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Caring for Denver
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Caring For Denver Foundation Reaches $100 Million Milestone in Grants Awarded to Denver Nonprofits
More than 200 mental health and substance misuse organizations have received funding during the foundation's first three years of grant-making DENVER, Colo., April 6, 2023 - Caring for Denver Foundation today announced it has awarded more than $109 million in...
Funding Opportunity Open: Alternatives to Jail
Caring for Denver Foundation is currently seeking proposals to address its Alternatives to Jail focus area. The total amount available for all grant awards in this funding area is $14.8 million for services and supports that reduce the likelihood of...
The park ranger, the mental health worker and the endless hurdles they face to help people on Denver’s streets
A program pairing mental health clinicians with the rangers who field complaints about camping in parks aims to get people into therapy, if they’re willing by Jennifer Brown Denver park ranger Caronia DiStefano and Kayla Bauer, a WellPower mental health clinician,...
Speaking openly about mental health and substance misuse
The city of Denver is working to create a culture where people can speak openly about mental health and substance misuse. Last week grantees of Caring for Denver Foundation spoke about their lived experience in a session hosted by Denver City Council Member at Large,...
Denver Park Rangers to perform patrols with mental health clinicians
Clinicians will assist park rangers with connecting people to resources they need https://youtube.com/watch?v=TiL11Af1DXA By: Danielle Kreutter Posted at 9:01 PM, Jan 19, 2023 and last updated 11:09 PM, Jan 19, 2023 DENVER — As those with...
Caring 4 Denver Foundation helping 35 non-profits
Caring for Denver announced more than $14.6 million in funding to meet Denver’s higher demand for behavioral health care with services that reflect and affirm individuals needs and identities, while also supporting care providers....
Caring for Denver Foundation awards over $14.6 million to make it easier to get mental health and substance misuse help in Denver
News Release [December 14, 2022 – Denver, Colo.]: Caring for Denver Foundation announced more than $14.6 million in funding to community-based nonprofits that will fill gaps in mental health and substance misuse care, especially for marginalized communities. The goal...
Caring for Denver Receives Outstanding Foundation Award
News Release [November 29, 2022 – Denver, Colo.]: Caring for Denver Foundation has received the Outstanding Foundation Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Colorado Chapter, an honor recognizing an organization that has demonstrated outstanding...
Funding Opportunity Open: Caring for the next generation – Youth (0-26)
Caring for Denver Foundation is currently seeking proposals to address its Youth focus area. The total amount available for all grant awards in this funding area is $12 million for services and supports which: Increase youth’s ability to manage life stresses and...
Denver’s expanding the STAR program to connect people with long-term support
City Council approved a $2.3 million contract with Servicios de La Raza to partner with community organizations across the city. The Support Team Assisted Response van. June 8, 2020. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite) Denverite // Rebecca TauberOct. 31, 2022, 7:56 p.m.The...
Denver jails expand medication-assisted addiction treatment
By David Heitz / NewsBreak Denver (Denver, Colo.) Denver jails will expand their medication-assisted treatment program for inmates battling addiction. The City Council accepted a $1,054,387 grant Monday from the Caring for Denver Foundation. The money will...
The Latino Cultural Arts Center Has Big Plans to Show Denver—and the World—What Its People Have to Offer
In the coming years, a three-site campus will house galleries, museums, artist work areas, and event spaces, all dedicated to nourishing and highlighting the contributions of Denver's Latino community. Daliah Singer / 5280 There’s not much to look at among the...
Park rangers: The unseen frontline for mental health
Over the years, rangers have found themselves dealing with more mental health crises. The co-responder program aims to help with that. 9News Author: Anusha Roy (9NEWS) Published: 7:01 PM MDT September 16, 2022 Updated: 7:21 PM MDT September 16, 2022 ...
Denver Police mismanaged taxpayer money meant for mental health support
According to city audit report, DPD and the Department of Public Safety paid a nonprofit late, misspent some of the money and failed to spend the rest in time. The Department of Public Safety says the report doesn’t take into account challenges brought by the pandemic...
Denver audit finds mental health money unused
Gabrielle Franklin / KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — An audit found that the Denver Police Department and Department of Public Safety failed to use some dollars meant for mental health help. According to a new report, the Denver Auditor’s Office found the grant money...
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...