits heavily funded by government contracts.

In April 2019, Outside In announced the plan to add a second location in Gresham intended to provide services to "unique populations that are not well-served in other health care settings,". The location opened in September 2020.

By 2023, the street on which the organization is located on has become the point of encampment congregation by homeless youth who rely on Outside In services.

In 2024, the organization laid off employees twice.

Services

Outside In is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and a licensed mental health agency, The syringe exchange, implemented in 1989, was the first one to be developed and the third to go into operation in the country. The needle exchange program has been operating a fentanyl testing service on street drugs for about two years where subjects bring samples of their illegal drugs or drug residues from paraphernalia as told to Oregon Public Broadcasting. The article said drug possession remains strictly illegal. They have also been handing out other supplies like glass pipes, tin foil and naloxone at its downtown Portland location. In 2023, the organization self reported it served 969 youth with mental health care, drug and alcohol treatment, employment, education, job training, and housing. Outside In's medical clinic provided primary care to 4,601 patients in 2023. The same year, the group's syringe exchange furnished 1.14 million syringes to 3,157 clients. The organization's harm reduction program has received over a million dollars from Measure 110 funding and an estimated 100 clients utilize it daily. Some of the funds are directed to the purchase of pipes, needles and other supplies. After it started handing out smoking supplies in October 2022, its program manager reported this caused an 87% increase in monthly visit to the ham reduction services.[[File:OUTSIDE IN KIT.jpg|thumb|Injection kit given out by the Outside In IDU Health Services to drug addicts]]

Community objection

The needle exchange program offered through Outside In and Multnomah County was the subject of a grievance by the adjacent neighborhood Goose Hollow Foothills League due to concerns that needles handed out by Outside In are littered in Goose Hollow by its drug addict clients. The neighborhood association sent a letter on the matter of needles and other supplies given out by Outside In to a Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran in February 2018. This letter was published in part in Portland Tribune

Age restricted services

Some of the services offered are eligibility restricted to clients 16–24 years of age.

Job training

"Bespoke" is bicycle-powered smoothie cart set up in Portland's O'Bryant Square that gives homeless youth on-the-job training.

In 2005 the organization set up Virginia Woof, a non-profit dog daycare centre to provide training and employment for their clients. It operates in two locations.

Auxiliary services

In addition to the fixed location clinic, Outside In's medical clinic operates two medical outreach vans and a school-based health center at Milwaukie High School.

References

References

1. "Leadership".
2. Teig, Randy. (27 April 2017). "Neighborhood Training Community Response to Livability Issues". Bureau of Police, Portland Oregon.
3. (2022-05-20). "Innovation and adaptation: The rise of a fentanyl smoking culture in San Francisco". PLOS ONE.
4. (1994). "Master-at-arms NAVEDTRA 12740". Naval Education and Training Program Development.
5. Carson, Teresa. (April 4, 2019). "Outside In plans Gresham clinic".
6. Hewitt, Lyndsey. (April 18, 2017). "Spike in discarded syringes littering Portland".
7. "About Us". Outside In.
8. Turner, Kernan R.. (July 24, 1969). "Outside-In Director Can Cite Ear-Ringing Drug Statistics". [[The Register-Guard]].
9. Ritchie, Rachel. (October 23, 2014). "Lifetime Achievement: Kathy Oliver of Outside In". [[Portland Monthly]].
10. (September 9, 1988). "Outside In Clinic celebrates 20 Years of Health, Social Services". [[The Oregonian]].
11. Olsen, Polina. (2012). "Portland in the 1960s: Stories from the Counterculture". The History Press.
12. Sparling, Zane. (July 3, 2018). "Outside In's longtime director wraps up job".
13. Hottman, Sara. (2013-06-01). "With funding intact, Outside In needle exchange continues mission to curb HIV".
14. Lambert, Bruce. (1988-06-10). "Addicts in Portland, Ore., Will Get Free Hypodermic Needles (Published 1988)". The New York Times.
15. Cook, Dan. (September 1, 2002). "Youths and more?". Portland Business Journal.
16. "Two wounded in stabbing at Portland nonprofit". KGW.
17. (22 May 2018). "At Outside In, an overwhelming vote to unionize". nwLaborPress.
18. McCullough, Mark. (23 May 2018). "128 Oregon Workers Say Yes to AFSCME".
19. Furlan, Elise. (April 17, 2019). "A Nonprofit Aiding Refugees Epitomizes Portland Values. What Happens When Its Workers Want a Union?". Willamette Week.
20. Carson, Teresa. (September 8, 2020). "Medical clinic for families in need opens in east Portland".
21. (2023-08-21). "Police clear large homeless camp in downtown Portland that was a magnet for homeless youth".
22. "Job cuts hit Portland nonprofit that helps homeless youth".
23. (2015). "The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-Being". [[Routledge]].
24. Foden-Vencil, Kristian. (September 26, 2019). "Authorities Support Program To Check Purity Of Street Drugs".
25. (2023-07-11). "Portland drug users are getting free supplies, whether Multnomah County distributes them or not".
26. "2023 Impact Report". Outside In.
27. Riddle, Katia. (2024-02-21). "How Oregon turned on its own trailblazing drug law: 'Not the utopia we were promised'". The Guardian.
28. (2023-07-12). "Here's What Multnomah County Leaders Had to Say About Its Suspended Harm Reduction Program".
29. Budnick, Nick. (March 8, 2018). "Used syringes litter Portland as needle exchanges grow". Portland Tribune.
30. "Guy Dumps Syringes Outside Portland Needle Exchange Office".
31. (October 7, 2024). "Outside In's drug use policy draws criticism from neighbors, businesses". [[KATU]].
32. Girsch, Emily. (2024-10-07). "Drug use policy outside Portland harm reduction center draws criticism".
33. "Young Adult Services".
34. Binder, Melissa. (September 23, 2014). "Homeless Youth Get Job Experience Making Bike-Powered Smoothies for 'Social Juice-stice'". The Oregonian.
35. Sparling, Zane. (3 July 2018). "Outside In's longtime director wraps up job".
36. Balas, Monique. (13 November 2011). "Pet Talk: Day care serves dogs, trains people".
37. "Medical Services". Outside In.