Mariposa Center for Safety secures funds after passionate plea to city council for help

The Mariposa Center for Safety received some much sought-after funding Monday that will help cover operational costs and potentially avoid further budgetary cuts.

Earlier this week, Pueblo City Council narrowly approved an ordinance channeling more than $70,000 from its general fund to the Mariposa Center for Safety, formerly known as the Pueblo YWCA. The center requested financial help from the city and county to help cover operations through June.

Over the past several months, the center reduced expenses and unveiled cash flow projections that showed it would run out of money in March, an outcome that strongly worried Mariposa’s leaders.

Nicole Ferguson, the center’s executive director, said last month that without some financial support, the organization would “have to look at severely shrinking and reducing some of the services” it provides.

The Mariposa Center for Safety is a shelter that offers housing, counseling and other services to victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking. It also operates Teresa’s Place, a visitation and exchange program for parents and their children.

Ferguson said that the center’s services are not duplicated elsewhere in Pueblo. It is not a homeless shelter, she said.

The agency helped 496 people in 2022 and 322 people in 2023, according to the center’s data. It also assisted more than 100 children during that period and provided tens of thousands of meals.

“Services like those we provide at Mariposa Center for Safety will help prevent more fatal victims of domestic violence,” said Ferguson, citing a report that showed how many of the city’s homicides were domestic-violence related.

“We remain hopeful that our existence prevented that number from being much higher. Without us or anyone else intervening in domestic violence, I assure you those numbers will rise."

Ferguson mentioned that Mariposa has sent more than 25 applications to several funding sources so it can close the funding gap that has put some of its services in jeopardy. The organization also listed a nearby property for sale, and initiatives such as its capital campaign and annual gala are in the works to secure more funds, she said.

Why Mariposa’s leaders wanted the funding

A contingent of the center’s leaders, supporters and board members made passionate pleas on Monday to secure the funding from city council. They assured councilors that the center has a long-term plan toward sustainability and that the request is a short-term remedy to keep the organization afloat.

Joe Domko, executive director of Catholic Charities of Southern Colorado, told councilors that the center plays a “critical role in the larger ecosystem of service providers in Pueblo and beyond.”

“(Mariposa’s) presence is essential for our community as they serve, shelter, support and protect some of the most alienated, vulnerable members of our society — women, children and men fleeing the terrifying reality of domestic abuse,” Domko said.

Any reduction in services could seemingly limit Mariposa’s projections for 2024. The center estimates it will assist more than 500 people and five dozen children this year while providing more than 15,000 meals.

At Teresa’s Place, the center projects it will serve 165 families and perform nearly 600 safe exchanges in 2024. The city managed 556 exchanges last year and 444 in 2022.

“Support from the city of Pueblo will help Mariposa continue to provide critical services to those facing exceptional hardship, trauma and violence and rebuild a foundation to do so in the future,” Shanna Farmer, president and CEO of United Way of Pueblo County, wrote in a letter to councilors.

How councilors voted on the ordinance

Councilors passed the ordinance by a thin margin. Dennis Flores, Sarah Martinez, Mark Aliff and newly-appointed councilor Charles Hernandez each voted for it. Regina Maestri, Joe Latino and Roger Gomez opposed the measure.

Maestri and Gomez were both critical of the center’s handling of its budget and assets. Ferguson said in January that the center experienced budget cuts after losing some funding sources it relied on.

Maestri said the request put councilors in a “really difficult situation,” citing the emotion behind it while urging the center to take more financial accountability.

Though Aliff agreed with Maestri’s point and also encouraged the center’s leaders to “get their monetary act together,” he called its services critical and said, “Quite frankly, there’s nothing worse in our community than these intimate abusers literally wreaking havoc.”

“When we’re talking about the city’s responsibility, public safety in taking care of these battered women and children hugely aligns with that,” Martinez said. “We have a whole department about housing and citizen services, which aligns with Mariposa’s mission. They fill a crucial city need, so we need to support them.”

Outside of its emergency services, the center also offers legal aid, case management and domestic violence education, among other resources.

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Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Mariposa Center for Safety secures funds from city council