Help Provide Vital Hygiene Essentials to the Unhoused
$11,174.95
Raised
71
Donations
$15,000
Goal
About Us
Access to clean clothing is essential to the overall well-being of a person and can be the key to opening doors to employment and housing. Project Ropa is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded in 2016 by Caitlin Adler to address the challenges that people experiencing homelessness face in obtaining and keeping clean clothes.
Though homelessness is accompanied by many deprivations — from food, to shelter, to safety — one of its greatest indignities comes from the absence of hygiene services. When you're homeless, it doesn't take long to look that way, and the world and your options in it shrink. Most people experiencing homelessness literally have only the clothes on their backs.
We believe everyone deserves to be treated with respect. How you look affects how you feel about yourself and how others treat you. No one should have to wear dirty clothes or clothes that are ill-fitting.
Our Mission
The mission of Project Ropa is to help restore dignity, rekindle optimism and empower lives by bringing clean clothing, hygiene kits and access to other hygiene services directly to our unhoused neighbors in Los Angeles through impactful local partnerships.
Our Programs
Mobile Hygiene Service - We provide a curated selection of new and gently used high-quality men's and women's clothing, shoes and accessories, along with personal hygiene products -- all donated by local manufacturers, retailers and nonprofit partners -- which we bring to locations throughout the city each week in a retrofitted van that acts as a mobile walk-in closet. In order to provide our clients with the opportunity for a complete refresh we operate in tandem with a mobile shower provider at each of our service locations.
Social Enterprise - We employ previously incarcerated individuals and people transitioning out of homelessness to work with our Mobile Hygiene Street Service and Recycling Program. Our vision is to help break the cycle of homelessness by restoring dignity and creating living-wage job opportunities for people with barriers to employment.
Recycling Program - Our eco-friendly recycling program helps reduce the clothing waste that is going into landfills. All of the donation items we receive are either directly given out to people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles during our Mobile Hygiene Service, redistributed to a local nonprofit partner organization or responsibly recycled.
To learn more, visit our website: www.projectropa.org