Editor’s note: The San Antonio Report is pleased to feature the weekly bigcitysmalltown podcast hosted by Robert Rivard, co-founder of the Report. We’ll be publishing a brief synopsis of the podcast each Tuesday.
Many of the San Antonians who walk into Corazón Ministries’ day center at Grace Lutheran Church come in guarded — they often have traumas stemming from before and during their time spent unhoused — but center director Brittney Ackerson is ready to treat them like family.
“I don’t like calling them clients; they’re my family members,” Ackerson said on the latest episode of the “bigcitysmalltown” podcast, hosted by Robert Rivard. “That’s what I thrive off of.”
Ackerson has been homeless and is nearly 10 and a half years sober from heroin and methamphetamines. Her lived experience gives her an advantage when helping people who are currently experiencing homelessness and addiction issues.
“There’s two sides of Brittney: There’s Brittney that’s professional, and then my street name growing up, they called me Big Mama,” she said. “So in the day center, I get to be a combination of both.”
People come to the day center in search of many resources, “you can name it,” Ackerson said, from sanitary supplies and clothing to ID recovery and help finding housing.
“Love is the biggest piece,” she said. “My job is to relate my trauma to their trauma … I want to get down to their root. It’s not about homelessness, it’s about low self-esteem, low self-worth, the abuse, the neglect, the sexual abuse.”
Corazón, which was started by volunteers at Travis Park Church downtown, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year as its new CEO Erika Borrego settles into her second year with the organization.
Though a relatively small nonprofit, the Corazón Harm Reduction program that launched in late 2021 has had a significant impact. Its services aim to reduce negative health consequences associated with drug use, namely fatal overdoses, disease and infection. Outreach workers provide needle exchange, wound kits, bleach kits for disinfection, strips to test drugs for fentanyl, condoms, HIV and Hepatitis C testing and Narcan, a life-saving overdose remedy.
“We took over 604,000 needles off of the streets of San Antonio last year alone, and we saved nearly 1,800 lives from overdosing,” Borrego said. “My team has taught me that every single life saved … gives someone the second chance [needed] to make that decision to give their hand out to so we can help.”
Harm reduction plays a key role in the long-term investment of time and attention it can take to earn the trust of someone living on the street or in an encampment, she said.
“Sometimes it takes Brittany sitting at that street corner 15 times with the same person before that person puts their hand out to her and says: ‘I need help,’” Borrego said. “We’ve just got to be there every one of those 15 times ready to take their hand and say: ‘Okay, if you’re ready, we will help.’”
