Starting in February, Church at the Park will have fewer outreach workers available to help people move from Salem’s streets into shelters and apartments while guiding them through challenges applying for health care, employment and social services.  The organization will lay off three staff, effective Feb. 2, CEO DJ Vincent said, due to a budget cut from a contract with PacificSource. In addition to layoffs from the fall that reduced the team by two, that means that the outreach team will be half the size it was a year ago.  Vincent said the cuts will mean fewer opportunities to build relationships with people who are homeless in the Salem area. “Every person that we choose to bring on the team, that we train, that says yes to our mission and values, we believe they’re making a very positive impact on helping people, navigating people to positive destinations,” Vincent said.  Vincent said that PacificSource, which administers Medicaid in a number of Oregon counties, including Marion and Polk, informed them in December that their contract to do community health work would be cut by more than half going into 2026. Vincent declined to share the dollar amount. PacificSource did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Strain on the health care system has led to contract issues with PacificSource throughout the community, including at Salem Health which announced it reached a contract with the insurance distributor after months of uncertainty and negotiations. Salem Clinic, a large independent provider in the community, was unable to reach a contract to have Medicaid cover primary care, urgent care and endocrinology in the new year. “We don’t blame PacificSource. We understand that they have less money to distribute in different contracts and partnerships and we hope to continue the good work, the good community health work, as a partner and we hope that it will increase in the future,” Vincent said.   The outreach team meets people out in the community Monday-Friday, by visiting places like the downtown transit center, accompanying the city’s outreach teams and attending gatherings like the Oak Park Church of God’s weekly event with food, a shower truck and resources.On the streets, outreach workers help people fill out forms and schedule appointments, and look for placement in Church at the Park’s shelters and other shelters in the community. They’ll continue to work with clients after they’re placed in a shelter, and for the first six months after they move from a shelter into housing. Vincent said that each of their shelter programs, which include micro shelters and safe parking spots for people camping in their cars, have waitlists of over 100 people. He doesn’t anticipate a short-term impact of fewer shelter beds being filled.But, there will now be fewer chances for homeless people to meet an outreach worker and to start building a relationship that could get them into housing.  ”The fact that we have lost half of our outreach capacity, it is going to have an impact,” Vincent said. “It does mean that we would be starting less relationships with people.”In 2025, the outreach team served a total of 664 people, and helped 189 people move to positive destinations such as an apartment, according to numbers provided by the organization. The layoffs mean that the remaining five outreach staff will be asked to do general outreach work, rather than focusing on either adults, young adults, Polk County or safe parking clients, said Vincent. “They’re going to have to do more and not be as focused on one single population,” Vincent said.  Church at the Park’s shelter capacity will remain the same with the winter layoffs, Vincent said. After the state cut $2 million in funding to the organization this fall, Church at the Park laid off 16 people, including two outreach workers and halved the number of micro shelter beds for young adults from 38 to 19.Vincent said they’re hoping to restore two of the cut outreach positions with applications to other grants through PacificSource, and through the State Homeless Assistance Program. Church at the Park was founded in 2007, and spent about a decade working in outreach before getting into sheltering work. Vincent said there are no plans to stop doing outreach. “We’re committed to outreach as a function of who we are,” Vincent said. Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251. LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU: Subscribe to Salem Reporter and get all the fact-based Salem news that matters to you. Fair, accurate, trusted – SUBSCRIBE. The post After budget cut, Church at the Park will have fewer workers getting people into housing appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less