OUR SITES

Our Office: HCPP’s administrative office is located in St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church in Columbia Heights which has an important mission of service and social justice is home to several small nonprofit organizations. Our mailing address is HCPP, 1525 Newton Street NW, Washington, DC 20010.

Important: Please note that our playtime sites are located in programs where it is necessary to protect the privacy and confidentiality of its residents. If you are interested in volunteering, dropping of donations or visiting one of our sites, you must obtain permission prior to showing up unannounced. Thank you for your cooperation!

D.C. General Emergency Family Hypothermia Shelter
Tuesdays & Thursdays 6:30-8:30 pm
Stadium Armory metro to 1900 Massachusetts Avenue SE
This is the largest emergency family shelter in D.C. and is the first stop for many families seeking shelter. Because of the high need, it is open beyond the hypothermia season, and in March 2010, there were 400 children and their families living there, double last year’s capacity. Volunteers run playtime in a large room filled with board games and arts and crafts stations, a reading corner, toddler area, and space for active and imaginative games for children ages 1-11. Playtime was the only service for children in the shelter for years until the spring of 2010 when tutoring and transportation to the Boys and Girls Club began.

Park Road Emergency Family Shelter
Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Columbia Heights metro to 1448 Park Road NW
This is an emergency family shelter run by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness where 80 children and their parents live. Volunteers travel across the street with elementary-aged children to play in small groups in the dining room of the Kelsey Temple Church. Playtime is the only weekly children’s program provided in the shelter.

Turning Point Transitional Housing Program
Monday & Thursday 6:45/6:15 – 8:30 pm
Columbia Heights Metro to 1434 Harvard Street NW
This is a transitional housing program run by the Salvation Army designed for young mothers who receive a range of comprehensive services. Volunteers provide play programs for about 20 children between the ages of 1-6 while their mothers attend Life Skills classes twice each week.

Northwest Family Church Network
Monday & Wednesday 6:30-8:30 pm
Convention Center Metro (10 min walk from Gallery Place) to 216 NY Ave. NW
This is a transitional housing program for parents. There are about 60 children living in the building and NCFN recently lost it’s funding to provide children’s programs so HCPP stepped in. Volunteers play with children of all ages both inside a large room with ideal art spaces as well as outside when the weather permits.

COMING SOON! DASH Cornerstone Transitional Living Program
Saturdays 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Confidential location
The District Alliance for Safe Housing, Inc. (DASH) will establish a low-barrier, apartment-style residence to meet the needs of domestic violence survivors. The Cornerstone Building will provide women and families with transitional and intensive-needs emergency housing. The Playtime Project will partner with DASH to create a playroom and hold playtime for 20 children each week. We are now accepting applications for Site Coordinators and volunteers to start a Saturday morning Playtime program at Cornerstone beginning in June or July from 11:00-1:00. Contact lana.hcpp(at)gmail.com!

Field Trip Program
Marian Wright Edelman, President and Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, inspired the founding of our field trip program in 2009 when she offered HCPP a table at her annual Beat the Odds Awards Dinner. We introduced ourselves to the teens and asked them to write essays about how they, too, are beating the odds. They met Ms. Edelman, Dorothy Height, enjoyed an elegant multi-course meal, and begged us on the bus ride back to the shelter to take them out of the shelter each month.

Since then, the Playtime Project has brought twenty teens from the largest family shelter in D.C. on many “firsts…” to the Washington monument, ice skating on the mall, a tour of the West Wing of the White House, a dance class, picnic in the National Arboretum, a tour of Howard University, and a baseball game. Your support is needed to continue to give these deserving young people a vacation from homelessness! Please consider sponsoring a field trip with your gift of $500.