The Housing and Poverty Team helps people deepen, connect and engage by partnering with several social service agencies and faith communities to aid them in their efforts to address poverty in Jefferson County.

It’s about empowerment.

The need to address poverty is well documented. Jefferson County’s Heading Home Project reports:

• 35 percent, or close to 30,000, public school students in Jeffco live at or near poverty and we have the highest number of homeless students of any school district in Colorado.
• 78 percent of the homeless in the county are couples or single people with children.
• The latest point in time count of homeless people in Jeffco found 611 homeless plus another 285 at risk people living on the edge of homelessness in temporary housing. There are 30 shelter beds in the county.
• The main reasons given for homeless in our county were high housing costs and the loss of a job. Sixty-seven of those surveyed reported serious medical or physical conditions and 49 reported that they suffer from mental illness.
• To be self-sufficient (i.e., to meet all basic needs without public or private support), a family of four (two adults and two children) living in Jefferson County would need to earn $62,952 a year. In contrast, if both adults worked 40 hours a week at minimum wage with no days off, they would only earn $32,365 to support their family. To meet the self-sufficiency standard, each adult would need to earn a minimum of $14.90 hourly.

We strive to make our partnerships inclusive of as many people in the congregation as possible. All our partnerships look for opportunities to involve youth, young adults, families, new and visiting members, and intergenerational experiences.

Our partnerships include the following. Page down for a detailed description and contact information for each partnership.

• The Action Center
• Family Promise
• Family Tree
• Habitat for Humanity through an interfaith coalition: Jeffco Partners for Interfaith Action
• Heading Home, a collaboration of individuals and public service and faith-based organizations from the community determined to end homelessness in Jefferson County.
• JUC Knitters and Quilters
• Sloan’s Lake Community Church

2016/17 Housing & Poverty Task Force Annual Report