COMMUNITY FEATURE NELDA GREEN. PHOTO COURTESY OF CSG PHOTO COURTESY OF CSG employees to rest after a long day’s work. Cuica Montoya, director of the Safe Outdoor Spaces program, understands CSG’s mission better than most. Once unhoused herself, Montoya is acutely aware of the allencompassing instability homelessness can create. “When I was experiencing homelessness, there was so much going on in my life that employment seemed so far away,” Montoya said. “By providing people with a place to call home, knowing that their stuff isn’t going to get thrown away and swept, they can start planning for the future. With partners like CSG, it makes that so much easier. We know they’re not going to be judged for their living situation or for their gaps in employment.” Vaughn herself is a CVC resident. Since December of 2020, she has been a mainstay at the women’s tiny home village. With money in her pocket and a roof over her head, Vaughn is excited for what the coming years may hold. She’s currently laying the groundwork for a business of her own. “I want to revamp an old herbal products line my first husband and I started,” she said. “I made salves, hair and scalp tonics, medicinals, that sort of thing. Now, what I want to do is something more along the lines of health and beauty aids. It’s a retirement business, and I want to make it fun.” ■ PHOTO COURTESY OF CSG March 2022 DENVER VOICE 7
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