A Newark organization is taking an extra step to ensure that the city’s most vulnerable population comes in from the cold.

A Code Blue alert remains in effect for all 21 New Jersey counties. A Code Blue alert goes into effect when temperatures drop to 32 degrees or lower or when there’s a wind chill of zero degrees.

The organization Bridges works toward ending homelessness. On cold and blustery nights like New Jersey has seen this week, its outreach team hits the streets of Newark to get as many unhoused people as possible off the street.

News 12 went on a ride along with the Bridges outreach team as they engaged with some of Newark’s unhoused population. The team offers rides to shelters and hands out essentials like sleeping bags, blankets and hand warmers for those who decline shelter.

Kym Gilchrist, from Newark's Office of Homeless Services, says those items can save a life.

"Those are things - when they don’t want to come in - those become things that can come between life and death,” Gilchrist says.

Brenda Myrick is the director of Programs and Impact for Bridges. She says that six people agreed to be taken to a shelter on Tuesday night.

"We cannot force people off the street, they do have that right. If they do decline, we’ll come back out the next night. We’ll continue to have different engagements until we get them off the street,” Myrick says.

According to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, unsheltered homelessness was down almost 60% in the city of Newark in 2023. Bridges partners with the city’s Office for Homeless Services and other organizations to meet people where they are.

Myrick says they’ve built relationships with the people they service.

"You'll see some people that we're familiar with. We report the number of engagements we report notes and we have follow-up,” she says.

With a recent grant from the city, street outreach workers are now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.