More than just a job: Stability and dignity with Consolidated Services Group

Photo: Courtesy of CSG

By Haven Enterman

Photos courtesy of CSG

Tammy Vaughn’s mornings begin at the intersection of Colfax Ave. and Broadway St. Each workday, she sweeps the sidewalk, empties the garbage cans, and does her part to keep the Capitol Hill neighborhood clean and tidy. Her purple uniform is easy to spot, even amongst the hustle and bustle.

Vaughn is employed by Consolidated Services Group (CSG), a fair-chance hiring organization providing employment to those facing significant life challenges. Some employees, like Vaughn, are experiencing homelessness. Others are in transitional living spaces or are trying to reenter the community after incarceration.

A former night shift nurse, Vaughn could no longer afford Denver’s rising housing costs.

“After spending my life here, I felt resentful about being priced out of a place I’d dedicated my life to,” Vaughn explained. “I consider myself a happy person, so that was out of character. [Working at CSG] has helped me feel less angry. I was happy to get the job, and it feels like forward progress.”

Since 2014, the organization has partnered with local business improvement districts to help maintain Denver’s public spaces. CSG employees assist with services like trash removal, custodial maintenance, pressure washing, holiday decoration installation, and lighting repairs.

“Clean is serious business,” said CSG Finance Director Linda Lengyel. “Studies have shown that cleaning has a great deal of power behind it. It creates not only an aesthetic but the image of a community that cares for its own.”

For employees like Vaughn, employment at CSG is a meaningful way to contribute to the greater good of the city.

“I fancy myself somewhat of an ambassador,” Vaughn added. “I feel like I’m helping to keep the popular part of Denver, the part that’s shown to tourists, healthy and safe.”

 Lengyel stressed that CSG’s mission isn’t just about helping individuals find employment — it’s about giving them the tools for continued success. Like traditional employers, the organization offers a full benefits package including health insurance and paid time off. But, to help employees navigate their unique challenges, CSG provides additional support through on-site laundry machines, lockers, work phones, and EcoPasses for unlimited free rides on RTD buses and trains. Recently, they’ve hired a part-time social worker to supplement pre-existing training for life skills like time management and conflict de-escalation.

This approach has proven to be effective. Those who have been with CSG for an extended period of time — in many cases, three years or longer — are dubbed “core employees.” Nelda Green, personnel and human resources director, estimates that the number of core employees is as high as 58%.

Though they assist their team members however they can, CSG doesn’t provide overnight shelter. Partners like the Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC), which oversees a variety of Safe Outdoor Spaces and tiny home villages, add the final piece of the puzzle — a safe, warm place for 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 all-encompassing 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.”