Honored with Prestigious Downtown Denver Partnership Award
Denver’s Road Home, the community-wide effort to end homelessness in 10 years, was honored May 21, 2008 with a prestigious Downtown Denver Partnership Award.
The Partnership gave the award to Denver’s Road Home "For developing and effectively implementing a nationally recognized model for moving homeless individuals off the streets and into housing and treatment facilities."
"Denver's Road Home truly embodies the spirit of public/private partnership when it comes to solving issues that impact our community as a whole," said Tami Door, President and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. "This is clearly evident when you look at the incredible success of the program in its first three years."
"This is an important acknowledgement that the community’s efforts to end homelessness are working," said Mayor John Hickenlooper. "We have made great strides in three years and are working hard to continue that success in the coming years. I want to thank the Partnership not only for this award but also for the hard work they are doing to implement and support Denver’s Road Home."
Denver’s Road Home grew out of a community-wide process that involved more than 300 individuals and neighborhood groups. The plan, which was launched in 2005, uses a "housing first" model whereby homeless individuals and families are moved into a stable housing situation and given access to counseling, addiction treatment, medical care and other services.
In its first two years Denver’s Road Home reduced chronic homelessness by 36 percent and to date has helped move more than 1,000 homeless into stable housing.
"This award recognizes the hard work of everyone in the city – from Mayor Hickenlooper and his staff, to the Denver City Council, to the hundreds of groups and individuals that helped draft and implement the plan, to the foundation and business communities that have stepped up to financially support the effort, to all the partner organizations that are working directly with the homeless every day. This award is for our entire community," said Jamie Van Leeuwen, head of Denver’s Road Home.
"While we have realized great success in the first three years there is much work to be done," Van Leeuwen said. "In Denver there are still more than 3,900 men, women, and children who are homeless. We cannot rest. We must continue to work hard if we are to realize our goal of ending homelessness in our community."