Get involved – programsFind out what you can do to help Denver's Road Home end homelessness.
Better Way to Give Campaign & Donation Meter Project Sunday, August 21, 2011
THE CONCEPT
Launched in 2007, the Donation Meter Program was designed to increase community awareness about Denver’s Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. It has also acted as an effort to redirect the roughly $4 million a year that is given to panhandlers—most of whom are not homeless—into efforts that provide meals, job training, substance abuse counseling, housing and other programs for those in need.
HOW IT WAS DONE
Denver Public Works, Denver’s Road Home, Leadership Denver, the Downtown Denver Partnership, Visit Denver, Mile High United Way, rabble+rouser and OZ Architecture have come together to coordinate and execute the meter design, installation, coin collection and sponsorships.
RESULTS AND SUSTAINABILITY
We are proud to announce that 100% of the funds collected go to our homeless assistance providers. The Donation Meter Program is an important part of Denver’s Road Home’s partnership with the greater Denver community to successfully deliver long-term solutions for the homeless.
In addition to making great strides in reducing the number of chronically homeless individuals on our streets, there has also been an 83% reduction in panhandling. With such overwhelming success, the Donation Meter Program has begun serving as an inspiring model and is being duplicated by other cities around the country, such as Nashville and Chicago. In May 2008, Reader’s Digest noted, “A growing number of American cities, including Portland, Denver, Baltimore, and Chattanooga, have come up with an enlightening way to help the homeless (and discourage panhandling).”
HOW IT WORKS
As a result of outreaching community involvement and the creative use of resources, the Meter Donation Program does not cost Denver’s Road Home any additional resources to manage. Donation meters are located along established meter collection routes so as to not incur additional costs for collection. Denver Public Works continues the process of meter maintenance and coin collection and also locates or relocates meters throughout the city. What’s more, all annual meter sponsorships are responsibly managed by Mile High United Way and Denver Public Works ensures the nameplates on each meter clearly educate the public to our generous sponsors.
The annual meter sponsorship fee is $1,000 per meter and we are proud to say that our sponsors include everyone from private citizens and families to Leadership Denver Alumni classes, employee groups, small businesses and corporations. This project has significantly exceeded expectations in generating both community awareness and resources for Denver’s Road Home and we hope you’ll join us as we continue on this exciting journey.
Thank you for helping us provide continued resources and assistance to those who need it most. Thanks to you, we have been able to offer thousands of homeless individuals hope and an alternative to living life on the streets.Together, we can, and will, solve homelessness as we know it.
For more information on how to sponsor a meter, or how your sponsorship and/or donations help the homeless, please contact Melanie.Lewis@denvergov.org.
