Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Colorado Gives Day. Colorado gives dot org a great place
to go look for nonprofits you might want to support,
whether medical, environmental, helping veterans, helping kids, whatever it might be.
Joining us in studio. One of the nonprofits you will
find on Colorado gives dot Org Advance Pathways. Jim is
the CEO of Advanced Pathways. Sam is the first community
(00:22):
member who Advanced Advanced Pathways helped, and they Advanced Pathways
is now operating the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, which is
a really remarkable thing that I had a chance to
visit recently. Anyway, I spoke with Jim and Sam a
lot about an hour ago, and I thought it would
be fun and interesting to have Gina jump into the
(00:43):
conversation because she's got different thoughts and questions and all that.
So Gina take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, Jim, I know you touched on this a little
bit earlier, but can you explain a little bit more
about the tears of how this works, because it is
truly a really different setup when it comes to a
homeless shelter. We talk about the ones in Denver all
the time, being like this one's for beat females. This
one's for males, families, you name it. But the tiers
is something unique? Did you base Is this based off
of anything else that.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
We've seen in maybe other states or other areas.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Thank you, Gina. So we work with adult homeless. That
is our focus and this is a unique model. It
is based upon some of the work that the Springs
Rescue Mission has done in addition to step Denver, when
we look at providing opportunities for people to be self
motivated in order to be able to then be accountable,
(01:32):
to achieve and work towards milestones that are important to them.
So this TEARS system is really looking at human motivation.
When we see someone else getting something, the question is, well,
how do I get that? And that's the question we
encourage people to ask, how can you do something to
improve your situation in this moment? And that's where the
(01:53):
tears come in. Tier one is people coming right off
the street in whatever condition they are in all or
welcome here too. People begin to notice, hey, there's a
private bed there with private storage. Why are they getting
this type of treatment? And it's not treatment, it's all about, hey,
you're doing something different so that you get.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
More, You earn more you do more.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
You get more, and that then brings us into tier three.
You have a full time, tax paying job. This is
over the table, not under the table, because we want
self sufficiency to be the focus. We want to end
homelessness one person at a time, not a short term
band aid solution. So you work full time, you get
then a private entrance into a private room, you get
(02:39):
private parking. Why do you get these other incentives because
you're doing something You've earned it.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's an incredible setup because I know, wrap around services
are something that people are always looking for, and there's
a lot of misconceptions when it comes to those on
the streets or those who become homeless. Sam, maybe this
is a question for you if you can think of
what are some of those misconceptions that that people might
have when it comes to just shelters in general and
helping those homeless individuals in our cities.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Yeah, so I would say that some of the misconceptions
being that they're all the help lies just right there,
readily available. I know, whenever I first became home, was like,
well where do I even go? And then trying to
ask people that aren't are they don't work with those services?
And so they have no idea and then there's a
broad swath of folks that you know you're looking for services.
(03:28):
You know you need the services, but you're unable to
find them anywhere. And so being able to find places
like the Navigation Campus where individuals be able to go
and be able to find the wrap around services on site,
that's that's real helpful. And just being able to navigate
to one place for all the things that you need,
it's beneficial.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
What was maybe one thing that really stood out to
you with.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus that was like, wow, I
haven't seen this and other shelters and other setups in
the past.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
With the tiered with the tiered system, definitely a couple
of the other missions that I'd experienced when I was homeless.
It was just it was a bit it was that
the house first model, and uh that was I mean, okay,
you're inside for tonight, but what are you going to
do beyond that? Beyond today? And so at advanced Pathways
the Navigation Campus up there, you know, being able to go, Okay,
(04:16):
we're off the streets and now, oh there's other avenues
I can.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Get off the streets. And then actually look a.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Little higher and go from homelessness to hopefulness and be
able to look a little bit further beyond the horizon.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I love that, Jim, when we talk about this, that
that tier one is really special because there's a lot
of shelters that make their you know, homeless individuals come
in completely clean, and that's a huge struggle for people
to just go from being off the streets to and
having to follow so many strict guidelines and rules when
it comes to this navigation campus.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
What are some of just the safety and.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Security measures and just the protocols that people might have
concerns about anytime when we talk about shelters in our neighborhoods.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Absolutely, safety and security is one of our utmost priorities,
particularly for women coming off the We want to make
sure we're creating an environment where people feel like they
truly are being taken care of, and so we have
a security company that we contract with, Dominant Security Services.
They are able to be able to provide that level
(05:14):
of security for us. Throughout the thirteen acres that we have.
We have two hundred and eighty five thousand square feet
of indoor space that we manage, so we check bags
on the way in. We want to make sure that
there's no drugs or no weapons coming in. We regularly
evaluate to make sure that we're creating a safe environment
for people to be able to make different choices because
(05:36):
they know that it's okay to be a little bit
vulnerable in order to be able to address whatever those
behaviors are that contributed to them being homeless. We want
to help them in their recovery. We broadly define that
something happened, something that is preventing you from being able
to be self sufficient? What is that? And let's have
that conversation. But you can only do that if you
(05:58):
feel comfortable.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And we're talking with Jim CEO of Advanced Pathways and
Sam one of the first community members that Advanced Pathways helped,
and they Advanced Pathways is now operating the Aurora Regional
Navigation Campus. It's enormous. It's a former hotel and a
convention center together in Aurora and they aim to help
(06:20):
or they can help six hundred people a day and
aim to help three to four thousand people a year.
This is gonna sound kind of like a softball question,
but I want to ask this of you because after
Kristen and I visited the navigation campus. This was the
first thing that came out of my mouth. All right,
and so.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Why do you care so much?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Right? I mean, well all of you. Andrew's sitting in
studio with us as well, every person we met on
that tour. The amount that you care, the degree to
which you care about people you never met and with
whom you have a little maybe in common. Why do
you care so much that you're spending all day every
(07:07):
day helping people?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Ross?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Thanks for that question for me. I just believe that
so many of us, we're just being humans on this
earth is we're broken and lost.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So many of us.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
There's just stuff in our bass that our struggles, and
I believe that each of us is made for more.
And if we can create an opportunity where homelessness is
not a period at the end of that sentence, it's
a chapter, it's something that's only in the past. Could
we create something that's unique and different where people feel
(07:41):
like they are respected for who they are, not judged
for what they've done, and they can create a pathway forward.
I think we build a stronger community. I think overall,
we end up living in a safer neighborhood when we
have our homeless taken care of and they're being self sufficient.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I know you talked about the commune unity that you
really felt there. Is it a community both with the
workers and with those who are being assisted in these homes,
because it's a situation where you want both and sometimes
people could feel pushback, or they could feel looked down on,
or they can feel, you know, like you said, not
able to be vulnerable in their situations.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Is it a connection of community throughout? Absolutely? Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Plenty of the staff, there's no shortage of staff that
you can sit down and have a conversation with them.
They've been through it or they are close enough to
it that they felt the fire from people going through
that or experiencing a lot of the same things and
them having gone down that path as very helpful in
being able to have that community and then everybody be
on the same page and understanding like, hey, you're going
(08:42):
through this, but you're not here forever. This is a
temporary stop on the path that's your own.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Jim, what has since the opening?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
How many people have you helped, How has it been
received from the community, from city leaders, from everybody and
then maybe just remind people again they go, Okay, how
much how much am I paying for this?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Or how much is this for me? People want to
know anytime we talk about these services.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
The cost surely. So we started on November seventeenth. We've
had on average almost three hundred people per night coming
in to be able to reservices, to receive services. And
when people enter the building, the first experience that I
hear is wow, because they're going into an open area,
the ceilings are forty feet high, there's natural light coming in.
(09:26):
There's a piano that was left over from the purchase
from the convention center, and they're throughout the day consistently
they're un housed guests who are playing music, not banging
on the keys, they're actually playing music. So it's quite
beautiful and creates this calming, relaxing environment. Your question about
funding seventy five percent of the eleven million dollar operating
(09:48):
budget is the responsibility of advanced Pathways. This is a
public private partnership. This is not a government program. The
City of Aurora contributes a couple of million dollars towards
our safety, security and the facilities, but we're responsible for
all the services that are being provided there. Seventy five
percent is our responsibility.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And obviously we're talking about this on our Colorado Gives
Day Colorado gives dot org. Jim, I assume is it
Advance Pathways that you search when it comes to Colorado
gives dot org. Is that the best way or is
there other resources you'd like to give listeners if they
want to help in any way?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
That is correct. Advancepathways dot org is our website and
also the way you can look for us for Colorado
Gives Day's donations.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
And I'll just remind folks, the first six thousand dollars
donated today we'll get a one hundred percent match. So
if you go donate, you know one hundred bucks, they're
going to get two hundred bucks. So go to Colorado
gives dot org and search for Advance Pathways and donate.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Thanks so much to both of you for being here.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Jim's CEO of Advanced Pathways, Sam, congratulations on your success
and marriage and business and completely turning your life around.
I just love these stories and that's why I love
what you guys are doing.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
It's wonderful to be here, and I just say, just
you know, behind every person we serve is a future
worth fighting for. Thank you for having us this morning.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Thanks guys, appreciate it, Love it.
Colorado Gives Day. Colorado gives dot org a great place
to go look for nonprofits you might want to support,
whether medical, environmental, helping veterans, helping kids, whatever it might be.
Joining us in studio. One of the nonprofits you will
find on Colorado gives dot Org Advance Pathways. Jim is
the CEO of Advanced Pathways. Sam is the first community
(00:22):
member who Advanced Advanced Pathways helped, and they Advanced Pathways
is now operating the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, which is
a really remarkable thing that I had a chance to
visit recently. Anyway, I spoke with Jim and Sam a
lot about an hour ago, and I thought it would
be fun and interesting to have Gina jump into the
(00:43):
conversation because she's got different thoughts and questions and all that.
So Gina take it away.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, Jim, I know you touched on this a little
bit earlier, but can you explain a little bit more
about the tears of how this works, because it is
truly a really different setup when it comes to a
homeless shelter. We talk about the ones in Denver all
the time, being like this one's for beat females. This
one's for males, families, you name it. But the tiers
is something unique? Did you base Is this based off
of anything else that.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
We've seen in maybe other states or other areas.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Thank you, Gina. So we work with adult homeless. That
is our focus and this is a unique model. It
is based upon some of the work that the Springs
Rescue Mission has done in addition to step Denver, when
we look at providing opportunities for people to be self
motivated in order to be able to then be accountable,
(01:32):
to achieve and work towards milestones that are important to them.
So this TEARS system is really looking at human motivation.
When we see someone else getting something, the question is, well,
how do I get that? And that's the question we
encourage people to ask, how can you do something to
improve your situation in this moment? And that's where the
(01:53):
tears come in. Tier one is people coming right off
the street in whatever condition they are in all or
welcome here too. People begin to notice, hey, there's a
private bed there with private storage. Why are they getting
this type of treatment? And it's not treatment, it's all about, hey,
you're doing something different so that you get.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
More, You earn more you do more.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
You get more, and that then brings us into tier three.
You have a full time, tax paying job. This is
over the table, not under the table, because we want
self sufficiency to be the focus. We want to end
homelessness one person at a time, not a short term
band aid solution. So you work full time, you get
then a private entrance into a private room, you get
(02:39):
private parking. Why do you get these other incentives because
you're doing something You've earned it.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It's an incredible setup because I know, wrap around services
are something that people are always looking for, and there's
a lot of misconceptions when it comes to those on
the streets or those who become homeless. Sam, maybe this
is a question for you if you can think of
what are some of those misconceptions that that people might
have when it comes to just shelters in general and
helping those homeless individuals in our cities.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Yeah, so I would say that some of the misconceptions
being that they're all the help lies just right there,
readily available. I know, whenever I first became home, was like,
well where do I even go? And then trying to
ask people that aren't are they don't work with those services?
And so they have no idea and then there's a
broad swath of folks that you know you're looking for services.
(03:28):
You know you need the services, but you're unable to
find them anywhere. And so being able to find places
like the Navigation Campus where individuals be able to go
and be able to find the wrap around services on site,
that's that's real helpful. And just being able to navigate
to one place for all the things that you need,
it's beneficial.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
What was maybe one thing that really stood out to
you with.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus that was like, wow, I
haven't seen this and other shelters and other setups in
the past.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
With the tiered with the tiered system, definitely a couple
of the other missions that I'd experienced when I was homeless.
It was just it was a bit it was that
the house first model, and uh that was I mean, okay,
you're inside for tonight, but what are you going to
do beyond that? Beyond today? And so at advanced Pathways
the Navigation Campus up there, you know, being able to go, Okay,
(04:16):
we're off the streets and now, oh there's other avenues
I can.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Get off the streets. And then actually look a.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Little higher and go from homelessness to hopefulness and be
able to look a little bit further beyond the horizon.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I love that, Jim, when we talk about this, that
that tier one is really special because there's a lot
of shelters that make their you know, homeless individuals come
in completely clean, and that's a huge struggle for people
to just go from being off the streets to and
having to follow so many strict guidelines and rules when
it comes to this navigation campus.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
What are some of just the safety and.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Security measures and just the protocols that people might have
concerns about anytime when we talk about shelters in our neighborhoods.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Absolutely, safety and security is one of our utmost priorities,
particularly for women coming off the We want to make
sure we're creating an environment where people feel like they
truly are being taken care of, and so we have
a security company that we contract with, Dominant Security Services.
They are able to be able to provide that level
(05:14):
of security for us. Throughout the thirteen acres that we have.
We have two hundred and eighty five thousand square feet
of indoor space that we manage, so we check bags
on the way in. We want to make sure that
there's no drugs or no weapons coming in. We regularly
evaluate to make sure that we're creating a safe environment
for people to be able to make different choices because
(05:36):
they know that it's okay to be a little bit
vulnerable in order to be able to address whatever those
behaviors are that contributed to them being homeless. We want
to help them in their recovery. We broadly define that
something happened, something that is preventing you from being able
to be self sufficient? What is that? And let's have
that conversation. But you can only do that if you
(05:58):
feel comfortable.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And we're talking with Jim CEO of Advanced Pathways and
Sam one of the first community members that Advanced Pathways helped,
and they Advanced Pathways is now operating the Aurora Regional
Navigation Campus. It's enormous. It's a former hotel and a
convention center together in Aurora and they aim to help
(06:20):
or they can help six hundred people a day and
aim to help three to four thousand people a year.
This is gonna sound kind of like a softball question,
but I want to ask this of you because after
Kristen and I visited the navigation campus. This was the
first thing that came out of my mouth. All right,
and so.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Why do you care so much?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Right? I mean, well all of you. Andrew's sitting in
studio with us as well, every person we met on
that tour. The amount that you care, the degree to
which you care about people you never met and with
whom you have a little maybe in common. Why do
you care so much that you're spending all day every
(07:07):
day helping people?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Ross?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Thanks for that question for me. I just believe that
so many of us, we're just being humans on this
earth is we're broken and lost.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So many of us.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
There's just stuff in our bass that our struggles, and
I believe that each of us is made for more.
And if we can create an opportunity where homelessness is
not a period at the end of that sentence, it's
a chapter, it's something that's only in the past. Could
we create something that's unique and different where people feel
(07:41):
like they are respected for who they are, not judged
for what they've done, and they can create a pathway forward.
I think we build a stronger community. I think overall,
we end up living in a safer neighborhood when we
have our homeless taken care of and they're being self sufficient.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Sam.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I know you talked about the commune unity that you
really felt there. Is it a community both with the
workers and with those who are being assisted in these homes,
because it's a situation where you want both and sometimes
people could feel pushback, or they could feel looked down on,
or they can feel, you know, like you said, not
able to be vulnerable in their situations.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Is it a connection of community throughout? Absolutely? Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Plenty of the staff, there's no shortage of staff that
you can sit down and have a conversation with them.
They've been through it or they are close enough to
it that they felt the fire from people going through
that or experiencing a lot of the same things and
them having gone down that path as very helpful in
being able to have that community and then everybody be
on the same page and understanding like, hey, you're going
(08:42):
through this, but you're not here forever. This is a
temporary stop on the path that's your own.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Jim, what has since the opening?
Speaker 2 (08:51):
How many people have you helped, How has it been
received from the community, from city leaders, from everybody and
then maybe just remind people again they go, Okay, how
much how much am I paying for this?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Or how much is this for me? People want to
know anytime we talk about these services.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
The cost surely. So we started on November seventeenth. We've
had on average almost three hundred people per night coming
in to be able to reservices, to receive services. And
when people enter the building, the first experience that I
hear is wow, because they're going into an open area,
the ceilings are forty feet high, there's natural light coming in.
(09:26):
There's a piano that was left over from the purchase
from the convention center, and they're throughout the day consistently
they're un housed guests who are playing music, not banging
on the keys, they're actually playing music. So it's quite
beautiful and creates this calming, relaxing environment. Your question about
funding seventy five percent of the eleven million dollar operating
(09:48):
budget is the responsibility of advanced Pathways. This is a
public private partnership. This is not a government program. The
City of Aurora contributes a couple of million dollars towards
our safety, security and the facilities, but we're responsible for
all the services that are being provided there. Seventy five
percent is our responsibility.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And obviously we're talking about this on our Colorado Gives
Day Colorado gives dot org. Jim, I assume is it
Advance Pathways that you search when it comes to Colorado
gives dot org. Is that the best way or is
there other resources you'd like to give listeners if they
want to help in any way?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
That is correct. Advancepathways dot org is our website and
also the way you can look for us for Colorado
Gives Day's donations.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
And I'll just remind folks, the first six thousand dollars
donated today we'll get a one hundred percent match. So
if you go donate, you know one hundred bucks, they're
going to get two hundred bucks. So go to Colorado
gives dot org and search for Advance Pathways and donate.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Thanks so much to both of you for being here.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Jim's CEO of Advanced Pathways, Sam, congratulations on your success
and marriage and business and completely turning your life around.
I just love these stories and that's why I love
what you guys are doing.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
It's wonderful to be here, and I just say, just
you know, behind every person we serve is a future
worth fighting for. Thank you for having us this morning.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Thanks guys, appreciate it, Love it.
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