Feet Forward is a peer-led 501-c.3 nonprofit built on a foundation of lived experience with homelessness in Boulder County, Colorado. We provide low-barrier, housing-focused peer support and navigation services to individuals experiencing homelessness. We provide critical pre-housing engagement and build trust with individuals experiencing homelessness in only a way that a person whose been there and done that can. Our peer support and navigation extend beyond our weekly outreach and continue as a person secures a housing resource, transitions into housing, and long after they move in. We also increase service engagement and housing pathways by meeting people where they are and partnering with local helpers.
Feet Forward provides an umbrella of services and resources for those experiencing homelessness in Boulder, including low-barrier peer support and navigation that often begins at our weekly outreach event and follows them along with their journey out of homelessness. In addition to this critical support, we provide hot meals, weather-appropriate clothing, a portable charging station, and seasonal haircuts.
Every Tuesday, you can find us at Boulder's Central Park directly at the Bandshell from 2:30 to 3:30 pm.
We create a trusting community for those currently experiencing homelessness and those who have exited it. Our lived experience in this community increases our trust and ability to connect with those we serve - from lending a trusted ear to assisting with housing lotteries, we know the system and how to navigate it. We are living examples that change is possible and serve as realistic role models.
Recently, Feet Forward was selected as a recommended practice in exemplary trust-building in a homelessness study by The Common Sense Institute and Colorado University Denver. Our peer-led model "helps build trust quickly and speeds up the path to engagement and furthers the continuity of community by transitioning these individuals out of homelessness with a built-in network of support."
In 2023, with the purchase of a mobile navigation shuttle converted into flex space, we will be able to increase our services to three days a week.
MEDIA PUBLICATIONS
Texas Court Gets Firsthand Look with Homeless Solutions With Feet Forward
"A Real Challenge": Boulder Divided Over Homelessness Mitigation Strategy
Putting Lived Experience at Forefront, Feet Forward Impacts Homelessness in Boulder
Providers Lay Out 'Vision Zero' For Homelessness - Boulder Beat
The Heroes of Boulder County: The Activists - Yellow Scene Magazine
Feet Forward is a peer-led nonprofit built on the foundation of lived experience with homelessness. We provide peer support, navigation services, and barrier-free pathways to stability, including housing. We leverage our community trust to build the relationships necessary to get people engaged in services and to provide the support needed for people to succeed in housing.
Jennifer Livovich, the founder of Feet Forward, was previously unhoused herself. In just two years, Jennifer went from delivering socks to the unhoused to running a program every Tuesday afternoon in downtown Boulder that serves the needs of over 100 unhoused people.
Jennifer has resigned from Feet Forward, but her work continues, with weekly Tuesday events continuing uninterrupted. The organization has just brought on Leanne Wheeler as our interim executive director. Leanne has extensive experience on the boards of MDHI and Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, and will be leading the organization through all of 2024. Feet Forward also now has a program director, and is advancing towards its goal of providing more peer supportive outreach in 2024.
Organization name
Feet Forward Peer Supportive Services and Outreach
2020
Tax id (EIN)
85-1358922
Category
Public & Societal Benefit, Mental Health & Crisis Intervention, Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy, Housing & Shelter
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
1630 30th Street, Ste ABoulder County, CO, US