At Central Iowa Shelter & Services, we are committed to providing low-barrier shelter, meals, and support services at no cost to adults experiencing homelessness. When basic needs are met right away, the move toward self-sufficiency becomes more attainable.

In 2023, we focused on expanding the impact of our services and programming, fighting food insecurity through the Schoen Greenhouse, and solidifying our vision for downtown Des Moines. We began work on a 4-acre community agrihood and put several projects into motion for 2024Impact by the Numbers:

• CISS’ emergency shelter received 1,763 visits from July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023, with an average stay of 28 days.
• CISS served 103,359 meals from its community kitchen and intends to increase this number to 300,000 by 2025.
• CISS helped 673 individuals transition to permanent supportive housing—which costs 4x less than a day in jail
• CISS provided job training to 143 individuals between the janitorial, farms & food, and kitchen training programs