As issues increased downtown, collaboration to address them did too; here’s the plan for the season ahead

As temperatures began to creep up toward spring, it became clear this month that potential behavior issues in downtown Sioux Falls were increasing with them.

As one such incident appeared to be unfolding, a two-person team from South Dakota Urban Indian Health approached a group of officers who were “with some of our relatives,” said Monica Bailey, program manager.

“We stopped to see if we could help, and what ended up happening is we all smudged together.”

The traditional ceremony of burning sage in Native American culture represents a chance “to purify, cleanse ourselves of energy,” she continued. “It’s used during hard times and crisis times, and it … is really calming and grounds our indigenous people.”

Even the mention of smudging can shift the energy in a situation, she added, which is why when the SDUIH street team approached, the workers offered it to the people who were there. But they didn’t count on what happened next.

“Our relatives asked the officers if they wanted to, and we were all standing in a circle, and it was just a really great moment,” Bailey said.

The tense situation was deescalated, and they all went about their day.

“I would say we’ve seen just the beginning of our collaboration with Urban Indian Health,” Police Chief Jon Thum said. “We have numerous individual success stories where we’ve been able to get people into treatment, into nursing homes, to get people with family. So I think we’re going to double down on that case-managed approach this year.”

The city of Sioux Falls recently approved  a $175,000 contract for this year with South Dakota Urban Indian Health for its Wo’Okiye Project — a street-based approach that aims to connect people who generally lack stable housing with wraparound services, including coordinating medical care, transporting people to appointments and helping them through addiction or mental health treatment.

“They’re doing such a good job,” said Michelle Treasure, the city’s homeless coordinator. “There’s so much that comes from that first contact on the street — helping them navigate getting identification and getting on the housing list or getting a job.”

The agreement calls for 40 hours a week of active street outreach but also extends to those broader performance metrics of coordinating care and services.

While the name suggests it supports Native Americans, anyone can receive support from the street team.

“We like to walk with people on the healing journey,” Bailey said. “And we are at Urban Indian Health, so we can provide medical and behavioral and cultural health services, so our street team can provide that continuity of care.”

In 2024, the street team helped 212 unique individuals — though many were assisted multiple times.

The five people who were determined to be driving the highest call volume either were connected with long-term treatment or reunited with family.

“We are an alternative to calling the police,” Bailey said. “And I think a big part of our successes that we had in 2024 was building relationships, not only with the relatives we serve but with our city entities. We’ve really seen increased collaboration with service providers, and I just feel like it’s been an effective collaboration and partnership.”

The goal is to balance connecting individuals with needed services while still taking a zero-tolerance approach to those breaking laws, Thum said.

“I think that’s where we have to continue what we built on last summer, which is that full-spectrum approach,” he said. “We’ve already started redirecting some of our patrol resources into the downtown area, and we typically are looking for officers experienced with dealing with some of these issues and know the history and know some of the people involved.”

This spring already has brought many individuals unfamiliar to SFPD, though, he added. And the coming months also will show the impact of fencing a parking lot adjacent to the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House, where many have congregated in the past.

During the approval process, some citizens expressed concern that behavior issues could spill over into city parks.

From Thum’s enforcement perspective, though, “in parks there are defined rules and defined expectations about what behavior is in parks,” he said. “There are rules and laws we can enforce.”

There also are limits to the department’s resources; concentrating downtown can mean straining availability elsewhere in the city. Technology through the department’s new real-time information center will help, Thum said, as well as the extra eyes and feet on the street through both South Dakota Urban Indian Health and the Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. ambassador program, which will add an eight-person team.

All three entities — law enforcement, ambassadors and Wo’Okiye Project staff — work together to determine whose services are needed.

It’s a collaboration that would have been unprecedented even a few short years ago, Thum said.

The three entities met last week with a full room of downtown small-business owners to share their plans for the season ahead.

“We’ve worked really hard at those relationships internally, with Urban Indian Health and DTSF to (go over) who does what, when can I call you, when can I rely on you,” Treasure said.

The Wo’Okiye Project covers downtown weekdays during business hours. The volunteer nonprofit Midwest Street Medicine, which is not part of the city’s contract, primarily works on weekends and provides additional options for medical care, Treasure said.

The growing issues last year illustrated the need for multiple approaches that reflect the complex reasons people find themselves on the streets in the first place, she added.

“This isn’t just picking people off the corner of 10th and Phillips. There’s so much more that goes into this.”

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