Meet Joseph Roos of Hide In Plain Sight in Metro Area

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Roos.

Joseph, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In April of 2014, I read about a high school senior who with fellow classmates, raised money to help a homeless student. Wondering how many homeless students Colorado had I found out in Colorado at that time, there were just over 24,000 up from only 12,000 in 2005. This information came from the Colorado Children’s Campaign and their annual report of Kids Count Colorado. In fact, in Douglas County, just south of Denver, the 7th wealthiest county in the US in 2014, there were over 900 homeless students. In addition, there were over 125,000 students who lived in poverty in Colorado at that time.

In the US today there are over 1.5M students who are homeless today. College homelessness last year exceeded 68,000 students. 25% of all community college students are food insecure and over 35% are housing insecure. I have had a 16-year career in a marketing office in IBM in Western New York and then a 20-year career in non-profit executive positions. In between jobs at the time, I decided to use the skills I had been given and launch a new, solutions-based non-profit to eliminate student homelessness through education. This approach would give these self-invested, adversity ridden students the key to self-sustainability and a way for them to reach their aspirations.

So on 2/11/2015, I filed Hide In Plain Sight’s Articles of Incorporation and then the application to become a 501c3 non-profit, knowing it would take 6-12 months to receive this approval from the IRS. Six days later, I received this status from the IRS and I knew I was in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.

Starting in Douglas County the concept was proven in 2015 and in 2016 we expanded to the Denver metro area and in 2018 became a statewide Colorado agency helping homeless and students in poverty attend a technical college, two-year college or a four-year university from Grand Junction to Aurora and from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. Currently, HIPS works closely to identify post-secondary scholarship recipients through the Foundation Offices at CU-Denver, Arapahoe Community College, Community College of Aurora, Emily Griffith Technical College, Community College of Denver and Pickens Technical College. This program is called our From Homeless To Hired Program.

Since 2015 we have awarded over $514,000 to 230 homeless or students in poverty to get their education, become competitive in the job market, earn a living/sustainable wage and break their cycle of homelessness or poverty.

In 2019 we launched our K-12 scholarship program, Robin Hood Program, to financially support homeless or students in poverty in elementary, middle and high school who would otherwise pass up on fee-based school-sponsored extra-curricular activities like field trips and athletics so they can have a more level playing field with their peers and not be penalized because of their family’s economic hardship. In one year, we have helped over 220 students with $17,800.

The primary cause of student homelessness is single-income families. This situation exists because of separation, divorce, accident, job loss, illness. And half of these homeless students in Colorado suffer from some sort of domestic violence. So it doesn’t take too much for life to happen and a student can find themselves living in a car, a hotel, but mostly couch surfing from one house to another, usually with a parent of legal guardian, but nonetheless without their own home or bed to sleep in at night.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Our biggest struggle has been making people aware that there is this educational crisis in Denver and Colorado as a whole and that education is the key to break this cycle. When people find out about the need and the efficiency of Hide In Plain Sight and effectiveness and impact our programs are having, more often than not, the question is “how can I help?”

Please tell us about Hide In Plain Sight.
Hide In Plain Sight’s mission is to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty through education. This is done by awarding a scholarship to REMOVE THE BARRIERS these students face. So our scholarships can be used for tuition, books or fees, but more importantly, food, housing, transportation, child care, tools or supplies in trade schools curricula or any other barrier that hinders students from focusing on their academic pursuits.

When we interview our scholarship applicants, we learn of their adversity but are then inspired by their aspirations. Our donors are the fuel, HIPS is the gas tank, and our collegiate partners are the engine that takes our students to their destination. The students we meet and support are self-invested and are not defined by their situation but rather by their expectations!

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Hide In Plain Sight is neither good luck nor bad luck. It is however, Divinely guided and is a sort of ministry where people who have help people who need. As indicated by the remarkable quick turnaround of our 501c3 application, we see this “luck” almost daily as situations develop and the right people come along to change, if not save lives regularly.

The strength of our mission is people understand the value of education, and people by nature want to help the underdog or those in need but only by giving a hand up and not always a handout. As we are now five years old, many students have chronichiled their success and that is the impact of our supporter’s donations. In the financial industry, ROI stands for Return On Investment. In the world of HIPS, ROI stands for Resilient, Overachieving Individuals.

 

Contact Info:

• Address: 9249 S. Broadway, #200-387
  Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
• Website: www.hideinplainsight.org
• Phone: 720-288-3016
• Email: joeroos54@gmail.com
• Facebook: Hide In Plain Sight

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