What We Do
The Delores Project partners with individuals experiencing barriers to housing to identify their path to stability. By providing shelter, housing, and supportive services, The Delores Project works alongside individuals as they overcome barriers and challenges. In addition, The Delores Project community collaborates with other community leaders to ensure those who have experienced barriers to housing are represented on issues of public policy and community development.
OUR MISSION
The Delores Project builds belonging for people experiencing homelessness through the provision and advocacy of safe, dignified, and trauma-informed shelter for women, transgender, and nonbinary individuals, support services, and supportive housing for people of all genders.
OUR VISION
All individuals have the community of support and housing stability they need to thrive.
OUR VALUES
Our model of service is one of respect, hospitality and dignity for each guest.
We support those we serve without judgment.
We believe in the potential of each individual and their right to self-determination.
We are good stewards of our financial and human resources.
We value the diversity of our guests, staff, board, and volunteers, and we are a model of inclusiveness.
We believe the community is strengthened when it cares for those with the fewest resources.
Hospitality and Welcome
The Delores Project believes in extending true hospitality to everyone who walks through our doors, helping them believe they are worthy of care and respect. Services are provided with as few requirements and barriers as possible. For example, guests at The Delores Shelter are not required to present identification or immediately commit to a long-term program. The Delores Project welcomes each individual as they are, with no immediate expectations that they must "fix" their lives as quickly as possible; people are not broken.
Hope and Self-Determination
At the Delores Project, hope is held for people who have temporarily lost their capacity for confidence. Change comes differently for each person, and our guests and residents deserve a choice in planning for their future. The Delores Project programs work in partnership with guests and residents as they identify their individual needs and goals. An individualized path to stability is then developed with each guest or resident and the staff provides the necessary support for the guest or resident to meet the milestones on their path. There is value in recognizing mistakes or poor choices as places to learn from and to move forward. Everyone deserves second, third, and more chances to recover and reclaim their lives.
DELORES BIG BOY
The Delores Project is named after Delores Big Boy, a Lakota woman, and long-time Denver resident who experienced homelessness and died due to complications from physical illness shortly before her forty-fourth birthday. Delores was known for her big heart and desire to nurture and care for others. When Delores was housed, she would often have several people in need of shelter staying in her apartment each night and her mentality was to care for as many people as she could with whatever she had. Delores passed away in 1999 and in the winter of 2000, The Delores Project opened in her name, with her values for hospitality and acceptance of others as the foundation for the new shelter. The staff of Delores wanted to create a space that allowed everyone to have dignity and comfort. A hallmark of the shelter at that time was the use of handmade quilts on each bed. The quilts, crafted and donated by volunteers, were meant to help guests feel at home, as much as possible, during their stay in the shelter. Over the years, hospitality and dignity have continued to be the core values of The Delores Project and the way that Delores's spirit has lived on.
When we opened our new building at Arroyo Village in 2019, we invited Delores' family to the grand opening celebration. Many came from different states and graciously offered a blessing for our building and gifted us two Star Quilts. One is hanging in the Shelter Dining Room and one is in our supportive housing lobby, along with photos of Delores. It is an honor that the family chose to gift these to us in support of our work and our community. The Star Quilt symbolizes the Morning Star - the last and brightest star on the eastern horizon before dawn. The Morning Star represents a link between those who are living and those who have passed away. It also represents the values of honor and generosity. We display them to honor our namesake, Delores Big Boy as well as others who have passed on along the way. They remind us to honor and keep alive the spirit of generosity and hospitality that has always been the Delores way.
Land Acknowledgement
We honor and acknowledge that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Nations. We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up the state of Colorado. We honor Elders past, present, and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations. We also recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of Indigenous Peoples. May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities and recognize the current and future contributions of Indigenous communities in Denver.
Learn more at native-land.ca