Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, homelessness in Denver has skyrocketed. Movement 5280 is a local organization in Denver that provides resources to individuals recovering from homelessness, addiction, abuse and more. More than just a shelter, 5280 aims to help people graduate out of their program and get back on their feet.
Jamie Cope, director of personal navigation and mental health at Movement 5280, talks about what the organization is doing for the community as the homelessness rate increases, and how people can get involved.
Neumann: Walk me through an average day at Movement 5280.
Cope: Our main day is Wednesday. That’s our big resource day where we are open for showers, clothing, food pantries and what we call personal navigation. I will sit down with an individual and ask them questions about whether they have applied for food stamps, the Colorado homeless management system, if they need a phone, or an ID and more. From there, we help them get those things that are hard to jump over by themselves. Tuesdays we have individual counseling and group art counseling. And then we have ‘celebrate recovery’ on Monday nights which is like faith-based AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). And we have Friday nights which is our young adults night where we really try to get the younger adults and youth off the streets on a Friday night and into our building where it’s safe. And then we have church and lunch on Sunday.
Neumann: Is this organization a religious based program, would you say? In that sense, is it still open to anyone?
Cope: Yes, it is completely open to anyone. Even some of our volunteers are not necessarily Christian. But Tina Hayhurst, who is the executive director and started 5280, was the youth pastor and missions pastor at Denver First Church and she started it and so she also wants to provide that outlet. But anybody is welcome no matter what background they have.
Neumann: How did you first get involved with movement 5280?
Cope: Well, my mother (Tina Hayhurst) started it, so I sort of unintentionally was involved already as like a 13-year-old. At that time, we were only open Friday nights, and it was just to get the young adults and youth off the streets. So, I would just go every Friday night and have fun. But then it just grew so much and I’m getting my masters in mental health counseling. So it was very fitting because we were trying to start mental health counseling. That’s when I officially started working there.
Neumann: How did being part of Movement 5280 at such a young age affect and build your perspective on the homeless community and the idea of helping others?
Cope: It gave me such a deeper understanding of what really causes homelessness and contributes to it. A lot of times we assume it’s people who just ended up getting into crazy trouble with drugs, or alcohol, or the law and then ended up on the streets. When, like I said, probably over 60 percent of the homeless we deal with come from either families that were also homeless or into drugs and alcohol or they came out of foster care. A lot come from foster care and just never really experienced a great home or community and then when they turn 18 they have nowhere to go because you know they aged out of the system. So I feel like it gave me way more grace for our homeless. So much of what contributed to their start of homelessness was out of their control.
Neumann: How would you best describe the values and the goals of movement 5280?
Cope: We have three categories under our organization. We call it survive, thrive and revive. Our very first goal is helping with basic survival. Then we go to thrive where we’re teaching job training and giving skills for mental health to help them not just survive, but thrive wherever they are in the community. The revival part is more of the spiritual part of it. Anyone who comes in the door, we want to help with those three things.
Neumann: The rate of homelessness has gone up by 12.8% since the pandemic started. How would you say Movement 5280 is reacting to this increase that’s happening right here in Denver?
Cope: During the pandemic, a lot of other organizations similar to us had older volunteers who did not feel safe being out in the community. We decided to start feeding outside every single day when the pandemic was really heavy because all the other organizations were shut down so we were one of the only ones that had the staff and volunteers willing to say, “you know what, let’s continue and let’s do more.” Which was huge because it allowed us to be seen a little bit more by the county, so we were able to get more grants and more support and more eyes on us as an organization in the area.
Anna: Is there anything else you want to say?
Cope: Our next biggest goal that people can follow along with is the creation of transitional housing which is an exciting thing to be a part of from beginning to end. We have the idea, we are starting to get the funds, and within the next year or two it will actually be happening.
If you want to get involved in Movement 5280, visit their website to see all the different opportunities you have to help your Denver community.
