Joseph Zanovitch is stepping down as executive director of Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement, or HOPE — a nonprofit that started year-round sheltering for the homeless in Longmont as well as a day shelter for clients struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zanovitch, in an email to HOPE supporters, said after 17 years in nonprofit work he is taking a new direction in his life. He gave no indication of his immediate plans. “I am excited for my new endeavours and the opportunity.”
Alice Sueltenfuss, HOPE’s navigation services director, will take over as executive director, Zanovitch said.
Under Zanovitch, HOPE also began SafeLot, which provides safe and secure places for those living in the cars. Clients sleep in their cars at night in parking lots at local churches, get food and a shower and then access jobs during the day while trying to get into permanent housing, Zanovitch said in an email to HOPE supporters.
“Watching our clients not have to part with their fur babies and knowing they felt more rested and safe are just some of the reasons I was motivated to give this program wings,” Zanovitch said in his email.
SafeLot — which began last June — is now in four lots in Longmont and Boulder and has received national recognition, he said. SafeLot … ”has become a model for other providers that have started similar programs,” he said.
HOPE began in May 2007 as an outreach service for the homeless in Longmont. Zanovitch and his team developed a year-round shelter and started Longmont’s only day shelter in 2020 “to support our clients during all of the changes and challenges COVID brought to our community,” Zanovitch said.
“I am grateful to report we accomplished all of this while having no COVID outbreaks among the staff or the shelters,” Zanovitch said.
“Our ethos of ‘meeting people where they are,’ free of judgement, discrimination and othering was something I was very proud to believe in during my time as the leader of HOPE,” Zanovitch said. “Some of the most kind, intelligent and accepting humans I have met have been the homeless residents of Longmont and the staff and volunteers of HOPE.”
