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In a 10-1 vote, Denver City Council approved allotting $900,000 to existing and future safe-camping sites for people experiencing homelessness through a contract with the nonprofit Colorado Village Collaborative. I have heard from massive numbers of my constituents that they think this would be the direction that would be better to go than what we’ve had with unregulated camps, Councilwoman Robin Kniech said during the February 16 council meeting before voting in favor of the proposal.
The money will help fund a safe-camping site opened in December by the Colorado Village Collaborative in the parking lot of the Denver Community Church at East 16th Avenue and Pearl Street, as well as a future safe-camping site at an undetermined location. A second site that opened in December is located in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church at East 14th Avenue and Grant Street; it, too, is privately funded and run by a nonprofit.
Denver Metro Area Community Organizations Received $10 Million in 2020 From Colorado Access
The Nonprofit Organization Reinvested Funds to Help Combat COVID-19, Increase Food Security, and Housing Support for Community Members
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DENVER, Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ More than 150 community organizations and health care providers in the Denver metropolitan area received supplemental funding in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of $10 million was reinvested back into the community by Colorado Access, a nonprofit community-based health plan striving to improve the health and lives of the underserved. The additional support helped us expand our patient reach by continuing to see patients with COVID-like symptoms in a separate COVID-19 and respiratory clinic, said Ugo Obinnah, VP business operations at Green Valley Ranch Medical Clinic & Urgent Care. The financial support was integral to being able to open this separa
On a recent weekday afternoon, residents of the safe-camping site set up in a church parking lot at 16th Avenue and Pearl Street sat in chairs placed in a semi-circle, cracking jokes, telling stories and smoking cigarettes.
The group varied widely in age, but its members shared a positive energy. One came out of her tent wearing a Cat in the Hat costume; others played fetch with a pet dog. While they chatted, a few talked about working on their sobriety, while others related how their feelings of anxiety had dropped since they d been sleeping at the safe-camping site next to the Denver Community Church.
The city s second safe-camping site has just opened. To get a feel for the place, I spent the night of December 14 in a tent in the parking lot of the Denver Community Church at 16th and Pearl streets, before the new occupants checked in.
Denver service providers first began pushing their Safe Outdoor Spaces concept back in April, as homeless encampments began springing up across the city. The idea, which has worked in other cities, is to offer tents in protected areas to people experiencing homelessness, while also providing them with sinks, toilets and access to services. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that municipalities not sweep encampments during a pandemic, in order to avoid spreading COVID. I ve covered the safe-camping proposal since spring, reporting on Mayor Michael Hancock s initial opposition, then his turnaround in July; following the ups and downs for service providers as neighbors objected to potential sites; sharing passionate commentary f