Journey on Programs
All Journey On programs are designed to enhance the quality of life in the Black Hills through a co-response model that reduces pressure on law enforcement by addressing human service needs, allowing officers to focus on acute and emergent calls. Our team is led by credible messengers with lived experience of trauma, suicide loss, and houselessness, ensuring services are delivered with empathy, trust, and understanding.
Journey On Street Outreach Team
The Journey On Street Outreach Team provides meaningful, human-to-human connections while building trusting relationships with houseless relatives. Through consistent outreach, the team offers supportive engagement and distributes essential supplies to relatives experiencing houselessness, or at risk of becoming houseless.
Street Outreach is rooted in building personal connection, recognizing that relationships play a critical role in improving housing stability, health outcomes, and social support networks. By listening, understanding needs, and showing up consistently, the Journey On Street Outreach Team creates a foundation for trust. Through building these trusted relationships, our team has helped many chronically homeless individuals successfully transition from the streets into permanent housing and greater independence.
Journey On Street Outreach serves individuals who are houseless or at risk of becoming houseless and who may benefit from compassionate, supportive interactions with credible messengers who understand the complex challenges they face.
As part of Journey On’s co-response model, the Street Outreach Team provides transportation to safe locations, vital resources, medical appointments, and court appearances for those experiencing houselessness. The team focuses on relationship-building, identifying individuals who are ready to engage in services, and connecting them to appropriate resource, supports and referrals
Journey On LOSS Team
(Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors)
The Journey On LOSS Team (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors) provides immediate, compassionate support throughout the He Sápa (Sacred Black Hills) of South Dakota to individuals and families who have lost a loved one to suicide.
The Journey On LOSS Team brings hope to suicide survivors through an active postvention model, collaborating with law enforcement to provide immediate on-scene services after a loss by suicide, through practical support and connection to resources, as well as long-term programming.
The LOSS Team operates as part of a co-response model working alongside law enforcement, providing trauma-informed, culturally relevant immediate bereavement services.
Based on Frank Campbell’s original Active Suicide Postvention Model, the Journey On LOSS Team responds at (or shortly after) a suicide with a team of trained volunteers—at least one of whom is a survivor of suicide loss. Volunteers offer a non-intrusive, compassionate presence, emotional support, and connection to resources during a time of profound grief.
Journey On Youth Outreach Team
The Journey On Youth Outreach Team has three youth-focused programs: Safe Passage, Support Team Encouraging Perseverance and Strength (STEPS), and High Risk Intervention (HRI).
Safe Passage acts as a “walking school bus,” providing safe, supervised routes to help youth get to and from school in the Knollwood Elementary, General Beadle Elementary, Wilson Elementary, and North Middle School areas.
Support Team Encouraging Perseverance and Strength (STEPS): The Journey On STEPS program provides compassionate, youth-centered support to youth ages 16–24 who are houseless or at risk of becoming houseless. Through transportation and intentional outreach, STEPS connects some of our most vulnerable youth to safety, resources, and supportive services.
High Risk Intervention (HRI): Journey On HRI provides youth-centered mentorship and support to youth impacted by violence or at risk of gang involvement. Through consistent relationship-building and guidance, HRI works alongside youth to promote safety, accountability, and positive pathways forward. The HRI team also offers direct support to the Juvenile Services Center (JSC) and the Arise Youth Center, helping youth build healthy community connections and access resources that strengthen stability and long-term success.
Journey On COMMUNITY Outreach Team
The Journey On Community Outreach Team works alongside youth, families, and residents in the Star Village neighborhood to strengthen community connections, improve neighborhood safety, and support resident-led revitalization efforts. Through a collaborative partnership with the Rapid City Police Department's Community Engagement Team, our credible messengers build trusting relationships, connect families to resources, and create opportunities for residents to shape positive change within their own community.
At the heart of this program is The Nest, a welcoming community space where youth and families can access a food pantry, participate in after-school and summer activities, build positive relationships, and connect with supportive services. The Community Outreach Team also provides referrals, resource navigation, and ongoing support to help families improve stability and overall well-being.
As part of the Love Your Block initiative, Star Village residents are empowered to identify neighborhood priorities and apply for mini-grants that fund community-led beautification and improvement projects. By investing directly in resident-driven solutions, the program fosters neighborhood pride, strengthens community partnerships, and creates lasting improvements that enhance safety and quality of life.
The Love Your Block initiative is funded through a Johns Hopkins University grant and is scheduled to continue through October 2026.