"The earlier sympathies for homeless persons have faded in many sectors. To end homelessness, we must re-commit ourselves as a nation to create lasting solutions."
- John Parvensky, President, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless

Join Leadership Talks on Friday, October 25, at 1 pm EST for a live, online interview with John Parvensky, President of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (C.C.H.), and a 2002 Leadership for a Changing World award recipient.

Read the Transcript October 25, 2002 Leadership Talks Archive

John Parvensky has built C.C.H. into an organization that serves as a national model of integrated housing and supportive services for homeless persons. The organization provides transitional housing for men, women and families; permanent single room occupancy housing for men and women; a variety of mixed income housing; medical respite housing (short term stays while receiving medical care) and rental assistance programs. Health care services include both physical and mental health care, an in-house pharmacy, and a vision clinic. Other services include: intensive case management for the chronically mentally ill, substance abuse treatment, employment assistance and childcare.

Because of Parvensky's leadership, a statewide network of more than 240 service providers now works together on the issues. C.C.H. also created the Metro Denver Homeless Families Project, the first multi-county initiative in the country to assist homeless families. He forged a working group of grass roots agencies, homeless people, local and state government representatives, churches, and housing organizations. Over a five year period, C.C.H. was able to leverage an initial $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation into housing assistance for 250 homeless families worth $6.2 million. Parvensky persuaded banks, corporations and public entities to invest more than $60 million in our affordable housing developments. C.C.H.'s pioneering rental-assistance approach to transitional housing has dramatically improved services for Colorado's homeless population. Its model of mixed housing provides a third of homes reserved for homeless persons, and a third for low income people, while a third are available at market value; the market rate units help cover the costs of units for the homeless.

C.C.H.'s most significant victory so far is the creation of affordable housing through the closed Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. C.C.H.'s six-year campaign has developed more than 500 affordable housing units, and another 281 units are under construction at Lowry and throughout the Denver area. At the national level, Parvensky helped bring agencies for the homeless from around the country to speak before Congress, requesting that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration address substance abuse among the homeless. After a two-year campaign, in 2001, the agency released funding for services to the homeless.