Feet Forward, a local organization providing homelessness services in Boulder since 2020, announced Tuesday it will dissolve by the end of the year, transferring its assets to Haven Ridge, a local shelter.
The group’s weekly events in Central Park — which offer food, clothing and other essentials — serve an average of 100 homeless people, making it a vital part of the city’s overall support network. Recently, Feet Forward also launched a peer support program to help people connect with housing and other resources.
Haven Ridge, established in 1982 and primarily serving women and transgender people, will take over these services, including the weekly events in Central Park.
“I’m enthusiastic about this team being able to carry on and perhaps grow even more,” Leanne Wheeler, the interim executive director of Feet Forward, told Boulder Reporting Lab. “I will miss the work. I will miss the team.”
Wheeler said the decision to dissolve was partly to improve financial sustainability. For instance, while Feet Forward received a grant under the American Rescue Plan Act to establish Medicaid billing for peer support services, it lacked the capacity to fully use the grant for its intended purpose, according to Wheeler.
This transition comes about a year after the departure of Feet Forward’s founder, Jennifer Livovich, who resigned and has since launched Streetscape Peer Support Services and Outreach, a nonprofit offering additional support to Boulder’s homeless people.
“I’m not entirely shocked to hear this news,” Livovich told Boulder Reporting Lab. She added she hopes Haven Ridge keeps operating the outreach events on Tuesday afternoons in Central Park because “it provides a critical service.”
Separately, Feet Forward is also the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Boulder’s camping ban, which allows officers to ticket people for sleeping in public spaces. Livovich has said she resigned after the nonprofit’s board declined her request to withdraw as a plaintiff, keeping the organization in the case. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar camping ban in another city, and Boulder has since sought to dismiss the case. Wheeler said a ruling on Boulder’s case is expected before Feet Forward’s planned dissolution at the end of the year.
Two Feet Forward staff members will join Haven Ridge, continuing outreach, distribution events and peer support services, according to the organizations. The transition is expected to be complete next week.
“This really allows us to do complete wrap-around work, from first contact, to peer support, sheltering, case management, employment and housing counseling, sobriety support, and transitional housing,” Lisa Sweeney-Miran, CEO of Haven Ridge, said in a news release. “We all want to see a world where no one has to live on the street, and meeting people where they’re at really allows us to start helping even earlier than before.”
I’m unable to quickly gain access to info on the total $$$ spent by various organizations (both public and private) every year on HOMELESSNESS here in Boulder, CO. However, I’m confident it greatly exceeds the $27.2M budget for the Boulder Public Library District. We know the value of libraries; what are we getting for umpteen millions spent on homelessness?
The homeless shelter/services industry here in Boulder, CO is anything but transparent!
There shouldn’t be a price put on trying to get people no matter what age or demographic off the street.
Only if there is a Homeless Industrial Complex being built and the services to the homeless do not improve as has happened in California.
Make the developers pay. They can handle it.
Lisa you say “…meeting people where they are at…”, the question is HOW MANY PEOPLE?