Women's Village to Continue on an Alternate Site
Dear friends,
It is with equal parts grief and hope that we write to inform you that the application for a temporary Tiny Home Village for Women in the Clements Historic District, to be housed on land owned by St Andrew's Episcopal Church, was denied on July 10 by Denver's Landmark Preservation Commission, stating a lack of historic precedent for similar structures within the district.
We always knew this outcome was a possibility for this project, but it was not an outcome we hoped for or expected. Nevertheless, St. Andrew’s, the Colorado Village Collaborative, Radian, Inc., and our partners remain committed to completing this project on an alternative site. Interest and enthusiasm for the village continues to grow. To date, we have raised significant funds toward this project from national and local foundations, community fund raisers, individual donors and numerous churches and other non-profit entities. While the Landmark Commission’s decision is a disappointment, it will not derail this crucial project.
Importantly, the efforts to finalize a new site coincide with the release of an evaluation from the Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise and the Burnes Center on Poverty and Homelessness at the University of Denver. This report studied the impacts of the first nine months of operations of the Beloved Community Village and concluded that the village was a success. The highlights of this study indicate that people who were previously underserved are housed; those people are more stable than they were before; and the village had no negative impacts on the surrounding neighborhood.
This timely study demonstrates that Tiny Home Villages make good neighbors, just as the Women’s Village enters into the process of finalizing plans for a new site where it hopes to receive the welcome and hospitality of the neighborhood that it will call home.
These homes are crucial, and they will be built. Thank you for your support along the way. Your support gives us the confidence that we need to push towards the goal of building this village before Winter.
Thank you,
CVC
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