The South Metro Community Foundation, a community-supported 501(c)3 nonprofit, announces that it has received a $10,000 Aid to Agencies grant from Arapahoe County. The grant will help establish the Tri-Cities Homeless Navigation Center.
The South Metro Community Foundation is serving as fiscal sponsor for the establishment of the Navigation Center. Susan Thornton, former Littleton mayor and founder and chair of the SMCF, expressed gratitude to the County and County Commissioners for the grant.
The Navigation Center was included in the recommendations of the Tri-City Homeless Action Plan, developed by leaders of Littleton, Englewood and Sheridan over a two-year period and released in 2021. The plan was unanimously adopted by the city councils of the three cities.
Forty service-providers that are members of Change The Trend have committed to bring clients experiencing homelessness in the Tri-Cities area to the Navigation Center. Their unique needs will be assessed at the Center, and they will be directed to services such as job training, mental and physical health assistance and addiction services. The goal is to stabilize people who are homeless and get them into safe, secure housing.
In addition, the Navigation Center will follow the clients so that the Tri-Cities know for the first time how many people experiencing homeless are in the area and what services are most effective in getting them into housing.
Thornton emphasized that the Navigation Center is not designed to bring more homeless individuals into the Tri-Cities, but to identify those who are already here with services that are already available, but are often hard to access for those who are unhoused.
To learn more or to make a tax-deductible donation to the work of the SMCF, go to www.SMCFinfo.org or send a check to:
SMCF
PO Box 401
Littleton, CO 80160
