The Empowerment Program, Inc.

Background Statement

The Empowerment Program opened its doors in 1986 in response to a growing number of homeless women, women living in poverty, sex workers, and women involved in the criminal justice system. Throughout the past twenty years, Empowerment has continued it's efforts to decrease the number of women living in poverty who have significant barriers to self-sufficiency due to involvement in the criminal justice system, substance abuse and violence, by providing onsite education, employment training, counseling, supportive services and long-term follow-up support services. The successful delivery of self-sufficiency services helps many women decrease or completely stop their criminal activities. Many of the women are homeless, are living with HIV/AIDS or are at high risk for HIV infection, are actively using drugs, are living with serious mental illness that is treated or untreated, are survivors of abusive relationships, or any combination of the above.

We have provided street and community outreach activities since 1987. Support and education groups are provided in metropolitan area county jails, halfway houses for women leaving prison, shelters for homeless women and drug treatment programs. From 1993 to 1997, we provided Prevention Case Management services, through a cooperative agreement with CDC, focusing on African-American, Latinas and other women in the Denver metropolitan area whose behaviors placed them at high risk for HIV infection. In 1999, we conducted a Community Identification Project, in conjunction with Denver Public Health, to learn more about HIV transmission and African-American women and Latinas who use crack/cocaine. In response to the closure of the only community-based anonymous test site in Denver in 1998, in 1999, we began offering free, anonymous HIV tests at our offices.