Working to be Part of the Solution

The past winter we worked closely with Part of the Solution (POTS) a community center in the Bronx, New York to protect their unsheltered members through freezing and sub-freezing nights on the streets.

We spent time talking with POTS team members Taina, Christopher, and Christina – looking to understand how Sheltersuits fit into their mission of providing their community with help and hope. 

New York City witnessed an all-time high of people experiencing homelessness in February 2021, with 20,822 single adults sleeping in New York City shelters each night. It’s a staggering figure that still doesn’t account for the thousands more staying on the streets or in shelters run by other agencies. For those living on the streets, it was a particularly cold and snowy month; with one of the biggest snowstorms, the city had seen in five years.

“Sheltersuit offers a tangible way for us to connect with our unsheltered friends on the street,” says Noelani, Head of Distribution at Sheltersuit USA, “But how do we get it to the people that need it?”

After meeting Bas, in 2019, Noelani moved to New York from the Netherlands to set up Sheltersuit in the US. This past winter, she pulled off our first distribution pilot in NY with 5 different partners to keep 250 unsheltered individuals warm. Collecting feedback from both our distribution partners and our unsheltered friends, she is using these learnings to create a distribution strategy that scales our value across the USA, starting in Los Angeles this September.

From community members and staff, we heard a common theme: that POTS is much more than a place for a hot meal. That amid the discomfort and the struggles, POTS is a constant place of comfort, respite, and support. And no matter how tough life might get on the street, the center is a place where people see you, know you, and care about you.