New team of formerly incarcerated and unhoused responders helps Denver homeless community, "It's priceless to see"
There's a new group on the streets of Denver working to help the homeless community.
City Council approved a $3 million contract with San Francisco-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy for community ambassador services and a $30 million contract to operate the Aspen shelter. Urban Alchemy says its community ambassador team model is already in operation in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Birmingham.
These responders are specially equipped to help the homeless community because they've been in their shoes. They help the community find help and resources available to them.
"I was homeless on the streets here in downtown Denver and made a few mistakes and ended up going to Colorado Correctional Facility in 2019," said Mike Johnson, Compassionate Ambassadors Doing Respectful Engagements (CARE) team director and Urban Alchemy practitioner.
After three years incarcerated, Johnson was determined to turn his life around.
"My biggest fear is that I was just going to be known as an ex-con, and nobody would give me a second chance," Johnson said.
When Denver contracted with Urban Alchemy for community ambassador services, Johnson was drawn to the San Francisco-based nonprofit, which employs returning citizens to transform urban communities.
"I knew I had to be a part of that organization," Johnson said.
Johnson now runs Urban Alchemy's CARE program, which launched in Denver on Jan. 1. The team has 10 full-time employees, all Denver locals with lived experience.
"Whether it's previously incarcerated or being out on the streets ourselves, it's just a unique group of individuals with great talents and a heart to serve our community," Johnson said.
The CARE team responds to 311 calls for people in crisis and connects them with services.
"We have a lot of different referrals that we can do to All-In Mile High sites for transitional living. And we have sober living, detoxes, mental health services from different areas in the city that we can connect somebody to, whatever service we're looking for," Johnson said. "So we can come out, respond to that, to free our police and fire up for bigger and better calls."
In just the first two weeks in Denver, the CARE team has placed nine people in transitional housing, three in detox, and a single mom and her two kids in a family shelter.
The team is on duty seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. When they're not responding to calls for service, the team cleans up priority areas in town.
"You're going to see us cleaning and picking up and cleaning up needles," Johnson said. "So anywhere we go, we want to make it prettier and beautify it, and make it better than it was when we got there."
They also proactively make relationships with the homeless community.
"The connection that we already have when we approach our friends experiencing homelessness, with the lived experience and the connection that they have, almost gives us an immediate in," Johnson said.
It's a second chance for those on both sides of the interaction.
"To see them light up, to see them come in and apply for positions and go through interviews and go through trainings and just get that sense of belonging, it's priceless to see," Johnson said.