The Delores Project

Founded in 1999, The Delores Project is the metro area's largest provider of emergency and extended-stay shelter for unaccompanied women and transgender individuals experiencing homelessness.The Delores Project is known in the community by both other service providers and our guests, for being a place that offers each guest respect, dignity, and opportunities for empowerment. Guests frequently share that this is the one place they were treated as an equal human being, and not as an inconvenience. We pride ourselves on the way we work with each guest in a strengths-based manner, allowing them to feel empowered and supported by our staff.The Delores Project often serves as a “shelter of last resort,” accepting guests with needs too extensive for other shelters. Nearly all of the individuals we serve face multiple challenges or have complex needs. Rates of traumatic stress are extremely high among those experiencing homelessness,and all of the guests we serve self-report experiencing trauma at some point in their lives. The constant worry about where to sleep or where to get the next meal is stressful, as is the loss of safety, stability, and sense of place experienced by those who are homeless. Those who have survived multiple traumas are likely to develop survival strategies (such as substance abuse, lack of trust, withdrawal symptoms or aggressive behavior) that can make it even more difficult to serve this population effectively.The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative2015 Point-in-Time Surveyestimates there are 650 unaccompanied women and transgender individuals homeless every night across metro Denver, and the community still does not have a sufficient number of shelter beds to meet their basic needs. We respond to this critical need, reserving more than 20% of shelter beds for this population, and is currently the only emergency shelter offering stays beyond a single night at a time. At the same time, TDP staff collaborates with community leaders advocating for creation of both additional emergency shelter space and development of long-term housing solutions.