Two organizations that provide services to hundreds of Denver’s poorest residents were facing eviction by New Year’s Day, but becoming roommates could solve their problems.
The solution appeals to the Disability Center for Independent Living, which refers low-income people with disabilities to shelters, jobs and services, and to the Northeast Women’s Center, which educates, trains and places about 700 women a year in jobs.
“If we didn’t do this, we’d be homeless,” said Carol Reynolds, director of the Disability Center for Independent Living.
The women’s center, in debt and struggling to pay a big rent increase, is facing what executive director Hazel Whitsett described as the leanest supply of resources since it began in 1983.
“This is the first Christmas when I just don’t have an abundance of baskets to give out,” Whitsett said. The center provides basic education, parenting classes, youth services and a weekend food pantry.
Until last week, things seemed bleak. Both Reynolds and Whitsett fully appreciated the irony, and the enormous consequences, of their respective organizations becoming as homeless as their most destitute clients.
“No room at the inn,” Reynolds said, summarizing both the season and the DCIL’s dilemma.
Earlier this year, Reynolds realized that her organization, which serves about 600 clients annually, was outgrowing the space it leases from the Urban League.
The DCIL has been on a month-to-month lease since early summer, with a tacit understanding between tenant and landlord that a move was imminent and unavoidable.
She hoped to keep the center in Park Hill, where most of the clients live. But promising leads invariably turned into dead ends.
Last week, Reynolds mentioned her quest to another homeless-services supervisor. He suggested seeking advice from Whitsett, who was struggling with a similar situation.
“So I went to MapQuest to get directions, and I thought, ‘Wait a minute! Turn right, and that’s all I have to do?’ I was shocked it was so close,” Reynolds said.
“It was like a windfall. Finally, after six months, a windfall.”
If their plans work out, the DCIL will move into the Dahlia Street building that has housed the Northeast Women’s Center for the past 10 years. The women’s center would occupy the front of the spacious building. Reynolds’ organization would be in the back.
Together, the organizations would share a computer lab and collaborate on other services. Whitsett envisions adding a signing interpreter to make parenting classes available to the speech- and hearing-impaired.
Some technical snags remain. The Dahlia Street building’s entrances and bathrooms must be wheelchair-accessible. Reynolds needs to persuade the Regional Transportation District to add a stop outside the building’s front door. The nearest bus stop is about three blocks away, a distance that would take some DCIL clients 30 minutes to traverse.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
