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Pittsburg highlights Pathways to Hope program; 68 court referrals since September 2023
Summary
City officials and health partners described 'Pittsburg Pathways to Hope,' a program launched in September 2023 to connect people experiencing homelessness and behavioral-health issues to IDs, medical and mental-health care, employment and housing; 68 people have been referred and 42% completed the program and had their cases dismissed.
At the Pittsburg City Commission meeting on May 27, city and partner staff described a municipal-court-linked program called Pittsburg Pathways to Hope that connects people who are unsheltered to medical and mental-health care, identification documents, employment help and housing referrals.
The program, launched in September 2023, was presented to the commission as a collaboration among the municipal court, Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas and Crawford County Mental Health. According to remarks in the meeting record, 68 clients had been referred to the program through May 2025; 43 of the 68 (63 percent) had remained engaged with the agencies they were referred to, and 42 percent of the 68 had successfully completed the program and had their cases dismissed.
A presenter told the commission the program focuses first on addressing immediate needs — medical and mental-health care and obtaining identification documents such as birth certificates, which staff said are necessary to obtain an ID and pursue employment — and then works toward employment and housing. "We help these people get to their medical needs, mental health needs, get an ID...and then after we get those few things done, we work on trying to find them employment. And the last element is housing," the presenter said.
The meeting record notes individual success stories: one person connected to services is now employed in Joplin at a program that assists similar clients, and others have been housed or employed with help from Catholic Charities and other partners. Commissioners were told that, when referred defendants successfully complete the program, the prosecutor has authority to dismiss the case.
Speakers identified in the meeting included John Mazurek (who introduced the program), representatives from Crawford County Mental Health and the Community Health Center, and commissioners who thanked the partners and noted the work had been a collaborative effort.
