Emergency Shelter
Our core shelter program focuses on a housing-first approach. Once families are in a safe environment and have their basic needs met, they're able to tackle the other barriers that prevent them from getting into stable housing. If you need this service, call our main line to see if our waitlist is open.
Across the Denver area, communities have offered hospitality to families through our innovative model — using existing space like congregations and volunteers motivated by compassion —to help hundreds of children and adults. Working with community resources, we provide comprehensive and targeted services, including extensive case management, at 1/3 the cost of traditional shelter. We've been doing this for over 25 years. Furthermore, we serve families of all compositions, often providing their only shelter option in a community.
And it works.
Last year 87% of the people served in the shelter program moved into secure housing. Because of the depth of services and community support, families stay housed and have access to ongoing prevention and stabilization services to increase our impact.
HOW IT WORKS
Daysite
Families stay at the Daysite between
7am - 5pm
The Daysite includes showers, a wellness room, a playroom, a kitchen, client rooms, laundry, and computer lab and phones for clients to connect with services and jobs. Trained staff oversee and work at the Daysite so families can access resources.
Congregations
Families stay at a faith congregation between
5pm - 7am.
Every family has an area to sleep and store their belongings while in the congregation. Families rotate to a new faith congregation on Sunday. Trained volunteers oversee nightly temporary shelters. Families take the van to and from the Daysite or drive themselves.
Not Just Shelter
Families receive the support of ongoing volunteers, get access to in kind items and community partners
Shelter includes life skills classes hosted by community partners, referrals, access to hygiene items, physical resources, and ongoing support once families exit the program. This wrap around support is vital to eliminating chronic homelessness.
More Than Shelter
Family Promise’s Shelter Program strives to provide more than just shelter for families experiencing homelessness. By partnering with faith congregations as well as local corporate and community changemakers, we provide supportive services for families that tackle the root causes of homelessness and the trauma that follows. Giving families the opportunity to learn more about mental health awareness, financial literacy, self-care, and life skills help our families better plan a framework for their future. However, supporters that provide key barrier-breaking needs to families such as a car, a connection to a housing voucher, or find them an employment opportunity that is non-discriminatory, help pull families out of shelter and into housing.
Similarly, our volunteers are the core of our shelter program. They share food, spend the night, play with children and lend their care to help families get back on their feet. They prove that motivated people can solve family homelessness. And, in the process, they truly create a “home” – and a community – for families who have no place left to turn.
Shelter
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8 families are assisted with shelter, food, case management, and other support
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Families stay at churches at night and can access our day site during the day
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Families move to a new church every Sunday
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Every 30 days families check in with an advocate to review progress
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Families call our main line ext. 1 to see if the waitlist is open. If it is, families do an intake over the phone. We follow up that week if we have an opening and ask families that remain on the list to check in once a week to stay active.
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Goal: Support families experiencing homelessness and assist them on the road to stability
Life Skills Classes
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8 families in our shelter program are served. Families in other programs are welcome
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Includes: job readiness and retention, tenant rights, budgeting, parenting practices, healthy communication, goal setting, and more.
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Goal: Support families holistically while they work towards lowering their barriers to housing
Bridge Program
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5-10 families receive temporary housing, case management, transportation assistance, food assistance, and more while they seek long-term housing, income, and stability.
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The goal: support families that have been paired with a housing voucher to get into stable long-term housing
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Families get referred through the OneHome system or through internal programs.
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Once enrolled, families work towards finding housing and eliminating barriers that may keep them unhoused with a family advocate.
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Families can not apply for this program directly