Northern Nevada has been grappling with the complex and connected challenges of housing instability and public health for many years. Outreach teams, clinicians, mutual aid leaders, government agencies and health care providers continue to show up day after day to support unhoused communities. When these partners came together at the region’s first StreetReach Summit this month at the ҹɫÊÓƵ, one message resonated: The expertise is here and the commitment is here.
StreetReach is a collaborative initiative led by the ҹɫÊÓƵ’s School of Public Health’s Larson Institute and the Orvis School of Nursing to strengthen care systems for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness through sustainable, data-informed, relationship-centered solutions.
While this was the first summit of its kind held on campus, it was built on months of listening sessions and years of partnership. The School of Public Health and the Orvis School of Nursing are helping convene and connect efforts that have long existed, creating space for shared priorities to emerge from the people closest to the work and those they serve.
“Our role as a university is to work alongside the community, listen with care and help build the systems that support health and well-being,” said Muge Akpinar-Elci, MD, MPH, dean of the School of Public Health. “This summit shows what is possible when partners come together with a shared purpose.”
The StreetReach Summit is part of that broader purpose. The schools of Public Health, Nursing and Medicine share a long-standing commitment to strengthening health care access across Nevada, from urban neighborhoods to rural communities.
“This was not a conference. It was a strategic working session,” said Charlie Yingling, DNP, FNP, dean of the Orvis School of Nursing. “Street health demands clinical skill, humility and a deep commitment to showing up for our community. Today we brought together people who live that commitment every day and asked what we can accomplish together in the next six months.”
National expertise meets local action
The summit brought three nationally recognized leaders in street medicine and public health to campus.
“Street health demands clinical skill, humility and a deep commitment to showing up for our community. Today we brought together people who live that commitment every day and asked what we can accomplish together in the next six months." – Charlie Yingling, DNP, FNP, dean of the Orvis School of Nursing
Deb Borne, MD, MSW, former director of Street Medicine and Shelter Health for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, emphasized the foundational role of dignity and basic human needs in health.
“Hygiene is a human right,” she said, underscoring how lack of access to showers, laundry and restrooms not only harms individuals, it creates public health risks, leading to preventable infections and increased emergency care.
Corinne Feldman, MMS, PA-C, assistant professor and director of Community Engagement at USC Street Medicine, urged participants to rethink how and where care is delivered.
“Go to the people and then go where they go,” she said, highlighting the importance of consistent presence, relationship-building and care grounded in lived experience.
Michael Huyck, DNP, FNP-BC, family and addiction medicine nurse practitioner with the University of Illinois Chicago, shared approaches to street-based wound care and harm reduction, focusing on the trust, continuity and practical support needed to treat chronic wounds among people who inject drugs.
The national insights were complemented by the ҹɫÊÓƵ’s own local expertise, including colleagues from the School of Medicine, who added important on-the-ground perspective. Through efforts such as the Student Outreach Clinic, which was founded to expand access to quality medical care for underserved residents while training future physicians, the School of Medicine continues to support community health efforts like StreetReach and contribute important clinical insight to this work as the initiative grows.
Local partners then shared rapid-fire presentations that highlighted both strengths and gaps across the region. Representatives from Northern Nevada HOPES, Karma Box Project, Volunteers of America, Renown Health and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office HOPE Team offered updates on outreach, behavioral health, safe-camp management, maternal health and public safety efforts.
“What stood out today was that every sector is committed to a collaborative community approach,” said Jane Fox, director of the Larson Institute at the School of Public Health. “We heard from mutual aid groups, hospitals, law enforcement, behavioral health providers, students and national experts. The message was consistent. We know what our community members need. Now, we need coordinated action.”
Community-driven priorities emerge
During the afternoon working session, participants used live polling to identify the region’s most urgent street health challenges. Common themes included limited access to basic hygiene, fragmented referral pathways, challenges placing individuals into housing and the need for multidisciplinary outreach teams that include peers, clinicians and behavioral health specialists. Through upvoting, participants also identified three realistic actions the community can take within six months including establishing a coordinated street health outreach network, improving coordination and information sharing between service providers and partnering on advocacy related to hygiene access and housing policy.
Attendees acknowledged that while partners have been working toward solutions for years, the growing need continues to outpace existing systems. The tone throughout the summit balanced honesty with optimism and underscored a shared readiness for progress.
“Northern Nevada is at a turning point,” Fox said. “The people in that room are ready to build something compassionate, coordinated and grounded in public health. Today felt like the start of that future.”
Momentum continues with new support
The University announced that Gilead Sciences awarded a FOCUS grant to support a collaborative effort between the ҹɫÊÓƵ School of Public Health and Orvis School of Nursing to implement the next phase of the StreetReach collaborative.
The grant will help expand coordinated outreach and strengthen partnerships across the region to provide blood-borne virus testing and linkage to medical and supportive services. In parallel, the Orvis School of Nursing will establish a faculty-led wound care program that will be integrated into StreetReach’s outreach and referral efforts.
In the coming weeks, the StreetReach team will share a white paper summarizing the summit’s discussions and recommended next steps.
