Interview with Program Director of SOS (part 1)

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Kim Polatas, the Program Director of Street Outreach Services (SOS) in Akron. She has held this position for a little over a year, and I was able to learn a lot about her and this great organization during this interview.

Check out the interview below!

Q: What interested you in becoming Program Director for Street Outreach Services?

Kim: “There aren’t many other programs like this in the area that focuses specifically on the 16-24 year olds…to even think about young adults that are struggling with homelessness or are at the risk of being homeless at any given moment, it’s just exciting to become part of the mission and help them either avoid being homeless or help get them out of that situation and into a safe and stable environment.”

Q: What is the main goal of Street Outreach Services?

Kim: “…Housing is a big one. In this area alone, AMHA has 20,00 people on their wait list. So, affordable housing is a huge component to this. It’s also the emotional support, the basic needs, its…trying to keep them in some sort of a relationship with a caring adult. That’s a critical piece that a lot of our kids don’t have…”

Q: Are a lot of the people on that waiting list families or people with younger children?

Kim: “It’s across the board…they also have senior housing so it could be the older population…its just, there aren’t enough units for the people that need their services.”

“One of the largest issues here in Summit County is affordable housing….safe affordable housing.”

Q: There are other organizations that focus on Veterans and other types of adults, but there must be a need for you guys in Akron for y’all to still be here-”

Kim: “Street Outreach, in my opinion, is a critcle piece in preventing chronic homelessness. You hear a lot in the news right now in Akron about the tent city and all the homeless that is here…organizations like Street Outreach exist to prevent that (tent city) from happening…

Kim (cont.) – “…why kids or young adults are homeless – there is a plethora of reasons… the two that you’ll hear most often is the LGBTQ population. A lot of times when they come out to their parents as teenagers or young adults, they are kicked out. Statistically, it can be up to 50% of the homeless and runaway youth in the country.”

Kim (cont. 2) – “…The other part is the foster system. When kids age out of the foster system at the age of 18, they are done… we end up with this demographic of kids who have nowhere to go.”