The Empowerment Program, Inc.

A nonprofit organization

The Empowerment Program is a community that believes humanity is best served by a diverse population coming together to encourage the most caring and equitable relationships between people.  We provide trauma-informed specialized public health services to help promote a healthy mind and body. Tele-health and in-person group classes can be found on our Groups page on our website: www.empowermentprogram.org.

Services include: Re-Entry Care Coordination, Peer Specialist Support Services, Various Trauma Therapies; Individual & Group Classes, Substance Use Treatment & Referrals, AcuDetox & Acupuncture, HIV Prevention, Testing, and Care, PrEP Referral Coordination, And MORE!  All services are FREE!

Testimonial:  "I began coming to Empowerment in September of 2014. I was referred from my doctor at University Hospital. I began receiving services from the Women's AIDS Project at Empowerment. Throughout that time I have learned about how to empower other women, and I have been able to learn to disclose my status in a safe environment. I have been connected to services that have helped me acquire free medications and I also have been permanently housed through the Empowerment Program. I am now a Peer Specialist II and I run a group on Physiology to help other women advocate for their doctors the way I have learned to." - Anon

Mission

The MISSION of the Empowerment Program is to holistically help individuals build healthier lives from the inside out.

Our VISION is to empower participants to make healthy and safe decisions through trauma, gender, and culturally responsive holistic public health services.

Background Statement

The Empowerment Program opened its doors in 1986 in response to a growing number of homeless women, women living in poverty, sex workers, and women involved in the criminal justice system. Throughout the past twenty years, Empowerment has continued it's efforts to decrease the number of women living in poverty who have significant barriers to self-sufficiency due to involvement in the criminal justice system, substance abuse and violence, by providing onsite education, employment training, counseling, supportive services and long-term follow-up support services. The successful delivery of self-sufficiency services helps many women decrease or completely stop their criminal activities. Many of the women are homeless, are living with HIV/AIDS or are at high risk for HIV infection, are actively using drugs, are living with serious mental illness that is treated or untreated, are survivors of abusive relationships, or any combination of the above.

We have provided street and community outreach activities since 1987. Support and education groups are provided in metropolitan area county jails, halfway houses for women leaving prison, shelters for homeless women and drug treatment programs. From 1993 to 1997, we provided Prevention Case Management services, through a cooperative agreement with CDC, focusing on African-American, Latinas and other women in the Denver metropolitan area whose behaviors placed them at high risk for HIV infection. In 1999, we conducted a Community Identification Project, in conjunction with Denver Public Health, to learn more about HIV transmission and African-American women and Latinas who use crack/cocaine. In response to the closure of the only community-based anonymous test site in Denver in 1998, in 1999, we began offering free, anonymous HIV tests at our offices.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

The Empowerment Program, Inc.

Year Established

1985

Tax id (EIN)

74-2377531

Category

Mental Health & Crisis Intervention

Organization Size

Large Organization

Address

1600 York Street
Denver, CO 80206

Service areas

Denver County, CO, US

Phone

303-320-1989

Fax

303-320-3987

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