EMBARK Celebrates Milestone For Innovative Street Outreach Program

Most days around 6 a.m., 52-year-old Michael McFrazier starts to make his usual rounds for appointments and errands.

He's an avid EMBARK rider, and recently, it led him to Oklahoma City's Key to Home program.

"It's almost like, frankly amazing," he said.

McFrazier is one of seven people experiencing homelessness, who were granted housing assistance through a first-of-its-kind program in Oklahoma.

"We're really proud of this partnership that we have with the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma," said Armando Reyes, the business development and public affairs manager for EMBARK. "We've been doing this partnership for the last year and are really excited to have a case manager here embedded at the transit center."

The idea started to develop a few years ago when EMBARK leadership learned of other transit agencies forming partnerships with non-profits.

EMBARK calls its collaboration with the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma a "true partnership" that seeks out people in need, instead of relying on them to initiate a request on their own.

In its model, a case manager from MHAOK is on-site daily. They make rounds at the downtown transit center, sometimes boarding buses.

Drivers also play a role by making referrals over the radio.

"The joy of the program is that we get to instill hope in not only the patrons that ride the EMBARK system, but also with community partners, employees, staff members, and the bus drivers," said Stephanie Roberts, who leads the EMBARK case management program for MHAOK. "If we are showing healthy behaviors and we are also completing assessments and enrollment, and we are assisting security with trying to de-escalate, maybe a hard situation, it makes us feel as if we are carrying on the mission of the Mental Health Association, which is to educate and advocate for unsheltered people in Oklahoma City."

Aside from housing assistance services, case managers can also educate people on navigating the transit system or help with emergency transportation.

From Oct. 2023 to Sept. 2024, the case managers have helped people 686 times, according to MHAOK. 89 referrals have been made to mental health and substance use services at a community behavioral health agency in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City's 2024 point-in-time count revealed that 1,838 people are experiencing homelessness.

"It goes a long way toward helping us reduce the number of police incidents, helping address the root cause of those issues with mental health outreach," Reyes said.

McFrazier also received mental health services through his case manager, in addition to getting a bus pass, an ID, and social security paperwork filed.

"I want to say thank you to my case manager for helping me out because everything has kind of been at ease," McFrazier said.

"When they say it's going to be okay and all that, and you think it's not, it's going to be okay."