Home
Contribute Contact Us Browse all meetings
Home Contribute Contact Us Browse all meetings
City of Englewood, Colorado / Tri-Cities Homelessness Action Plan / 12 Apr 2022
City of Englewood, Colorado / Tri-Cities Homelessness Action Plan / 12 Apr 2022
Previous Meeting Next Meeting
⏯
Add meeting Rate page Subscribe
youtube image
►
From YouTube: Tri-Cities Homelessness: Severe Weather Shelter Network

Description

Although spring is here, Colorado can still face severe winter weather and dangerously cold temperatures. Severe Weather Shelter Network partners with organizations and agencies in the community to provide emergency overnight shelter on life threatening winter nights from October 1 to April 30 for individuals experiencing homelessness. Learn more at swshelternetwork.com. Tri-Cities partners include: Giving Heart Englewood, Movement 5280 and Englewood Police Department. Learn more about the Tri-Cities Homelessness Action Plan at englewoodco.gov/homelessness. #tricitieshomelessness

A

The severe weather shelter network actually came out of a collaborative group in jefferson, county called heading home, and that was in 2013 that that group was asking what would it look like for churches to open their buildings to provide emergency shelter? That's really where I got connected through at this church. Actually, my pastor sent me up there to see if it was something that we should do, and here we are, you know nine or ten years later and I'm still engaged.

A

So the mission statement is that we provide emergency overnight shelter for people living on the streets on life-threatening winter nights. We expanded pretty quickly into the tri-cities area by 2015., so we had a shelter season, just in jefferson, county, the lakewood area for 2013-14 and then in 1415 still there and then 1516. We expanded into the tri-cities area, as we had some other partners that we were working with in that space. So this building has been used since 2015 to provide emergency overnight shelter for people from the tri-cities region.

A

So we have multiple partners in the tri-cities. So in inglewood, we specifically partner with giving heart inglewood movement 5280 and, of course the police department is a very good friend of ours.

A

We activate severe weather shelter network when our overnight temperatures are projected to be 32 degrees or colder, with wet conditions or 20 degrees or colder with dry conditions. Those are just generally accepted as life-threatening, which is what mobilizes us. I got into this work, kicking and screaming. I didn't want to come and, as I have engaged and I get to know people who are living on the street, I know something about their story, developing relationship with them.

A

I can't not participate for me every time the weather is cold, there's a whole parade of faces and names. That cross my mind.

A

It's important to me to know that there's some place safe for them to be severe weather shelter network is the only emergency shelter for single households in jefferson, county and the west end of arapahoe county. So, if I don't do it, if we don't do it, there is nowhere. They will freeze to death.