Mobile Hires Young As Homeless Outreach Coordinator

The City of Mobile has announced that, after more than a decade of service to its unhoused population, Kendell Young has joined the city as its first dedicated homeless outreach coordinator. Young has leadership experience at Waterfront Rescue Mission and Housing First, Inc. He will support the office of resilience and sustainability as it works to coordinate the services that faith-based organizations, nonprofits and local agencies provide to those experiencing homelessness. He will also work within the department of public safety to launch a homeless outreach team using officers from the Mobile Police Department. Using a model that has proven impactful in other communities, this team will seek to proactively engage with Mobile’s unhoused residents to build trust, offer support and connect them to community resources. The homeless outreach team, which Young will lead, will also collaborate closely with community partners like AltaPointe, the Mobile County Health Department and Housing First to address matters related to mental health and substance abuse, emergency shelter needs, transitional housing and public health. Working with nonprofits like the Waterfront Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, McKemie Place, Ransom Ministries and others, the team will work to better understand the state of homelessness in the city, its contributing factors and how to best serve those affected by it.