Joshua Station

Making a Way

Transformational housing for families rebuilding from homelessness

Home, Safe
Our families arrive at Joshua Station fresh from the trauma of homelessness. They enter a space that is safe and warmly welcoming. At last, children and parents can settle.

Caring Community
Our residents share a culture of mutual encouragement, together with on-site staff and volunteers. Acts of kindness abound. Healing happens daily. We cheer every success.

Forward Steps
Supported by our family advocates and program team, our residents chart a path toward stable housing. They work their plan—step by step, personally and practically—for two years.

Program Features

  • Mental Health – Counseling/therapy for children and adults on site

  • Youth Education – Tutoring, mentoring, enrichment activities, school liaison

  • Adult Education – ESL, GED, university, and trade school pathways

  • Employment – Job readiness and employer connections

  • Life Skills – Parenting, finances, health, relationships, planning

  • Community – Shared dinners, events, celebrations, gathering spaces

  • Family Advocacy – On-site Family Advocates assist residents in developing and implementing a personalized Family Action plan, and coordinate services from a wide variety of agencies and local resources.

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The Joshua Station Story

Unhoused Families Prompt the Dream

After working with families experiencing poverty in the 1990s and 2000s on Capitol Hill and East Colfax, we desired to offer safe transitional housing. It often broke our hearts to see families with children staying in East Colfax motels—surrounded by drug and sex trade in their hallways and parking lots—when they had a place to stay at all. In 2001 we bought a blighted Motel 7, formerly the Spa Motor Inn, in the central Platte Valley.

With a massive community effort, we begin renovating the building. Hundreds of volunteers showed up with tools in hand. The old swimming pool became a playground. The bar became our restaurant, and later our residents’ shared kitchen and dining space. The upstairs event space became our Community Room. Motel rooms were lovingly furnished and decorated into residence units.

After working with families experiencing poverty in the 1990s and 2000s on Capitol Hill and East Colfax, we desired to offer safe transitional housing. It often broke our hearts to see families with children staying in East Colfax motels—surrounded by drug and sex trade in their hallways and parking lots—when they had a place to stay at all. In 2001 we bought a blighted Motel 7, formerly the Spa Motor Inn, in the central Platte Valley.

Our program continually evolves and adapts. The outbreak of Covid-19 proved the biggest test yet, requiring great resiliency on the part of our families and staff team. Hundreds of donors and volunteers rallied to keep our residents fed, safe, and supported. Amid the challenges, our families are persevering toward their goals, moving into long-term housing, and providing for their families.

A few numbers

Doing The Work

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Families currently in residence for a two-year stay
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% Of graduating families moved into stable long-term housing
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% Of children showed decreased emotional distress
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Children and 89 adults served last year (residential, aftercare)