Meet Julio E Berroa | Haus of Codec, Rhode Island first Youth Shelter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julio E Berroa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julio, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Haus of Codec, Rhode Island’s first-ever youth shelter for Queer youth ages 18 to 24. we opened our doors on December 1st, 2021 with a 6-bed emergency shelter. Haus of Codec is providing a safe shelter space for these youth to call home and helping them find their own, more permanent housing solutions and workforce development opportunities. The shelter space hosts a food and clothing pantry, a self-service kitchen, a shared bathroom, access to essential services through partner providers, and a sense of community where there wasn’t one before.

Haus of Codec hosts monthly community LGBTQQIA+ Resource Fair & ART Marketplace at Dexter Park in Providence, RI for over 100+ Queer and BIPOC artists and local community organizations! – Each marketplace hosts community clothing swaps with a “Bring what you can, take what you need” model. Our Haus of Codec residents will have the first pick of any items donated and the rest will be shared with our communities.

What should our readers know about your business?
Haus of Codec was originally founded in 2017 by Julio E. Berroa as a design firm to support a close-knit community of artists with their marketing and design needs and pivoted its focus during the pandemic in 2020.

In December of 2021, our five-person volunteer board opened Rhode Island’s first homeless shelter for transition-aged youth. Julio E. Berroa, Gem Marley, Haley Johnson, Alexander Ruiz, and Charlotte Gagnon, who make up House of Codec, we each put our wide-ranging talents and community partnerships together to make six emergency shelter beds available in Providence.

While traditional shelter models are focused only on the immediate needs of their patrons, we are determined to break the cycle of homelessness for our residents. We are explicitly offering shelter to age-specific youth as this demographic sees a greater risk of violence and abuse in larger, less accommodating shelter spaces our state has historically provided.

The process is never easy and it has had its ups and downs, regardless we still strived to help our communities in ways that the Rhode Island Queer community only talked about. We are saving lives. We are building community. the community saw and understood this need and our mission and they rallied behind us. We are a community-funded organization.

We had our first art market in June 2021. Over the summer, we hosted a number at Dexter Park on the West End of Providence. in 2022 we have grown so much that we have brought our art markets to many towns across RI and also partnered with PVDFest to also host one in downtown providence this past June. We give all of our residents the option to participate as vendors. We give them the power to make any sort of craft they want and we provide the supplies. They can draw, or really make anything, and then sell it at the market. The money they make from sales goes right to them. We also have local queer and BIPOC artists, that historically didn’t have a place to sell their art, come and participate in our markets.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Providence is full of wonders. there are so many places to go and see

I would take my friends to the following restaurants/food trucks:
Sophias Cafe – for their delious sandwiches, dominian owned
Kin PVD – for amazing and authentic soulfood, black owned
Spanglish Truck – the best gourmet empanadas/pastelitos in town, dominian owned
Yoo Sushi – the best sushi in town
Barnabys Public House – amazing Caribbean food

for drinks:
The Providence Eagle – one of the only queer clubs i go to
The Stable – queer bar
Courtland Club – neighborhood bar in the west end/broadway area
Sin – weekend bar

for coffee and deserts:
Sin – awesome deserts
Three Sisters – also has food, really good breakfast
The Nitro Bar
White Electric Coffee

for art:
The RISD Museum
AS220 Galleries
The Providence Art Club

for Music and Theather:
AS220 Main stage and blackbox
The Wilbury Theater
Trinity Repertory company

Monthly event:
PechaKucha PVD

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Julio E. Berroa (BER ROH-uh) (He, They, Xe) was born in Salcedo (s-aa-l-s-EH-d-oh), Dominican Republic, and a Providence resident since 2012. Berroa earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Digital Media Curriculum and a minor in Photography. His passions include the Arts, Sex and HIV Education, and Youth Advocacy. All of this drives him to share his experiences through Art to help advocate for young aspiring artists of color. He hopes to inspire and influence his viewers.

Known for his multi-faceted approach to the field of art and design which weaves both the analog and digital, artist Julio E. Berroa is often creating hyperreal and immersive scenes of intense experiences using vivid colors and organic shapes and textures depicting very intimate moments. Berroa was an Andrew W. Mellon intern in Creative Production at the RISD Museum in the summer of 2020 and 2021 Rhode Island College Senior Art Award Recipient.

Berroa is the founder and Executive Director of Haus of Codec, Rhode Island’s first-ever youth shelter.

Website: HausofCodec.org

Instagram: instagram.com/hausofcodec

Twitter: twitter.com/hausofcodec

Facebook: Facebook.com/hausofcodec

Other: for my personal: www.berroaworld.art instagram.com/berroaworld