Parents and nonprofits urge Arvada council for action as Old Town school safety concerns rise; Mission Arvada seeks funding

Parents, school volunteers and nonprofit leaders urged the Arvada City Council on Tuesday to take additional steps to address safety concerns in Old Town Arvada near Saint Anne's School, and nonprofit leaders sought city funding to support extreme‑weather shelter operations.

Katie Lee, a parent, told the council that the growing presence of people experiencing homelessness around her child's school has directly affected students. "One of her closest friends was one of the young children who was offered something through the fence by a mission member," Lee said, describing an incident where a child was approached near the school. She urged the council to "take meaningful action" beyond increased police presence and warned that continued inaction could have "serious and lasting consequences."

David Holland, who volunteers at Saint Anne's, said volunteers and school staff have found hypodermic needle fragments on public sidewalks next to the school and reported repeated instances of people yelling obscenities, passing out intoxicated near school doors and other behavior that has made students feel unsafe. "We need to have compassion with these individuals... However, it is hard to cultivate empathy with these children when they feel threatened by the people yelling obscenities, violent threats, or trying to hand them things through the fence," Holland said.

Several speakers also urged the council to support Mission Arvada, a local nonprofit that operates a navigation center, food pantry and overnight extreme‑weather shelter. Karen Cowling, director of Mission Arvada, said the organization serves about 75 people daily and that over a year they serve roughly 900 unique unhoused individuals; "We help over 50 people obtain housing each year," Cowling said, summarizing the group's services including medical and mental‑health clinics, employment programs and case management. Cowling added the organization is "underfunded and overburdened," and asked the council to consider discretionary funds to offset operating costs for volunteer‑run overnight shelter operations.

Keith Kelly, finance director for the Rising Church and Mission Arvada, told the council the shelter has operated nightly during cold weather and asked the council to consider funding similar to a prior $40,000 grant the city provided to a Severe Weather Shelter Network. "Any consideration that you guys would have for providing funding for us would be greatly appreciated," Kelly said.

Mindy Moore, who volunteers with shelter operations, said churches in Old Town previously hosted overnight shelter nights and said Mission Arvada stepped in when the city did not establish a navigation center in time for winter. Moore recommended the council consider discretionary funding previously used to support the Severe Weather Shelter Network to help Mission Arvada defray costs for supplies and operations.

Councilmembers acknowledged the problem and discussed available resources. City staff said the recently approved DOLA Homelessness Resolution Program award of $88,000 is restricted to street outreach uses: supplies (cold‑weather gear, bus tickets), purchase of vital documents (birth certificates, IDs), and support for street outreach operations. Staff said the city applied for $288,000 but received $88,000 and that rental assistance / eviction prevention cannot be funded from this DOLA award. Councilmember Marriott asked staff for more detail on how the $88,000 will be spent and requested a mid‑year update; staff agreed to provide a progress report on spending and activities.

Speakers emphasized that many people experiencing homelessness in Arvada are older adults who formerly worked and that individualized engagement—asking people "what do you want?"—is central to outreach work. Hudson, a city homelessness programs staffer, said outreach teams aim to move people into permanent supportive housing when appropriate but noted many clients require intermediary services first.

The council did not approve any additional discretionary shelter funding at Tuesday's meeting. Several public speakers said they are willing to work with staff and council on solutions and asked for continued attention to school safety and navigation‑center planning.