Mar. 22—SUPERIOR — The city is considering expanding a program that has helped the homeless find permanent housing, saved lives and helped the addicted find treatment.

The Human Resources Committee approved hiring a second coordinated response specialist in the Superior Police Department.

A civilian position, the coordinated response specialist provides outreach to people experiencing homelessness, drug addiction and mental health issues in the community.

“I asked for this in the last budget,” Councilor Jenny Van Sickle said. “And councilors were really supportive.”

Since the position was created in 2021, Jen Stank has served as the police department’s sole coordinated response specialist and is part of the recently formed Community Outreach and Response (COAR+) team, said Police Sgt. Brad Jago, who supervises the team. He said the team consists of Stank, deflection resource officer Ron Robinson and Sgt. Matt Brown, who supervises the Naloxone-plus program.

“I just want to kind of touch on some of the things that Jen does in her daily work that I’ve seen, and it’s going to be overwhelming because the position is overwhelming,” Jago said. “There’s so much stuff that she does, and that’s kind of why we’re asking for a second one. … Some people do better speaking to a civilian staff member than a police officer.”

In addition to serving as the police department’s liaison to about 30 organizations in the community, Stank manages the police department’s Pathways to Hope drug deflection program, provides outreach to the unsheltered population and people with substance use disorders and responds to mental health situations, Jago said. She also works with the fire and building inspection departments and conducts presentations at Superior High School and the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

“She does a ton of other work,” Jago added.

Documenting the work has become difficult, Jago said, but the department has tracked outreach to at least 180 individuals, helped at least 50 people find emergency housing and noted four people who were at the Belknap Viaduct encampment who now have long-term permanent housing.

“That, in and of itself, is a huge win for us,” Jago said. He said about 15 people were there regularly before the city cleaned out the encampment.

Stank is also part of the Naloxone-Plus program that provides follow-up after an overdose event, Jago said. Since the program started in October, he said the program has provided Narcan for 14 cases.

“We know today that program has saved one life,” Jago said. “We left Naloxone with a father who then used it when his son overdosed.”

Jago said having a second community response specialist would allow the two positions to respond safely to calls and free up a police officer because the department uses a co-responder model.

Councilor Jack Sweeney asked how the police department defines success of the program.

“Success is engagement,” said Police Chief Paul Winterscheidt. “Success is having a conversation that someone wasn’t searching for.”

Councilor Mark Johnson said success is defined on an individual basis, and he sees it as a “fantastic” program.

The council will consider filling the second civilian position when it meets April 3.