Summary
Organization name
the PLACE
other names
Urban Peak Colorado Springs
2000
Tax id (EIN)
84-1549702
Category
Housing & Shelter
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
423 E Cucharras StreetColorado Springs, CO 80903
El Paso County, CO, US
The PLACE is the only agency in El Paso County offering a convergence of services specifically for youth experiencing homelessness, providing secular, wraparound programming that ignites their potential to create self-determined, fulfilled lives.
The PLACE’s overarching belief is that every young person deserves a place to belong. Using that belief as our anchor, we developed our long-term strategy to end youth and young adult homelessness in the Pikes Peak region - HOME.
HOME is:
- Housing that is safe, stable, and affordable
- On-going positive relationships with safe adults and peers
- Meaningful engagement, education, and employment
- Emotional, social, physical, and psychological well-being
Our HOME strategy deploys across a spectrum of programs, from low barrier street outreach and drop-in center to youth shelter and diverse housing options. While unique within our region, this effective approach is recognized and repeated across the U.S. by homeless youth services agencies. It mirrors the four core outcome areas developed by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness regarding solutions with youth: 1) Social and emotional well-being; 2) increased education or employment; 3) Permanent connections; and 4) Stable housing.
For young people experiencing homelessness or on the brink of homelessness, The Place's supportive programs are both a safety net and a springboard to housing, health, and hope.
Mission
Mission:
The PLACE ignites the potential in youth to exit homelessness and create self-determined fulfilled lives.
Vision:
All Colorado youth have safe housing, supportive relationships, and the opportunity for self-sufficiency and success.
It is our ongoing priority that youth homelessness be rare, brief, and one-time.
Background Statement
In 2000, a coalition of service providers from Colorado Springs approached Urban Peak, a Denver shelter and drop-in center for homeless youth, to ask for support in serving the growing population of young people experiencing homelessness in El Paso County. Urban Peak Denver launched an affiliate in Colorado Springs, sharing training, resources, and strategies to ensure people, places, and positive youth programming. They also launched a campaign to build Colorado Springs' first homeless youth shelter. The successful campaign created a new 20-bed youth shelter in 2004 just east of downtown.
While Urban Peak Denver and Urban Peak Colorado Springs were operating on parallel paths, organizational leadership recognized the need to create distinctive approaches to serve the uniquely complex issues that exist in the two areas. Subsequently, in 2019, the board of directors of both Colorado Springs and Denver Urban Peaks worked to disaffiliate into two separate entities so that each distinct community had full focus on youth solutions. In a call back to the original shelter campaign, and because young people often referred to the shelter as "that place," the Colorado Springs entity rebranded as The PLACE.
The PLACE remains the only state-licensed youth shelter in El Paso County and the surrounding area, and its full scope of services -- from shelter, street outreach, housing, and healthcare to employment, education, and enrichment activities that provide young people the chance to change their trajectory.
Additionally, a new collaboration was launched with the National Safe Place Network. The Pikes Peak Library District, the PLACE, and YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region together create more than 30 doors a youth in crisis can walk through to get help.
Our goal is to create a community where if a young person falls into homelessness, within 24 hours they can safely get off and stay off the street. The PLACE opened a drop-in center in late 2021, and in 2023 will break ground with a housing development partner to create a 50-unit apartment home community for vulnerable young people, The Launchpad Apartments.
An estimated 3,200 young people have permanently left homelessness behind because of the tremendous work of staff, volunteers, board members, the resiliency and strength of each young person, as well as the incredibly generous people of the Pikes Peak region.
Media gallery
Organization Data
Colorado Springs, CO 80903