Life & Work with Kelly Tobin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Tobin.

Kelly, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I moved to Denver from Boston in the early fall of 2019. I had experience in customer experience, operations, and education and wanted to work somewhere that felt like it was moving the needle in a meaningful way. The Gathering Place (TGP) was hiring a coordinator position to manage the food pantry, clothing boutique, and all in-kind donations; a perfect blend of program management and donor relations.

After about six months of connecting with the folks who would come to volunteer and donate to the programs I oversaw, the Business Relations Manager position opened and I jumped at the chance to apply and work with these groups in a deeper way. When I took my first in-person tour of the building, we had gotten about halfway around the first floor when I decided that I would take this job if they offered it to me. The space was so welcoming from the moment I walked in. Staff, volunteers, and members knew each other’s names and welcomed me right away. It broke every preconceived idea I had of what a homeless shelter was.

I have since learned that this was intentional. Everything from the floorplan of the building to the way staff and volunteers build a community to the flow of programs throughout the day is to create a trauma-informed space. The building was carefully designed to feel inviting, safe, and easy to navigate. Staff and members work collaboratively to create unique recovery plans to meet goals including obtaining housing, employment, and benefits. This ongoing connection has led to a community where conversations are just as likely to be about how someone’s child is doing in school as they are about housing applications.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I started at TGP, I thought I wanted to manage and develop programming. While I loved my job and work, what I found myself enjoying most in my role was engaging with donors by giving tours, presenting, and sharing TGP’s mission and vision. When I found the opportunity to grow into a role that better suited my strengths and interests, I applied. Our leadership team encourages professional growth and development, so there are staff who started in one role and moved to another all across TGP.

TGP has grown and changed immensely since it was founded in 1986 as a one-room space serving about 25-30 women and children per day. After outgrowing multiple spaces and building out programs to support folks on their entire journey, TGP built our current daytime shelter space on High St. and Colfax. TGP now serves about 150 women, transgender and non-binary individuals, and children daily at our daytime center and offers around 100 beds in our 24/7 emergency shelter. We have moved from a focus on meeting emergency needs to working with folks on a long-term recovery plan. Our community let us know that in addition to providing showers and meals, they also needed housing and job-focused case management, community building through survivor’s groups, physical and mental health services, and more.

The pandemic has been extremely challenging for TGP as volunteers stepped back for much of 2020, employees became frontline workers, and the economic impacts of the pandemic disproportionately affected women, people of color, and low-income households. However, out of the challenges has come a new era for TGP, one in which we operate out of two locations; our daytime center and 24/7 emergency shelter. TGP is able to serve folks in all stages of their journey by providing more personalized and long-term support at both locations and supporting this community in an entirely new capacity.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am TGP’s Business Relations Manager on the development team and work with corporate and community partners including service groups, religious organizations, and workplaces. I write grants, give tours, speak to groups both online and in-person, table events, and work with our volunteer team to find opportunities for groups. One skill that I am very grateful to have is my love of public speaking. Whenever there is an opportunity to speak to a group, whether it is for two minutes or 30, I am happy to do so!

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Empathy for sure. Folks who come to us are experiencing trauma and immense hardship, often as a result of systemic inequities. We are working with people who lack the most basic of human rights – food and shelter. Always reminding ourselves of that is key both inside the walls of TGP and beyond. Even on the development side, empathy is so important. Donors, volunteers, and community partners are all humans with their own unique experiences. Keeping empathy at the forefront of communication and work is key to long-lasting connections.

Contact Info:

• Website: tgpdenver.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tgpdenver/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGatheringPlaceDenver/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TGPdenver

Image Credits
Niki Chan Wylie