NEWS & MEDIA 

For media inquiries please email the team at media@sunriseaustin.org. Thank you!

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Special Update: Letter from The Director

"We have grown from a helpful day center into the highest volume provider of homeless services in Austin-Travis County where the Sunrise Hub team is just one of 7 distinct teams following our now-famous integrated model of care that brings whole-person care to the whole person trauma of homelessness." Mark Hilbelink, Director

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CBS: Narcan Vending Machine Accessible 24/7

AUSTIN, Texas — People in Austin can now access life-saving medication Narcan 24/7 at a vending machine outside the south Austin church and day center. The vending machine went up in August at Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center thanks to a partnership with the N.I.C.E Project.

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Statesman: Austin Rolls Out New Plan

Austin officials say a new strategy for clearing and removing homeless encampments will bring order and consistency to how departments prioritize and conduct such sweeps. The strategy was developed starting last November in response to voters passing Proposition B to put a citywide camping ban back on the books.

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Austin Monitor: Free Transportation for Austin's Unhoused

The start of Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s monthly board of directors meeting yesterday had a different feel than usual. Typically, a few speakers may approach the podium to speak in support of or against an item on the agenda. Yesterday, however, advocates and members of Austin’s unhoused community packed the Rosa Parks Boardroom to implore Capital Metro to make some transportation services free for people experiencing homelessness.

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NewsNation: Narcan Vending Machine

AUSTIN, Texas (NewsNation) — As more states work to reduce the damage being done by the opioid epidemic, Austin’s first Narcan vending machine now sits outside of a church and homeless day center.

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Press Release: Narcan Vending Machine

Austin, Texas – The N.I.C.E. Project (Narcan in Case of Emergency) opens their first barrier-free Narcan distribution site at the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center to provide 24/7 access to the overdose-reversal medication Narcan.

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KVUE: Awareness on the Dangers of Fentanyl

Austin, Texas — A report from the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office found drug overdoses are the No. 1 cause of accidental death in our community.

To shed some light on this issue, three Austin mothers organized a walk on Sunday to educate the public and raise awareness of the rising number of fentanyl overdose deaths.

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Austin Monitor: Free Cap Metro Fares for Austin’s Unhoused

On Monday, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors unanimously approved the implementation of a new system called Equifare that caps the amount riders pay for fares and provides reduced fares for people with lower incomes. But before the board voted, some Austinites voiced their concerns saying the reduced fares do not go far enough to aid Austin’s unhoused.

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Austin Chronicle: County Declares an Opioid Crisis

After years of organizing by Texas Harm Reduction Alli­ance, including an emotional town hall at the beginning of May, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously declared the opioid overdose epidemic a public health crisis on May 24.

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Spectrum News: Mobile Outreach Team

AUSTIN, Texas — Megan Boyd has her boots to the ground at the Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center. She’s part of a mobile outreach program that travels to homeless encampments across the city to conduct coordinated assessments. As Boyd and her team arrived at a parking lot on Menchaca Road, the outreach team stumbled upon dozens of unhoused residents whose encampment was just cleaned out.

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Statesman: Help Austin's Homeless People of Color

The local nonprofit Ending Community Homelessness Coalition has selected three organizations to split a $2 million grant in a new partnership meant to help more unsheltered people of color in Austin. Two of the nonprofit organizations, Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center and We Can Now, are based in Austin and already work with people experiencing homelessness here. A third organization, Urban Alchemy, is based in California and is hiring staffers for Austin.

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KXAN: Helped Lift Up 550 Homeless

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Dozens of people lined up around Sunrise Community Church in south Austin Monday, with lead director Mark Hilbelink walking through the crowd, saying hello to those he passed. Serving as lead pastor for 11 years and as director of Sunrise’s homeless navigation center for six, once unfamiliar faces have since become regulars.

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Podcast: A Shared Brokenness

As the current dialogue around homelessness in Austin continues to intensify, Mark Hilbelink, lead pastor of Sunrise Community Church in Austin, joins Alan on this week’s episode of the Gospel Con Carne podcast for a hope-filled conversation around serving our friends who are struggling to survive on the streets

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