Dorothy Day (11/8/1897 – 11/29/1980) an American journalist and social activist, who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best known political radical among American Catholics.

Day’s conversion is described in her autobiography, The Long Loneliness. Day was a journalist and described her social activism in her writings. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist movement that combines direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent, direct action.

As part of the Catholic Worker Movement, Day co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper in 1933, and served as its editor from 1933 until her death in 1980. In this newspaper, Day advocated the Catholic economic theory of distributism, a third option between capitalism and socialism.

Pope Benedict XVI used her conversion story in an address before the U.S. Congress; Pope Francis included her in a list of four exemplary Americans who “buil[t] a better future.”

From Wikipedia

DD Tampa will begin as a house of hospitality homeless drop-in center, inspired by the Catholic Worker Movement that began simply enough on May 1, 1933, by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.

Grounded in a firm belief in the Godgiven dignity of every human person, their movement was committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty and the Works of Mercy. Before long, Dorothy and Peter opened a house of Hospitality - a community where the homeless, the hungry and the forsaken always would be welcome.

Today there are 187 Catholic Worker communities in the United States and around the world.

Metropolitan Tampa recently reported 1,452 people experiencing homelessness; 160 were veterans, according to a Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative point-in-time count taken January 24, 2022. Serving this homeless population is a single Seminole Heights homeless drop-in center, The Coffee Shop (aka ‘The Shop’), operated by Gracepoint Wellness. The Shop offers its guests coffee, showers, bathrooms, laundry, internet, P.O. Box service, internet, and links to a variety of community resources. While a valued resource in our community, we believe Tampa’s need is greater, and more geographically dispersed than a lone center.

DD Tampa will be different by design from other Tampa agencies and ministries. Rather than reduce guests to their physical needs, we will seek to meet their spiritual, social, and emotional needs, as well – in recognition, as Dorothy Day wrote, “[t]hat they are Jesus.”

The Need – funding streams are focused on housing, offering few services for those still living on the streets.

The Work – trusting relationships and a sense of community can transform and motivate.

The Result – research demonstrates these relationships can help heal trauma.

DD Tampa does not require guests to answer invasive questions. Instead, accepting people where they are.

Guests will be honored as human beings, having value and worth.

Churches model the unity of the One Body as they work together to love thy neighbor.

Volunteers receive opportunities to use their unique gifts and talents to serve others.

Community ministries and agencies help fill gaps in services.