Inspired by
Science
Young inventor
competes for
top prize
‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVII • Number 28
See Metro, page 9
Incredible
Survivor
Injured woman
found alive
after crash
See Local News, page 3
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 18, 2018
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo courtesy
M ultnoMah c ounty
Case managers from the non-profit Central City Concern’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, (pictured from left) Juliana DePietro, Hubert Matthews, Jason
Sheffey, and Carlos Reynoso, work outside the court system to help low level drug offenders, often people on the streets and people who are homeless, get the social
services and treatment they need instead of continuing a cycle through the criminal justice system.
Team Beats Back Jail Door
Works with drug addicted, homeless to change outcomes
by D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
A pilot project shows promise as a way
of helping people struggling with serious
drug addictions, many of whom living on
the street, get connected with social ser-
vices and treatment, instead of continuing
to cycle through the criminal justice sys-
tem.
In a city where one in every two arrests
made by the Portland Police Bureau last
year was of a homeless person, as the Or-
egonian recently reported, a recent expan-
sion of the program could help ameliorate
the issues that plague the un-housed.
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diver-
sion or LEAD program is a county-funded,
pre-booking jail diversion program that
allows police to divert someone facing a
low-level drug offense to case managers,
who curate individualized treatments, and
keep them away from jail or prosecution.
For about the past year and a half, the
non-profit organization Central City Con-
cern has contracted with Multnomah Coun-
ty to provide the services to said would-be
drug offenders. Originally encompassing
clientele from downtown Portland and the
Lloyd District, the program expanded in
May to encompass central southeast cli-
ents, too.
The coordinated effort between law
enforcement agencies, service providers,
community organizations and elected of-
ficials is aimed to reduce crime and the
harm individuals struggling with addiction
can cause themselves and their community.
The majority of the program’s clients are
those experiencing homelessness, Karen
Kern, who oversees the LEAD program
at Central City Concern, told the Portland
Observer.
She said she’s received supportive re-
sponses from the community with what the
program has been able to achieve so far.
“We’ve been able to show that we actu-
ally have some positive outcomes. [We’ve
helped] people who’ve been chronically
homeless and using substances [...] that are
now housed and sober and working. Even
the officers are like ‘wow I can’t believe
this; it’s like a complete transformation for
this person,’” Kern said.
Since its launch in February 2017, 99
c ontinueD on p age 4