Ready to Work and Homeless Navigation Center Open in the Tri-Cities (May 15, 2025)
Adjacent facilities will house up to 70 adults experiencing homelessness
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – More than 150 municipal officials and staff, local business owners, corporate and project partners, foundation representatives, community residents, doreferral partners, and invited guests from nine cities from seven counties, celebrated the official opening of Bridge House’s third Metro Denver Ready to Work program house in a decade and adjacent Homeless Navigation Center in the Tri-Cities during a ribbon cutting ceremony here on May 15.
The Tri-Cities Homeless Action plan was born in 2021 and Bridge House purchased the abandoned property at 4675 South Windermere a year later. The project broke ground in 2023 and received its certificate of occupancy last week, immediately welcoming individuals into its Navigation Center.
Ready to Work’s established locations in Boulder (2015) and Aurora (2018) have graduated more than 500 previously homeless adults into a life of sustainable independence through paid employment and housing leveraging a 9-12 month transitional work program that provides:
- Paid Employment: Outdoor landscape crews with multiple Tri-Cities contracts; Up to 29 hours/ week
- Housing: Communal dorm-style living for men and women; three meals a day; onsite laundry; transportation; and 24/7 staffing
- Case Management: Trauma informed and evidence-based support groups; addiction and sobriety support; one-on-one case management; career and financial counseling; mentoring; aftercare program.
The Homeless Navigation Center serving the Tri-Cities with 20 short-term beds and day programming, focuses on collaborative case management to identify opportunities for, and address barriers to, the achievement of an individual’s plan for housing or other long-term exit from homelessness, including Ready to Work application.
- Individuals commit to their own plan for exit to their chosen goals.
Case managers provide guidance, support, and accountability for plan execution. - The program provides community-oriented temporary housing in one of 20 beds so, the individual can focus on plan achievement rather than survival and basic needs.
- Additional supports include health and sobriety management, life skills training, and establishment of income.
- Average case resolves in 28 days or less with housing or other long-term exit
What this collaboration means for the Tri-Cities:
- $12,000– Average annual benefit of individuals served through Tri-Cities Homeless Navigation Center with positive housing outcome.
- $36,000– Average annual benefit of individual graduates from Bridge House’s Ready to Work program with positive housing and employment outcomes (now paying taxes and contributing to workforce, and housing economy).
- $3M– Estimated annual boost to each host city economy based on 30-36 annual Ready to Work graduates.
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Bridge House CEO Melissa Arguello-Green cuts the ribbon on Bridge House’s third Ready to Work program house and adjacent Homeless Navigation Center in the Tri-Cities.
“From the deepest part of my heart I am so grateful. This program not only leads to the ability to have the opportunity for Bridge House to grow and reach out to our communities, but it’s truly about the stories that we hear, the people who we serve, the individuals who come in and have the opportunity to change their lives,” Bridge House CEO Melissa Arguello-Green. “Thank you again for the support, the collaboration, the partnership and for being a part of our community. Most importantly thank you for welcoming us into yours.”
Ready to Work Graduate and Englewood Manager of Housing Operations Chris Charles shared his love for food and what a meal does for a person and how he worked his way through
James Beard award-winning restaurants honing his skills that led him to Leone, France where he worked under Daniel Boulud, learning how to run Michelin-star restaurants. When he returned to the States he went through a divorce, lost his grandfather, and his son’s mother in a month’s time. Not knowing how to deal with all of the emotions, he drank which landed him in Gilpin County jail. When released, he didn’t have anywhere to go and learned about Bridge House. “Now, my son is with me all of the time, we have the best relationship ever, I have a beautiful woman in my life and our families have started blending and I couldn’t be happier. Trust the process. Hard work pays off. Don’t stand in the way of your own success.”
Arapahoe County Commissioner Leslie Summey opened the program by sharing, “From Navigation, which has the capacity to provide for hundreds of individuals with transitional housing and case management support each year, to Ready to Work, which facilitates the programming and exit strategy for up to 50 individuals annually to attain sustained employment and housing, we are confident that Bridge House will be a cornerstone community partner and trusted organizational resource in addressing the needs of unhoused individuals in Englewood, Littleton, Sheridan, and the surrounding communities.”
Arapahoe County Commissioner Carrie Warren-Gully’s remarks came to her only that morning, “
On my walk I was thinking about power. How we use power. Who gets power. Who benefits from power. And I thought about what is my favorite form of power. And it is in this room. Right here is the power of partnership. The power of recognizing that something locally isn’t working and how do we make it better to benefit everybody in our community and not just a few people. And that’s what we’re here celebrating today for this amazing accomplishment. With everybody in this room in some way pitching in.
As mayor of Sheridan, and also the chairperson of the Tri-Cities Homeless Policy Group, Tara Beiter-Flur
shared that the latter’s mission is to connect people in Englewood, Littleton, and Sheridan with services when they’re unhoused and ultimately help them find housing. “We’re so pleased that Arapahoe County, the state of Colorado, and the Federal government have joined those efforts along the way. We are unstoppable, just like Bridge House, when we work in partnership.”
Palace Construction President Garth Geer shared, “What excites me the most about this facility isn’t just the walls and roof, even though they’re great, it’s the stories that are going to unfold inside of these. And these stories will demonstrate what makes this program so truly great. Thank you to BH for trusting us to bring this vision to life. Thank you to the community for supporting this important work, and thank you to everyone who believes, like we do, that a strong and compassionate community is something we can all build on together.”