Charlottetown panhandlers to be offered help

A group that represents businesses in downtown Charlottetown istaking an active role in trying to curb panhandling hiring someone to providehelp if they want it.

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Downtown Charlottetown Inc. points to a recent explosion of panhandling in Charlottetown in the past couple of years.

If we see fewer people on the street, then we've been successful. Not because we've shooed them away, but because we've offered them options. Dawn Alan, DCI

"DCI is not a social group, we don't pretend to know what the social needs are. It's just a matter of hopefully helping," said Dawn Alan, the group's executive director.

Street outreach

DCI is looking to hire someone to run what it's calling the Navigator Street Outreach program someone whowill get to know panhandlers and offer to put them in contact with service groups or agencies,including social or mental health servicesor the soup kitchen.

DCI is looking for someone who's a "people person" with strength and passion. They hope to hire somebody this month toworkthroughout the summer.

The program is motivated not just by philanthropy, but also by a desire to have fewer panhandlers possibly deterring customers from visiting downtown businesses.

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"If you have one business downtown where you have as many as four panhandlers at your doors outside, of course it's going to react negatively on their business," Alan noted.

Similar programs are present in other Canadian municipalities including Halifax, Alan points out.

"If we see fewer people on the street, then we've been successful. Not because we've shooed them away, but because we've offered them options they've chosen to take advantage of."

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