The mission of Preble Street is to provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems.
While our mission has remained constant and central to all we do, Preble Street has changed dramatically over the past nearly 50 years. Preble Street has grown from just a few employees in a church basement to approximately 300 full and part-time staff and programs that touch every county in Maine. Over the last five years alone, Preble Street’s budget has grown by 128%, staff size has doubled, and the agency opened six new programs.
The environment we work in has also transformed dramatically and by all indications will continue to evolve rapidly. The number of people experiencing homelessness, especially unsheltered homelessness, has exploded across Maine. Shelters across the state are in danger of closing their doors, reducing the already low number of shelter beds available. There is a lack of mental health and substance use resources available to serve those who need them. Maine continues to see an influx of migrants, who require different types of services and resources. The number of people experiencing food insecurity has increased and Preble Street is feeding more people than ever before – providing more than one million meals annually since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Faced with this landscape; continued development to meet Maine’s needs is on the horizon. Currently, Preble Street is working on plans to open additional Site-Based Housing First Programs, efforts to expand Rapid-Rehousing Services into Lewiston, and the ever-changing emergency-shelter funding landscape in the state. Evolution and change is inevitable.
This Strategic Vision is intended to help Preble Street identify priorities for the agency over the next several years and shape how we plan to live out our mission in the face of the challenges of today and those to come. We cannot predict all of the changes and challenges our community will face in the coming years, but we can identify priorities for this agency and use those priorities to guide planning and decision-making. The need for Preble Street has never been greater. It’s been more than five years since Preble Street last engaged in a strategic visioning process and we are hopeful that this Vision will provide a strong foundation to be effective in our work to end homelessness, hunger, and poverty over the next three to five years.
Preble Street Strategic Vision
To strengthen the agency’s internal systems and equity culture to ensure quality client programming, high staff recruitment and retention, advancement of identified best practice solutions, and capacity for responsiveness to emergent community needs.
Goal 1: Deepen & Strengthen Agency Culture
Promoting Racial Equity through the identification, adoption, and advancement of both internally and externally facing equity-informed policies and practices.
Action items:
- Develop specific Racial Equity goals for the agency
- Implement a new Racial Equity Committee, as outlined by the Racial Equity Working Group, informed by the Racial Insight Report, and with recommendations by Consultant Ra’Shya Ghee
- Gain a better understanding of client outcomes and assess for disparate outcomes according to race
Goal 2: Deepen & Strengthen Agency Capacity
Capacity is needed within the agency to ensure quality client service provision, promote staff retention and development, and to proactively equip the agency for future growth.
Areas of focus include:
- Staffing
- Strengthening the Preble Street business model & create new revenue streams
- Ensuring agency infrastructure can support growth & the agility and adaptability needed to respond to emergent needs
Goal 3: Deepen & Strengthen Client Services
Preble Street provides clients with a high level of service, dignity, and care because of the incredible dedication of Preble Street staff.
Areas of focus include:
- Providing exceptional services in existing programs through a leading edge, evidence-based best practice, value-driven model
- Refining and improving service provision through data, evaluation, and client feedback
Goal 4: Further Long-term Solutions
Preble Street has been working on solutions to homelessness for almost 50 years. Informed by best practices and led by our mission, we know that to end hunger, homelessness, and poverty in Maine, we must find the balance between meeting today’s needs and anticipating future needs.
Areas of focus include:
- Promoting development of Site-based Housing First
- Implementing the vision of the Food Security Hub
- Broadening and strengthening new partnerships
- Advocating for solutions to the systems that have perpetuated the inequities of our society
Conclusion
In 2025, Preble Street will commemorate its 50th anniversary. Since its first days in 1975, Preble Street has made significant contributions to the community, including providing a voice for marginalized and underserved populations, transforming views on homelessness, hunger, and poverty, and expanding the breadth of its services across the state of Maine. This impact is possible thanks to its strategic financial management, collaboration with donors and partners, and ability to be flexible to meet the needs of vulnerable Mainers.
As the number of people who need services continues to grow, Preble Street must be able to fill the many gaps in our systems. This Strategic Vision, informed by staff, the Preble Street Board of Directors, and others, will continue to provide Preble Street with the adaptability the organization needs balanced with the structure needed to always improve to better serve the community.
“I am a human being. Part of my job, part of being alive, is making sure other people are, too.”
Joe Kreisler, Preble Street Founder
What's next for Preble Street
Preble Street to assume operations of Bangor’s Hope House Emergency Shelter in winter 2025
Hope House is Bangor’s largest shelter and Maine’s only low-barrier shelter north of Waterville. Bangor, ME (November 12, 2024) — The Hope House Emergency Shelter is a low-barrier 56-bed emergency shelter in Bangor. Penobscot Community Health Center (PCHC) announced in fall 2023 that due to financial considerations it would close Hope House in fall 2024
Joe’s Place: bringing services for youth under one roof
“What I want you to know about Preble Street is that they have a lot of resources to help you, and they want to help you.” Youth currently being served by Preble Street Teen Services Providing 24-hour services, seven days a week, Preble Street Teen Services operates separate day and night shelters for homeless and runaway
Avesta Housing & Preble Street Announce New Site-based Housing First Partnership in Portland
Avesta Housing, the largest nonprofit affordable housing provider in northern New England, and Preble Street, a nonprofit social work agency serving the most vulnerable people in Maine, have announced plans to provide Site-based Housing First permanent housing with on-site support services to chronically homeless people on the site of the former Oxford Street homeless shelter
Food Security Hub
Hunger in Maine has grown substantially since the pandemic began and Preble Street has dramatically increased the number of hot meals we serve and the amount of grocery meals and boxes we provide. Because of this drastic increase in demand for food, Preble Street launched its new Food Security Hub, a sustainable, comprehensive, and collaborative
