Preble Street history

1985 FIRST FULL-TIME SOCIAL WORKER HIRED.Previously staffed solely by student interns and volunteers, Preble Street expanded its casework services with the addition of a full-time social worker.

1987 PORTLAND CITY OFFICIALS PROMISE TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY SHELTERFollowing a successful “tent city” protest led by Preble Street, consumer advocates, and national homeless services leaders, the City of Portland committed to sheltering people experiencing homelessness.

1993 PREBLE STREET RESOURCE CENTER MOVES5 Portland Street became the new home of the PSRC, which expanded its hours and services, and consolidated Portland's scattered meal programs to one location at the PSRC Soup Kitchen.

1995 HOMELESS VOICES FOR JUSTICE FOUNDEDInitially known as the Consumer Advocacy Project, Homeless Voices for Justice (HVJ) was created as a statewide, grassroots, social change movement, organized and led by people who have struggled with homelessness, hunger, and poverty.

1997 STONE SOUP DEVELOPEDPreble Street created an entrepreneurial, nonprofit venture in the Portland Public Market with a culinary arts training program for individuals

City Planner Andrew Tufts told the board the existing building was erected in 2002 specifically as a resource center, but eventually became an overflow shelter for the city’s Oxford Street Shelter – in the form of 75 mats on the floor for the city’s homeless.

2004 PREBLE STREET TAKES OWNERSHIP OF THE LIGHTHOUSE SHELTERWhen the Salvation Army announced plans to close the Lighthouse Shelter, Preble Street took over the 16-bed facility for teens experiencing homelessness.

2005 LOGAN PLACE OPENSPreble Street partnered with Avesta Housing and the Portland Housing Authority to open Logan Place, the first Housing First apartment community in Maine, and one of the first in the nation.

2007 PREBLE STREET WOMEN’S SHELTER CREATED When the YWCA closed in Portland, Preble Street recognized that many women didn’t feel safe sleeping in the mixed-gender environment of other shelters and created a dedicated emergency shelter for women.

2008 MAINE HUNGER INITIATIVE FORMEDTo respond to a systemic crisis that had grown unabated for decades, and was exacerbated by the national recession, Preble Street created the Maine Hunger Initiative to meet immediate food needs, and develop long-term solutions to hunger.

2010 FLORENCE HOUSE OPENSBuilding on the success of Logan Place, Preble Street once again partnered with Avesta Housing and the Portland Housing Authority to create a second Housing First apartment community, this time specifically for women.

2014 YOUTH TRANSITIONAL LIVING PROGRAM BEGINSFirst Place, a housing program for youth, ages 18 to 23, experiencing homelessness launched, offering apartments and case management to help young people overcome obstacles to stable housing and build brighter futures.

2016 MAINE MEDICAL CENTER-PREBLE STREET LEARNING COLLABORATIVE OPENSThe MMC-Preble Street Learning Collaborative opened to ensure the most vulnerable people in Portland have access to quality, barrier-free healthcare.

2019 ANTI-TRAFFICKING SERVICES EXPANDSWith the addition of a caseworker at the Preble Street office in Bangor, ATS expands to empower more survivors of human trafficking to reclaim their lives.

2020 STREET OUTREACH COLLABORATIVE BEGINSIn the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Preble Street recognized that agencies could not safely provide food and services to people in crowded shelters and soup kitchens.