In existence for over 125 years, Mount Saint Vincent Home was one of the four original Mile High United Way funded agencies.  This century old partnership has met the needs of more than 18,000 children in Denver, Colorado from 1883 to present day.  Nearly 100 years ago, it was an orphanage, and now, Mount Saint Vincent Home and Mile High United Way are ensuring at-risk youth overcome obstacles and graduate from high school at part of our life-changing Youth Success Initiative. 

Mount Saint Vincent Home is a safe, stable place for children ages 5-14 who have experienced child abuse, neglect, or mental illness; as a result, they display severe behavioral or emotional problems. 44 children live onsite and an additional 50 regularly attend school.

Through therapeutic treatment and special education, the children receive guidance and knowledge from teachers with masters in special education, compassionate and vigorous therapy from trained professionals and tender loving care from staff.

“Our organization affects everyone in the community.  We are directly preparing these special kids to be with your children.  You are going to interact with these kids at some point in time from the playground to restaurants, churches and schools.  Nearly all of our children have experienced trauma, drama and chaos in their young lives.  It’s our mission to provide a stable healing environment for them so that when they leave, they go on to live productive, fruitful lives in our community,” said Dennis Kennedy, director of development at Mount Saint Vincent Home.

Nearly all of these children do succeed whether they live onsite or come to school during the day.  Last year, children who receive services from Mount Saint Vincent experience a 66% increase in their reading skills and 77% increase in math. 

Click here to donate or volunteer for Mile High United Way’s Youth Success initiative. Contact Laura at laura.hendrick@unitedwaydenver.org for volunteer opportunities.

The 2007 Point in Time Study, partially sponsored by Mile High United Way, reported that nearly 61 percent of metro Denver’s homeless population are households with children.  Shocking?  It should be. 

Family Tree and Mile High United Way are doing something about it.  The mission of Family Tree is to help people overcome child abuse, domestic violence and homelessness to become safe, strong and self-reliant.  The agency serves a remarkable 30,000+ people every year, in addition to providing over 24,000 nights of shelter for individuals and families in need.

Family Tree is a true representative of Mile High United Way’s Adult Self Sufficiency initiative.  In conjunction with agencies like Family Tree, Mile High United Way will provide self sufficiency services for more than 319,000 individuals and families in metro Denver over the next four years.

The dedication of the Family Tree staff is awe-inspiring.  Family Tree’s umbrella structure utilizes an effective continuum of services that are client-centered and culturally sensitive.  For example, let’s say a woman and her three children escape a domestic violence situation.  They find a safe place in a Family Tree shelter rather than becoming homeless.  But, what happens next?  Family Tree is designed to assist individuals and families in taking the next steps toward achieving self sufficiency.  Whether it’s finding transitional or permanent housing, counseling or legal advocacy, Family Tree works tirelessly to provide an array of services to the metro Denver community. 

Scott Shields, CEO, speaks with genuine fervor about his organization, “We are providing a comprehensive set of services that no one else is providing right now.  Essentially, if the majority of these people did not receive our services, results would be dire.  We are saving lives, and that is at the core of what we do.”   

Click here to donate or volunteer for Mile High United Way’s Adult Self Sufficiency initiatives. Contact Laura at laura.hendrick@unitedwaydenver.org for volunteer opportunities.

    Ambassadors of hope

Mi Casa Resource Center was founded in 1976 to assist Latinas and youth develop the skills that are necessary to become self-sufficient.  With support from Mile High United Way, Mi Casa creates employment opportunities for women, prepares women to start their own businesses and empowers youth to make healthy and responsible life decisions.

This fundamental non-profit organization is not only compassionate, but pragmatic.  Their programs assist in the essential development of life goals and skills that empower Latinas and youth to overcome multiple barriers and lift themselves out of poverty. 

Most adult recipients of Mi Casa’s programs are TANF recipients - some of the most vulnerable people in metro Denver.  “One of the best things we can do for individuals who come through our doors  is to give them hope so that they can become open to the opportunities that we can offer them,” says Gayle Warner, vice president of programs, “I got a call the other day from a graduate of our program who had been with Mi Casa since the age of 14.  She came from a very precarious background including gang affiliation.  On top of that, her mom, who was a single parent, was very ill, so she ended up taking care of her while growing up.  She told me Mi Casa gave her the support and guidance she needed to pursue her education, and she wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of her achieving that goal.  This woman just graduated from college.”

Mi Casa is an important partner agency of Mile High United Way.  Together we are creating a lasting impression on the lives of others through both our Youth Success initiative (empowering at-risk youth to overcome obstacles and graduate from high school) and Adult Self Sufficiency initiative (focusing on helping people who are working hard but still not able to get ahead).

Click here to donate OR volunteer for Mile High United Way’s Youth Success and Adult Self Sufficiency initiatives. Contact Laura at laura.hendrick@unitedwaydenver.org for volunteer opportunities.

A utopia for little ones

Imagine a place where gifted and special needs children are treated with equal respect and stimulation. Imagine an early learning center fluent in the language of diversity and character. For the past 45 years, Hope Center on Elizabeth Street in Denver has provided high quality early care and education programs for more than 9,000 children ages 2 ½ to 8. They were the first early learning center to receive the highly coveted four-star rating eight years ago from Qualistar, and have been setting the bar ever since.

The Hope Center partakes in a “high scope” curriculum with components of art, science, literacy, technology, dramatic play and math infused in every classroom. The cool part: special needs, regular and gifted children all receive the same components of this innovative curriculum with varying levels of difficulty; everyone is treated equally.

Their success rate is impressive — anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of children with special needs enter regular kindergarten after attending Hope Center every year.

“It’s important for us to level the playing field for inner city and low-income children and families,” says the Hope Center’s new Executive Director, Gerie Grimes. “We want these children to have the same opportunities as everyone else in the community. If the children have the same tools at the beginning of their lives, they are more likely to experience a successful educational experience throughout their lives. Every child has the right to quality education. It’s our duty to provide high quality education for families.”

Hope Center is funded in part by Mile High United Way and is part of our School Readiness initiative that ensures children from low-income families are prepared to succeed in school. Last year, 4,400 children from low-income families attended an early care and education center, like Hope Center, that participates in Mile High United Way’s quality improvement efforts. As part of the Five-Year plan, we hope to increase the number of children able to access affordable, quality early childhood care and education to 10,000.

Click here to donate or volunteer for Mile High United Way’s School Readiness initiative. Contact Laura at laura.hendrick@unitedwaydenver.org for volunteer opportunities.

Thanks for visiting Mile High United Way’s first ever blog. This site will profile the power of collective generosity in the metro Denver community and inform readers about the continued progress of our three initiatives: School Readiness, Youth Success, and Adult Self Sufficiency.

We kicked off 2007 with a strong start. Denver Broncos Quarterback Jay Cutler announced that he will partner with Mile High United Way’s Youth Success Initiative, which is dedicated to helping at-risk youth overcome obstacles and graduate from high school. Jay presented a $25,000 check to Mile High United Way last week to support the expansion of Denver’s successful Lights On After School.

With Jay’s help and with the support of many others in the community, we will be able to provide Lights on After School programs to more students in Denver and at the same time bring it to students in Jefferson County and Commerce City. This school year 9,000 students in Denver Public Schools are participating in Lights on After School programs. We hope to serve more students in Denver next year, and we’re aiming to fund Lights on After School programs for up to 400 students in both Jefferson County and Commerce City. For more information, you can find press releases on our web site.

We’re thrilled that Jay will also be hosting a golf tournament to benefit our Youth Success Initiative on June 11 at the Club at Pradera. Stay tuned for more information.