By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
There is a quote by Miuccia Prada, the Italian fashion designer that states, “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world.”
Caitlin Adler had a similar thought when she started Project Ropa in 2016, a nonprofit with a mission to restore dignity and empower the lives of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
Project Ropa does so by providing clean clothes, hygiene essentials and employment opportunities while reducing textile waste and minimizing the carbon footprint.
Adler named the organization Project Ropa because ropa is Spanish for clothing.
The married, New York native, who moved to Los Angeles 13 years ago, got the idea to provide clothes to the unhoused while she was volunteering with a nonprofit and realized that for that population, there was a gap in clothing services.
So she started collecting all the surplus clothing she could find and eventually came up with a mobile clothing idea.
Now, the organization, which has distributed more than 120,000 pounds of clothing in five years, uses a retrofitted van, functioning as a mobile walk-in closet with a full selection of clothes, shoes, accessories and hygiene products.
She also partnered with Lava Mae, an organization that operates a trailer that provides a mobile, curbside shower and restroom service to the unhoused.
Project Ropa also helps break the cycle of homelessness by providing transitional job opportunities to people with barriers to employment, including homeless and previously incarcerated individuals.
I recently spoke to Adler, who spent 12 years in the culinary industry prior to launching Project Ropa, to talk about the organization.
DD: Why is it called Project Ropa?
CA: Ropa means clothes in Spanish. A large part of the population has Spanish as their first language.
DD: There is a lot the homeless go through. Why did you focus on clothes?
CA: I recognized that the unhoused don’t get appropriate clothes sometimes. That’s how we started. So we took surplus clothes from nonprofits and put them in the van. I chose clothes because it’s such a gap. Having clean clothes can really make a difference. You have to look good and have good hygiene. Obtaining employment is important. With the right clothes, dignity is restored.
DD: Talk about what you provide and how it works.
CA: We have what someone would need. We have clothes, shoes, underwear, socks, hygiene, accessories, sunglasses and makeup. The clothes are hung by size. Prior to COVID, they could enter the van. Now they stay six feet apart. We ask for their size and bring them several selections. We also have hygiene products for them as well.
We pretty much have what someone would need.
DD: Do people get to pick out their own clothing or is it just provided to them?
CA: Since the pandemic, they pick from the selection we provide. We ask what they are looking for. We give them six to eight items to choose from.
They can choose two tops, pants, shoes, belts, sweaters, coats, hats, underwear and socks. They can come every week. We have a number of repeat people. Each day about 25% of the people we serve are new.
DD: What clothing items are needed the most?
CA: Underwear, men’s pants, shoes and belts.
DD: Where do you get the clothes?
CA: We have good relationships with local corporate partners. Individuals also donate clothes. The bulk comes from our corporate partners. We take new or gently used ones. We don’t accept anything stained or ripped.
DD: Where are the vans located?
CA: There is one bi-weekly in Echo Park at the Echo Park Methodist Church. It’s there on the first, third, and fifth Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. There is also a shower stop at that location. The other van is in Boyle Heights at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA. It’s there on the second Thursday of every month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lava Mae provides showers. There is also a food pantry.
On the fourth Friday of the month, there is a van at Genevieve’s Garden at Blessed Sacrament Hollywood. There are pre-packaged clothing and hygiene kits. There is high demand there.
DD: Why were those locations chosen?
CA: Logistics. We want to make sure we are in tandem with Lava Mae. Also, we want to be where there is a dense population of the unhoused.
DD: When you started, were you surprised there wasn’t an organization already doing what you’re doing?
CA: Yeah, and no one has done it since. It’s a niche. There is an increased demand for it. We’ve been getting more interest from some organizations in recent years.
DD: How do people know about the organization?
CA: Word of mouth. We’ve been going to the locations for a while. We also have flyers.
DD: How has the organization changed over the years?
CA: We’ve grown. When I started it was just myself. Now, we have three part-time employees and a wide network of volunteers. We have a 1,200-square-foot warehouse and two vehicles now. There is also an increase in demand for what we provide.
DD: What does success look like to the organization?
CA: I’d like there to be no one unhoused or out of a job. It’s the little stuff, making people have dignity and be loved for that moment that they are there. Sometimes they are invisible to people walking by. I want them to have a moment of dignity.
DD: Talk about some of your success stories.
CA: We have a bunch. People have gone through the system and now they have a job or an apartment. We’ve helped a number of people go on interviews.
DD: Talk about the clientele – are they mostly women, men, families, etc.?
CA: Primarily older men who are over the age of 45. We also service women. Lately, we’ve seen an increase in families. We didn’t see it before the pandemic. Now we see about five families per service day with infants to teenagers.
DD: How many people have you helped over the years?
CA: A lot. We have a community clothing and hygiene bank. If I include the other partners and organizations we work with, if I include their impact numbers, we’ve helped about 60,000.
DD: Have you ever been unhoused?
CA: I have not been unhoused. I have a family member who has a mental illness and is in and out of being unhoused.
DD: What would you tell the powers that be when it comes to helping the unhoused?
CA: They should invest in grassroots organizations that are under the radar. What the people in charge are doing, it’s not the most effective way. They should talk to the people on the ground who are actually doing the work. Those people should have unrestricted funds. It’s different from the people who are just sitting in an office.
DD: Do you see a time when an organization like yours is no longer needed?
CA: I would like to say yes, but I don’t think there is a fix to it given the housing cost and how much time it takes to build additional housing. It’s not enough. There are people becoming unhoused every day. It needs to be done more quickly.
Our numbers have more than doubled since the pandemic. Once you become unhoused, you quickly start to look unhoused. For the currently available housing, there is a wait list that is years long.
DD: How much does it cost to run the organization annually?
CA: In 2022, our budget was $350,000.
DD: How can people help? Can people make monetary donations?
CA: Yes. We accept checks. People can also go online to projectropa.org/donate
DD: How does doing this kind of work make you feel?
CA: I feel it’s the greatest when you’re able to help with something as simple as clothes.
“Making a Difference” is a regular feature profiling organizations that are serving their communities. To propose a “Making a Difference” profile, send an email to dwanlass@wavetv.net.
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
