Over time, however, perceptions shifted, with more Denver residents and policymakers recognizing that local government needs to play a role, too. Under Parvensky's leadership, two of the Coalition's first projects were establishing an emergency shelter and a medical clinic for people experiencing homelessness, which today is the Stout Street Health Center, And the organization also began buying housing and building more housing.Įarly in his tenure, Parvensky says, the general perception in Denver was that homelessness resolution was charitable work, often best handled by religious organizations. "I think after that ten-year mark, we recognized that the forces creating homelessness - the affordable-housing shortage, the crisis in health care, mental health and addictions, domestic violence, youth leaving foster care without the support that they needed - were greater than what we were able to do on a temporary basis," Parvensky says. But the problem didn't end when President Ronald Reagan left office, and after another five years, the Coalition realized that it was in a long-term fight. "We thought we would work ourselves out of a job within five years because we thought that homelessness was going to be a temporary phenomenon that was going to be created by the budget cuts during the Reagan years," says Parvensky. At the time, it had a staff of six with a budget of $100,000.
The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless emerged from that group, with Parvensky taking over as the organization's leader in 1985. That same year, then-Mayor Federico Peña convened a working group "in response to the growing incidence of homelessness that people were seeing on the streets," recalls Parvensky. In 1984, fresh out of law school at the University of Pennsylvania, Parvensky moved to Denver and started helping nonprofits gain tax-exempt status. The 68-year-old Parvensky has been the head of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, which he calls "the leading homeless and healthcare nonprofit in the country in terms of size and impact," since the mid-1980s. "For over 36 years, I've had the opportunity to work with some of the finest people who are committed and devoted to helping people when they're at their worst crisis and helping them get back on their feet, get access to housing and health care, and help them turn their lives around," says Parvensky. John Parvensky, longtime president and CEO of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, plans to retire later this year.