Colorado Dream Foundation provides creative opportunities for Denver students
Every Wednesday a group of th graders from DSST College View High School in southwest Denver gathers together to build public explore their interests and plan for the future The Denver Post Season To Share is the annual holiday fundraising campaign of The Denver Post and The Denver Post Group Foundation a c nonprofit Funds sponsorship local nonprofits that help low-income children families and individuals move out of poverty toward stability and self-sufficiency Visit SeasonToShare com to learn more or to donate now For four years these students have participated in the Colorado Dream Foundation s after-school plan a free holistic initiative that provides academic promotion emotional wellness and college and career progress to Denver youth and their families While their school focuses on science system engineering and mathematics these seniors crave other opportunities to be creative and work different parts of their brain Sometimes though it s just a much-needed movie night or pumpkin-painting activity There are also volunteer options where students can help organize clothes for underserved children The majority of us are minorities or low-income revealed Claudia Puga one of the initiative s participants People like us don t get these opportunities I m so grateful to have this project The Colorado Dream Foundation began in on the back lawn of the Colorado Governor s Mansion The group of twentysomethings was inspired by Eugene Lang founder of the I Have a Dream Foundation in New York The group s dream A world where every child has equal access to educational and career opportunities that will ignite their innate prospective The organization serves more than Denver-area children from third through th grades each year Kids can get academic help through one-on-one tutoring and homework assistance but the plan also seeks to serve their social-emotional well-being The foundation offers individual and small-group therapy sessions for ages through adulthood They come to us out of school our job is not to make them feel like they re back in school stated Kaye Taavialma the organization s chief executive officer Their interests and characteristics and qualities and attributes all have a place and a space here Greater part schools these days she added don t have the bandwidth or ability to really afford youth space to be creative in learning Unlike other after-school programs the Colorado Dream Foundation promises to stay with its young people even after they graduate high school If that s college great If it s another opportunity that s perfectly fine too We are post-secondary agnostic Taavialma revealed We re not here to have judgment over what youth want to do in their post-secondary life We re here to hold them accountable to a plan For first-generation college students the process can be daunting Teachers with the undertaking helped the high schoolers learn about scholarship opportunities SAT prep and navigating college applications Renata Velazquez spends time with friends after school at the Colorado Dream Foundation's Blossom House in Denver on Wednesday Oct Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post Related Articles Gang of dentists making oral care a priority for the homeless Family Tree focuses on housing for domestic violence survivors Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver s mission is to give kids a safe place for after-school learning and fun Food insecurity is a residents soundness situation that Food Bank of the Rockies is helping to solve For teens Denver Wellness s STEP provides mental physical condition and substance recovery and hope The plan earns results the organization says Graduates of the Colorado Dream Foundation are three times more likely to earn a bachelor s degree than peers in their communities Meanwhile of youth in the project graduate high school compared with of youth from marginalized communities nationally But it s not just college college college all the time announced Melisa Sadaoui one of the th-grade participants It s less stressful After graduation the organization plans to keep these students connected through meet-ups during school breaks and mentorship programs More than anything Colorado Dream Academy lets students explore themselves figuring out what they want to do with their lives explained Elizabeth Tran a senior in the initiative It really has changed my trajectory she mentioned When people believe in you it makes you want to chase different things Colorado Dream Foundation Address Grant St Denver CO In operation since Number of employees Number of assistants None Annual budget million Number of clients served Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter
