By Ana Celerier Salcedo

On May 15, 2023, the City of Somerville Public Health and Safety Committee assembled to discuss updates on community engagement centers and the offering of basic need vending machines across the city. In addition, the meeting provided updates on creating a safe consumption/ overdose prevention site, the Taxi to Health program, and items sent for discussion by the chief of police.

Director Karin Carroll provided an update on the plans to establish community engagement centers in Somerville. The current engagement center is operated by The Somerville Homeless Coalition, which is pleased to announce that after a lot of challenges regarding the location of the center, they were able to relocate their own offices and administrative offices to another building in order to allow for that space to serve as the engagement center instead.

The center is located in Davis Square on the lower level of the building containing the Boston Sports Club. Progress has reportedly been made on painting, basic furniture needs, internet access, and computer terminals. A highlight from the Coalition that was recently received was that one of their clients utilized the computer terminals provided to finish their housing application. The Coalition has now also offered a closet space and an area for coffee and snacks for clients.

The Coalition is still hiring staff and looking for a way to provide showers and laundry in the future due to the current challenge of the plumbing needing to be expanded to meet the center’s needs.

“So, this is a huge need, and we are continuing to explore with them and the city and partners on how we can address this,” said Director Caroll.

The Director further commented that other areas for expansion of services in the future might be medical support services for clients.

The Public Health and Safety Committee also discussed the option to explore the possibility of offering emergency contraceptive dispensers in designated city bathrooms as well as vending machines for other basic needs and Narcan. These supplies would be targeted toward low-income Somerville community members and youth.

The update provided by Legislative Liaison Neha Singh Singh regarding safe consumption sites/ overdose prevention sites caused some questions within the committee from the Chair, Ward 6 Councilor Lance Davis, and Ward 1 Councilor McLaughlin about the need for a concrete timeline to complete this project. The city council recently approved funding for modular units, but there continues to be a lack of timeline for the project.

McLaughlin expressed that the mayor in her midterm address stated that she would ensure the operation of safe consumption sites by the end of 2023 and that he was shocked when he heard that and hopes that her promise will follow through even though there is a current lack of a concrete timeline.

Lisa Robinson, the Director of Food Access and Healthy Communities, provided the committee with an update on the Taxi to Health program, which began because of residents’ need for affordable food options in Somerville but no accessible way to get to these locations. Robinson noted that there was a high volume of requests for the service to be applied to non-emergency medical appointments, and the program could offer this. The committee chair asked Robinson why the program could not provide transportation to medical emergencies. Robinson remarked that the taxi company they currently partner with doesn’t provide medical emergency transportation.

The items sent by the Chief of Police for discussion by the committee were kept in the committee for further discussion later due to further deliberation needed.