A new first-of-its-kind bus loop designed to connect unhoused people in Broward with critical services launches on Monday at 7 a.m.
The Rotary Connection will provide free, weekday transportation to resources like healthcare, food, legal aid, recovery programs and even community court — a program that helps resolve minor offenses and provide legal assistance for the unhoused.
“A lot of people that come to us are homeless,” said board chairman of the Fellowship Recovery Community Organization Rick Riccardi. “So I thought ‘Why don’t we create a way for services to come to the people through a transportation system.’ That’s what this is going to accomplish, hopefully, is to make it easy for these people on a daily basis to get where they need to go.”
The bus is the first of its kind, receiving funding from partners like Florida Blue and Henderson Behavioral Health to name a few. The bus will run weekdays with over 40 different stops, staffed by trained specialists to help passengers navigate the road to stability.
Moreover, the colorful bus strives to create a welcoming look.
Samuel Danzig, a senior at American Heritage and winner of the Rotary Bus Wrap Student Art Competition, said the design of the bus is important to encourage people experiencing homelessness to get on it.
“A big, scary corporate bus, sometimes it’s hard to get on it,” said Danzig. “I wanted to capture the most warm and welcoming and design color scheme as possible. I didn’t want to make it too much so I just decided on simple brushstrokes going through the side.”
Some of the locals receiving services from community court said this is the kind of help that they have been waiting for.
“I don’t know whose idea this was, it’s genius,” said unhoused Brian Rodgers. “Long overdue.”
Riccardi sees the bus as a practical solution to a major gap in service delivery, removing transportation barriers and create opportunities for the underserved to take steps toward stability and self-sufficiency.
