During the 2024-25 academic year, Penn’s Division of Public Safety Homeless Outreach Ambassador Program connected with unhoused individuals over 650 times.
The program — which began in 2023 — employs a single ambassador who engages with unhoused individuals in the University City area. According to DPS, the program also operates in partnership with the University City District Homeless Outreach Service Team and other municipal entities within the city of Philadelphia to provide education, shelter, and resources for support.
The initiative is part of what Vice President for Public Safety Kathleen Shields Anderson described as a “differential response” approach in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Shields Anderson emphasized that the program — which supplements traditional police presence with non-law enforcement resources — is designed to “meet people where they are.”
“Not everybody who is homeless is ready for help,” Shields Anderson said. “Our philosophy is not to move people along, but to get people to a better place and find out what their needs are.”
The current homeless outreach ambassador, Leithland Solan, is the second person to serve in the role since the program’s conception. Solan said that he is driven by a desire to “be there” for those who need help, as many unhoused people often feel unheard and disregarded by society.
“I try offering to provide a meal or needed clothing item,” Solan said. “It can help us to form a connection and builds trust.”
Solan’s work is informed by his own experience with homelessness. At 19 years old, he spent several months living in his car with his brother. At the time, he promised himself he would pursue this line of work if given the opportunity.
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“It’d be my obligation to help out those who are dealing with hardship,” Solan said.
Solan’s coverage area includes the Penn Patrol Zone, with a focus on the 30th and 40th Street corridors. Before interacting with an unhoused person, he carefully watches them from a distance.
“If I do decide to approach someone when they’re upset or agitated, the odds of them getting them to interact with me are slim to none,” Solan said. “Sometimes people don’t want to be approached or engaged, and we have to respect their boundaries.”
In one case, Solan recalled gradually forging a relationship with an unhoused man in West Philadelphia. He approached the man with a donut and a cup of coffee, which Solan said was what “began the connection, the bridge.”
After numerous conversations, the man shared the name of a family member with Solan. With assistance from DPS, the man was eventually reunited with his family.
“Once you begin to talk to people experiencing homelessness, you realize that they have the same goals, same needs as you,” Solan said. “But sometimes through depression, substance abuse, and other issues, you realize they forgot their way, and you try to remind them that they can get back on their path.”
DPS Director of Security Services Josh Forman said that Solan’s work is stressful and challenging, adding that Solan knows when to “seize the opportunity” to connect with the unhoused community.
“It’s important that we find people that do this work that are passionate about building relationships with the unhoused community,” Forman said. “We listen for signs of empathy, we listen for signs of truly understanding. It is a challenge to approach people that are sometimes aggressive and sometimes not clean, [you] have to be able to push through all of that to connect with other people, to provide them with the connections they need.”
Grace Umbrell, DPS’s associate director of security services, also spoke to Solan’s strong fit for the position.
“He understands, is approachable, [and is] easy to talk to,” Umbrell said. “The unhoused community finds that comforting. That’s what's been able to give him the ability to break through and connect.”
