COLORADO SPRINGS — On NorthPark Drive in Colorado Springs, the sounds of hammers and saws echo through a building that soon will become a place of hope for men seeking recovery and a second chance.

After two years of planning, fundraising, and construction, STEP — a Denver-based addiction recovery nonprofit — is putting the final touches on its first Colorado Springs facility.

“We are in the final stage of construction,” said Meghan Shay, Executive Director of STEP. “This has been a two-year journey since we began fundraising for the project.”

Unlike many organizations that rely on state or federal grants to support operations, STEP’s expansion is entirely privately funded — an intentional approach at a time when other local nonprofits are grappling with funding gaps.

“We do not take government funding, this project was entirely funded through private support and fundraising,” Shay said. “We’ve just completed a $6.5 million dollar capital campaign, and we are starting STEP Springs with no debt and looking to the community to help fund the program moving forward.”

STEP Denver, which launched decades ago as a peer-run recovery community, has long focused on providing sober housing, job training, and life skills to help men rebuild their lives and stay off the streets. The program’s results in Denver speak for themselves.

“Of those, 85% were still sober, 90% were still independently housed and 75% were still employed,” Shay noted, referring to follow-up surveys with the 382 men STEP Denver helped last year.

The new Colorado Springs location is designed to mirror that success. When completed, the facility will offer 50 private rooms, each with its own bathroom, along with a kitchen, laundry room, and career center. The goal: help men tackle addiction, learn practical life skills, and regain financial independence — key pieces in breaking the cycle of homelessness.

“It addresses not just the addiction-recovery aspect, which of course is the root cause of homelessness and the root cause of what our men are experiencing, but it also is restoring life skills, workforce development, getting individuals back into the community to become self-sufficient again,” Shay said.

The new rehab center comes at a crucial time. Across the city, other nonprofits like the Family Hope Center and Springs Rescue Mission have been forced to make difficult cuts amid shrinking donations and limited funding — leaving a gap in local services just as the need grows.

As construction crews finish drywall, install fixtures, and prepare the building for inspection, Shay is urging the community to step up once more — not only to help finish the final push but to spread the word that a new option for recovery and stability is almost ready to open its doors.

“Let people know that this resource is coming,” Shay said. “We’re very grateful to be just a couple of months from opening our doors.”

STEP estimates the new Colorado Springs rehab center will open this November — a milestone for the nonprofit, its donors, and the hundreds of men who will soon have a fresh chance to rebuild their lives.

Originally reported by Hunter Phipps in Fox 21 News.