Our Mission

Project Ropa is a nonprofit organization restoring dignity and empowering the lives of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles by providing clean clothes, hygiene essentials, and employment opportunities while reducing textile waste and minimizing our carbon footprint.

About Us

Project Ropa was founded in 2016 by Caitlin Adler to address the challenges that homeless people face in obtaining and keeping clean clothes. Though homelessness is accompanied by many deprivations from food, to shelter, to safety — one of its greatest indignities comes from the absence of hygiene services.

When you're homeless, it doesn't take long to look that way, and the world and your options in it shrink. Access to hygiene services is a human right yet for many people experiencing homelessness there are often significant barriers to proper hygiene. Most unhoused people literally have only the clothes on their backs.

Access to clean clothing is essential to the overall well-being of a person and can be the key to opening doors to employment and housing. We believe everyone deserves to be treated with respect. How you look affects how you feel about yourself and how others treat you.

Now, because of the health threats posed by the coronavirus, the need to overcome those challenges has become ever greater. When even one person doesn’t have access to proper hygiene, the health of the entire community is at risk.

People who are experiencing homelessness often wind up wearing dirty and wet clothes for long stretches of time, making them vulnerable to the spread of transmissible diseases, including Covid-19. 

No one should have to wear dirty clothes or clothes that are ill-fitting. It is more important than ever that our homeless neighbors have access to new and gently used donated clothing, vital hygiene products, sanitizing supplies and PPE in a safe, humane and dignified setting.

That's where we come in.

Mobile Hygiene Service

Project Ropa helps restore dignity and empower lives by bringing clean clothing and hygiene kits directly to people experiencing homelessness at locations in the Greater Los Angeles area, in a retrofitted van that acts as a mobile walk-in closet.

We provide a curated selection of new and gently used high-quality men's and women's clothing, shoes and accessories, along with personal hygiene products, PPE, food and water -- all donated by local manufacturers, retailers and nonprofit partners.

At the same time, the people we serve can take a shower offered by another service provider with whom we work in tandem. 

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Social Enterprise

We employ previously incarcerated individuals and people transitioning out of homelessness to work with our mobile hygiene service and recycling program. We provide living wage salaries and access to ancillary services to help break the cycle of homelessness.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Our eco-friendly recycling program helps reduce the textile waste that is going into landfills. All of the donation items we receive are either directly given out to people experiencing homelessness during our Mobile Hygiene Service, redistributed to a partner organization, upcycled or recycled.

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Contact Us

Our Mailing Address

2851 W 120th Street, Suite E, #566, Hawthorne, CA 90250

Our Warehouse Address

13970 Van Ness Avenue, Gardena, CA 90249

Donation Drop-off Information

We accept clothing donation drop-offs at our warehouse by appointment only.
Email us: [email protected]