Outreach Workers Combat Street Homelessness on the Front Lines

Marco Panchame and Ronald Gantt trudged around a ball field beside the Coney Island Creek, bundled in thick coats emblazoned with the words “Homeless Outreach.”

They’re two of the nearly 400 outreach workers whose job is to build trust with people living on the streets and bring them indoors. These two work for Breaking Ground, one of several nonprofits the city uses to perform outreach.