About
Caring for Denver
News & Events
A strategy Denver applied to crime, mayor proposes ‘hot spot’ approach to behavioral health
Alex Edwards / Denver Gazette Denver Mayor Michael Hancock wants to apply a strategy aimed at reducing crime in "hot spots" to the city's behavioral health challenges, arguing that focusing resources on areas in Denver – he specifically noted downtown...
Audit finds $400k in mental health response funds unused by DPD
The Denver Police Department must return the money, but the agency said the audit ignored the success of the program and the pandemic's interference. Channel 9 DENVER — The Denver Police Department (DPD) and Department of Public Safety (DPS) failed to spend about...
Caring for Denver Receives Community Builder Award
News Release [September 17, 2022 – Denver, Colo.]: Caring for Denver Foundation has received the Community Builder Award from Servicios de la Raza, an honor recognizing individuals and organizations who have provided incredible benefits to the Indigenous and...
Take our 2022 Community Check In Survey!
Caring for Denver Foundation was founded and funded with overwhelming voter support to address Denver’s mental health and substance misuse needs. Guided by community input, the organization has funded more than $82.2 million in the areas of alternatives to jail, care...
18 Denver programs, many working to direct kids away from trouble with crime and substance misuse, share in $12M
Fueled by a city sales tax, the Caring for Denver fund, awardees this year included 5280 High School and Youth Advocate Programs, which specialize in drug recovery and child welfare for youth Colorado Sun Brammhi Balarajan 4:18 AM MDT on Aug 12, 2022 Students graduate...
Caring for Denver Invests $12.1M in Alternatives to Jail Grant
Out Front Magazine (OFM) AUGUST 9, 2022 Photo courtesy of Caring for Denver on Facebook A previous poll by The Colorado Health Foundation found that many people consider mental health and substance use serious problems for Coloradans. This is especially true for BIPOC...
Funding Opportunity Open: Community-Centered Solutions & Care Provision
Caring for Denver Foundation is currently seeking proposals to address its Community-Centered Solutions and Care Provision focus areas. The total amount available for all grant awards in this funding area is $10.6 million to support services and supports which:...
These First-Responder Superheroes Don’t Wear Capes or Even Uniforms
Meet the 911 first responders who are providing emergency on-the-scene mental health support. Oprah Daily BY MATT LEVIN / PUBLISHED: JUL 29, 2022 A man, silently, was struggling. I was walking down Broadway, in New York. People flowed gracefully around and past him...
Underground Music Showcase to have mental health resources for artists
9 News Denver’s biggest multi-day music festival kicks off this weekend and this year they plan to focus on a mission of mental health and sobriety Author: Byron Reed DENVER — Denver’s biggest multi-day music festival kicks off this weekend and this year, they have a...
Caring for Denver Foundation awards $12.1 million to support alternative responses to criminal justice involvement
News Release [July 28, 2022 – Denver, Colo.]: Caring for Denver Foundation announced more than $12.1 million in funding to community-based nonprofits and city departments that provide alternative responses to criminal justice, including those that focus on public and...
Proposal would make Denver co-responder program model for country
DENVER (KDVR) — A new proposal would take Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response Program, commonly referred to as the STAR Program, and make it a model for the rest of the country. STAR started in June of 2020. The group operates a fleet of vans that goes out to...
Colorado takes a tentative step toward meeting the crisis of homelessness
Colorado Sun A significant factor in homelessness is mental illness and substance misuse, and it’s difficult to make progress toward long-term solutions without addressing them. Diane Carman 3:04 AM MDT on Jun 19, 2022 Whenever I tell people that we recently moved...
Study: Denver’s STAR program reduced crime, costs
Fox 31 by: Alex Rose Posted: Jun 8, 2022 / 03:03 PM MDT Updated: Jun 9, 2022 / 12:56 PM MDT DENVER (KDVR) — Denver’s Support Team Assistance Response (STAR) program has been operating in the Mile High City now for two years. A new study shows how...
Denver, Aurora boost alternative police response programs
Newsbreak Denver, CO David Heitz By David Heitz / NewsBreak Denver (Denver, Colo.) Aurora and Denver both agreed Monday to provide more money for alternative police response teams. At their respective City Council meetings, Aurora agreed to spend $230,000 on salaries...
Su Teatro Celebrates 50th With Art That Heals: ‘An Opportunity For Us To Heal’
CBS4 By Anna Alejo, June 2, 2022 at 10:45 pm DENVER (CBS4)– A gem in Denver’s theater scene is celebrating its 50th anniversary by finding new ways to respond to its audiences’ needs. Su Teatro will soon open a new production of “Chicanos Sing the Blues.”...
‘Defund the Police’ Is Dead But Other Reform Efforts Thrive In U.S. Cities
Newsweek by Steve Friess on 5/24/22 at 5:30 AM EDT Two years after George Floyd was killed, a surge in violent crime in major cities across the country has effectively ended the “defund the police” movement that sprung up in the wake of his death. A new national poll...
Seratones to Headline Underground Music Showcase Mental Wellness Impact Show July 30
Grateful Web ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY YOUTH ON RECORD | PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022 A funk-soul-rock band from Louisiana that marries spirituality, protest, Black feminism, and Afrofuturism, Seratones will headline the Underground Music Showcase‘s...
City Council takes on Denver’s mental health and gun violence crises in twin proclamations
Denverite “Three in ten Coloradoans are in need of mental health or substance use disorder care,” stated one proclamation. “In Colorado, 78 percent of firearm deaths are suicides, and nearly half of all suicide deaths in Colorado involve the use of a firearm,” noted...
Caring for Denver Foundation gave out $35.5M in grant funding last year
The Denver Gazette Lindsey Toomer lindsey.toomer@denvergazette.comMay 18, 2022 Caring for Denver Board chair Leslie Herod, a lawmaker from Denver, speaks with Lorez Meinhold, executive director of the voter-approved foundation’s board of directors. The Caring for...
PlatteForum’s Big Year
Westword EMILY FERGUSON MAY 17, 2022 PlatteForum staffers (from left, back row): Michael Gadlin, Sigri Strand, Zaia Sever, Kendall Kultgen, Axel Leonhardt. Front row: Destany Rodriguez, Kevin Sandoval-Torres. Sigri Strand PlatteForum will celebrate its twentieth...
70 percent in Denver program reduce substance use, report says
NewsBreak Denver By David Heitz / NewsBreak Denver (Denver, Colo.) Caring for Denver has made great strides in combatting substance abuse and mental health problems for Denverites, according to its 2021 annual report. Created by a city ordinance, Caring for Denver...
PlatteForum Opens New Space, New Exhibit
YourHub – Denver Post Posted by ddascalos on May 3, 2022 Resident Artist, Annette Isham, To Open New Exhibit in New Space May 27, 2022. PlatteForum just announced they opened a new gallery and studio space at 3575 Ringsby Ct. #103 Denver, CO 80216 and...
DPS awarded more than $500k for mental health services
Colorado Politics DAVID MULLEN david.mullen@gazette.com Isabelle Espana, front, gets help from then-Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova in August as the young girl works on a laptop in a classroom in Newlon Elementary School. The Associated Press...
Denver Health expands addiction medicine center with focus on youth, training
The Denver Gazette Seth Klamann/ seth.klamann@gazette.com Full article available to subscribers only. Here’s an excerpt: …More funding, from Caring for Denver and Colorado Access, will allow the hospital to set up an “intensive outpatient substance treatment” for...
Caring for Denver Foundation Awards $9.8 M to addressDenver Youth’s Increased mental health and substance misuse needs
Thirty-seven organizations awarded funding to support youth impacted by loss, violence, school disruption, and more News Release [April 1, 2022 – Denver, Colo.]: Caring for Denver Foundation announced funding for 37 organizations working to provide earlier and more...
Sending Mental Health Pros, Not Police
Front Porch (Northeast Denver) April 1, 2022 / Tracy Wolfer Osborne / Announcements, Community Issues, Denver News, Health & Wellness / Mamie Tissue, a clinician with the Mental Health Center of Denver, and her partner, Seth Humphreys, a Denver Health Paramedic...
Denver’s Co-Responder Program Expands To 24/7 Coverage: ‘Better Outcomes For Individuals In Crisis’
CBS 4 By Tori Mason March 30, 2022 at 9:11 am Filed Under:Denver News DENVER (CBS4) – This week marks six years since licensed clinicians began teaming up with police on calls involving mental health. The teamwork of co-responders and officers has shown great...
Denver’s Program to Dispatch Mental Health Teams Instead of Police is So Successful it is Expanding 5-Fold
Good News Network Denver Police Department After dispatching mental health teams, instead of police officers, to certain 911 emergency calls, the city of Denver is proclaiming their pilot program a huge success—and expanding it significantly. Since June 2020, the...
Denver’s co-responder STAR program is expanding after receiving additional funding
KDVR Fox 31 by: Alex Rose Posted: Feb 16, 2022 / 02:04 PM MST / Updated: Feb 16, 2022 / 02:49 PM MST DENVER (KDVR) — An up-and-coming program that sends clinicians and paramedics to lower-level emergency calls has seen enough success in...
After starting out with just one van, Denver’s STAR program will expand to six this year
Denverite The program has been praised as an alternative to police response. Mental Health Center of Denver case worker Chris Richardson stands outside of Denver’s STAR van, which is parked by the Denver Rescue MIssion at Park Avenue and Lawrence Street. Feb. 12,...
Denver’s mental health tax helping 160 different organizations
The Denver Channel
Envision:You Receives New Grant to Fund Training Program
Out Front Magazine Envision:You Receives New Grant to Fund Training Program DECEMBER 10, 2021 Envision:You will surely have all the more momentum to help members of Colorado’s LGBTQ community; The Caring for Denver Foundation awarded the initiative a grant to...
Caring for Denver Foundation Awards more than $57 million since inception to Address Substance Misuse and Mental Health with Community-Based Solutions
News Release, 11/19/21 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 19, 2021 Caring for Denver Foundation Awards more than $57 million since inception to Address Substance Misuse and Mental Health with Community-Based Solutions Denver, CO – Since launching its funding...
The Value of Lived Experience: Gary Sanford of Caring for Denver – Good & Grounded Podcast
Good & Grounded Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uxRVfXfAbaLNVmFrc2Y8B In 2018, 70% of Denver voters said yes to raising funds to help heal members of our community dealing with mental health and substance misuse issues. Caring For Denver was formed to...
New creative expression workshop aims to combat artists’ addiction, isolation and death in Colorado
The Colorado Sun Colorado Artists in Recovery originally formed to help people in recovery from drug addiction but it has evolved to also support people with other mental health issues Tatiana Flowers 4:02 AM MDT on Oct 21, 2021 Colorado Artists in Recovery founder...
Mental Health Center of Denver on rising health crisis in Denver
Fox 31 Denver Death by suicide among young people is a rising health crisis in Denver, in fact, Denver is outpacing the national statistics by nearly 2-to-1. September is National Suicide Prevention Month and Carl Clark with the Mental Health Center of...
Mental Health Center of Denver launches new suicide prevention program
9NEWS Denver By Jennifer Campbell-Hicks Mental Health Center of Denver launches new suicide prevention program The Mental Health Center of Denver launched its STAY SAFE partnership at the start of National Suicide Prevention Week....
Task force: Denver should spend $55 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds on public safety priorities
Denver Gazette By: Julia Cardi Task force: Denver should spend $55 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds on public safety priorities The task force created to make recommendations for overhauling policing and public safety in Denver wants the city to use...
STAR Program In Denver Expands To Respond To Calls Seven Days A Week
CBS 4 Denver By Jennifer McRae STAR Program In Denver Expands To Respond To Calls Seven Days A Week DENVER (CBS4) – The program that started out as just a pilot is expanding. The Support Team Assisted Response or STAR program was started last year...
Denver to expand STAR program for responding to mental health 911 calls
KDVR Fox 31 News By Lanie Lee Cook DENVER (KDVR) — A year-old Denver program that removes police from some 911 calls involving mental health or substance use will be expanded to seven days a week. The Support Team Assisted Response program — STAR for short — responds...
15 months into Denver’s STAR program, no calls directed to civilian-led teams have led to arrests
The Denver Gazette By Julia Cardi A map presented to a Denver City Council committee on Aug. 30, 2021 show the geographic concentrations of calls sent to the Support Team Assisted Response program, which sends pairs of paramedics and mental health clinicians to...
Denver’s STAR program, sending mental health pros on certain calls instead of police officers, is about to get bigger
The program — still resulting in zero arrests and no calls to Denver police for backup when deployed — has the support to expand. Denverite By Esteban L. Hernandez Denver’s STAR van is parked outside of the Denver Rescue Mission at Park Avenue and Lawrence Street....
Caring for Denver Foundation Awards $8.4 Million to Redirect People with Mental Health and Substance Misuse Crisis Away from the Criminal Justice System.
News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 25, 2021 Caring for Denver Foundation Awards $8.4 Million to Redirect People with Mental Health and Substance Misuse Crisis Away from the Criminal Justice System. Denver, CO – Caring for Denver will distribute $8.4...
Caring for Denver: Widespread, Community-Informed Support
OUT FRONT Magazine By Keegan Williams As the Denver community pushes forward in this new stage of the pandemic, the need for community services and resources is more dire than ever. Representative Leslie Herod saw this need to do better for our local communities,...
Garcia, Garnett Appoint Experts to ARPA Affordable Housing and Behavioral Health Subpanels
EIN Presswire DENVER, CO – Senate President Leroy Garcia and Speaker Alec Garnett on Friday appointed subject matter experts and representatives of local governments and nonprofits to the subpanels advising the task forces established...
Denver’s pivot from police is gaining popularity nationwide
Axios Markets via Yahoo News By Alayna Alvarez What started as a pilot program to reimagine policing primarily in downtown Denver is now expanding citywide and piquing interest across the country. Driving the news: The City Council this week voted to boost the...
Mayor Tishaura Jones & Congresswoman Cori Bush To Visit Denver Star Program — Discuss New Approaches To Public Safety
RiverBender.com ST. LOUIS, DENVER, CO – On Thursday, July 8, 2021, Mayor Tishaura Jones and Congresswoman Cori Bush will travel to Denver, Colorado to see firsthand the city’s public safety initiatives. The Mayor and Congresswoman will tour Denver’s Support Team...
Warren Village Announces $300,000 Caring for Denver Foundation Grant to Advance Wellness Initiative for Resident Families
Funds will allow Warren Village to dramatically increase onsite mental health services YourHub Warren Village, a Denver-based organization focused on helping low-income, single-parent families make the journey from poverty to self-sufficiency, received a $300,000...
Alternatives to Calling the Denver Police Department
Denver’s STAR Program is a success. So much so that it’s expanding this year. Here are some more local resources to phone if you don’t want to call the police. 5280 by: Celeste Benzschawel Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program has responded...
NONPROFIT REGISTER | $300,000 grant to help Warren Village advance its Wellness Initiative for Families
Colorado Politics by: Joanne Davidson Photo courtesy of Warren Village WARREN VILLAGE Denver News: A $300,000 grant from the Caring for Denver Foundation is enabling Warren Village to start a two-year project that will advance its Wellness Initiative for Resident...