Stories
of progress
Your stories connect us
They reveal our similarities, honor our uniquenesses, and challenge our flaws. Your stories are revealed in art, music, and spoken word, and help us find commonality in a way that has the power to normalize our shared struggles and move our community forward. Together we have the #PowerTo turn your stories into action and impact.
Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement
Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement works to secure and transform the lives of Black children by inspiring, recruiting and mobilizing masses of caring Black men and women to mentor and nourish them.
Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement
Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement works to secure and transform the lives of Black children by inspiring, recruiting and mobilizing masses of caring Black men and women to mentor and nourish them.
Sun Valley Youth Center
Sun Valley Youth Center, a non-profit serving kids aged five to sixteen in Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood, employs a trauma-informed, attachment-based caregiving model to foster success for our youth and families. The core pillars of their practices are connecting, empowering, and correcting.
Sobriety House, Inc.
Sobriety House, Inc. is a state licensed, nonprofit drug and alcohol treatment center dedicated to offering high quality and effective services through an extensive continuum of care to support clients in lifelong recovery, regardless of ability to pay.
The Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN)
The Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) strives for justice by supporting adults in immigration detention and immigrant children who have suffered from abuse, neglect, or violence.
Project PAVE
Project PAVE utilizes innovative, evidence-based, and culturally responsive mental health services and educational programs to support youth survivors of violence and their families.
Muslim Youth for Positive Impact
Muslim Youth for Positive Impact increases awareness, access, and engagement to culturally relevant mental health & substance misuse support.
Vuela for Health
https://youtu.be/LYcGfWiH8r0 Vuela for Health works to engage the Latino community through strategic partnerships that build leadership, promote public health, and foster economic, environmental, and social well-being. A team of Promotoras, passionate cultural and...
Karis Community
Karis Community is a transitional residential facility offering a unique, supportive living opportunity for adults managing serious and persistent mental illness.
Montbello Organizing Committee
Montbello Organizing Committee provides culturally-responsive community-based mental health services; offers behavioral health programs, develops support for peer counselors and community mentors; and reduces the stigma associated with accessing mental health support and services.
The Don’t Look Back Center
The Don’t Look Back Center (TDLBC) was created to empower socially and economically disadvantaged women and transwomen to break the cycle of addictive patterns and initiate change while developing life skills for restoration in all aspects of a woman’s life.
Think 360 Arts for Learning
https://youtu.be/sQNu0Z8TBYs Think 360 Arts for Learning engages Coloradans of all ages in innovative arts programming that inspires creativity, builds community, & advances equity. Caring for Denver funded the Creative Aging program to increase access to...
CHOW (Culinary Hospitality Outreach Wellness)
“The hospitality industry is rough. (With CHOW) I had the ability to share my story and where I was at mentally at that time…which was broken. It’s more than just going to a therapist. You have to build this network of people who you can be vulnerable with and share what you’re going through.”– Brother Luck, CHOW participant.
Star Girlz Empowerment, Inc.
“As young women, we’re always taught to be strong women, and we’re always looked upon as superheroes. But the things that we go through, the trauma and stress of everyday life really weigh us down.”
Women’s Wilderness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLjmI08gFN0 Women’s Wilderness supports girls, women and LGBTQ+ people in accessing their power and improving their health through connections to the outdoors and community. Caring for Denver funded the Women’s Wilderness Outdoor...
Colorado Village Collaborative
“Something very powerful when you recover is you want to help other people going through the same thing.”
– Cuica Montoya, Colorado Village Collaborative
Make a Chess Move
At Make a Chess Move, an organization committed to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and teaching common sense education, the game of chess symbolizes real-life situations. This Caring for Denver grant recipient offers in-school and community-based programs in...
Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization’s Value of Life Campaign
The Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization’s Value of Life campaign was founded by youth, for youth after two violent incidents happened in the community. This movement counters youth violence and explores the intersectionality with mental health. Watch Apprentice of...
Santiago Jaramillo
“Growing up, I got in a lot of trouble. For a good part of my life I was heavily into drugs and alcohol and some of the gang stuff around here. With the gift of sobriety, I want to make ‘living amends,’ giving back and righting some of those wrongs. For me, that’s taking my passion for sobriety and my love for art and connecting with others who are suffering or carrying that stigma around.” #PowerTo advocate for my community
Thomas and Melanie
With personal experience of mental health and substance misuse challenges, Melanie and Thomas are strong advocates for changing how we think about and address these needs in our community. Listen to their very different journeys to well-being and insights on how they’re maintaining sobriety during the challenges of COVID-19.
Leslie Herod
#PowerTo Help https://youtu.be/OhXrQdm7a5Q As a state legislator, I hear facts, figures and anecdotes about substance abuse, mental health and recovery frequently. I work on issues like jail overcrowding, homeless youth and people in crisis. But as a daughter, a...
Dr. Clark
#PowerTo Thrive https://youtu.be/Pi8Vwp0jZNk As the President & CEO of the Mental Health Center of Denver, I work to inspire a culture of well-being among our staff, the people we serve and the greater Denver community. We work to deliver strengths-based,...
Melanie Stritch
#PowerTo Fight The Stigma https://youtu.be/JIvU63TS-cs 2 years sober I am not just a recovering alcoholic – I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a soccer coach, a first-time college student. I am also living proof that there is a solution to addiction...