News Release
[December 3, 2024 – Denver, Colo.]: Caring for Denver Foundation is excited to announce more than $14 million in grant funding to 30 community-based organizations dedicated to addressing gaps in mental health and substance misuse care. These grants focus on creating diverse, accessible, and intentional solutions to meet Denver’s growing demand for behavioral health care that reflects and affirms individuals’ unique needs and identities, while also supporting the well-being of care providers.
Founded and funded by the people of Denver through a sales tax initiative, Caring for Denver Foundation invests in programs that address the city’s mental health and substance misuse needs.
These grants were made in one of the Foundation’s core funding areas, Community-Centered Solutions, which emphasizes culturally relevant care, increased access to support, and strengthened community connections. In addition, this funding area supports caregivers, peers, and providers with resources and training to take care of themselves and meet community needs.
“There is a higher demand for services that are relevant and accessible to our communities’ cultures and experiences. These funded programs will increase connections and belonging and provide more care in trusted spaces, creating safe spaces for our Denver communities to heal in,” said Lorez Meinhold, Caring for Denver’s executive director.
The funding will broaden access to care for people of color, those experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity, LGBTQ+ individuals, mothers and birthing people, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, among others. It also includes support for multilingual mental health services, harm reduction initiatives, and peer support programs.
Community-Centered Solutions
Caring for Denver Foundation approved 30 grants totaling more than $14 million to community-based nonprofit organizations within the City and County of Denver in the Community-Centered Solutions priority area.
- Adam’s Purpose – Providing culturally tailored mental health support for bereaved Black moms and offering vital pathways to healing and support for grief-stricken families.
- Advocates for Recovery Colorado – Expanding inclusive access to its peer coaching and recovery support services for Denver residents. The project will also strengthen the peer recovery workforce through capacity building and developmental coaching.
- Authentic Recovery INC – Providing sober-living homes supporting mental health and substance misuse transitions for Denver men, offering peer coaching, clinical staff and individualized care building on residents’ strengths to overcome trauma and embrace sobriety.
- Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado – Expanding the organization’s capacity to deliver services by hiring new clinical staff at Valor on the Fax, a permanent supportive housing program for unhoused brain injury survivors and their families in Denver.
- Colorado Coalition for the Homeless – Supporting the Native American Services program providing recovery and housing support, honoring native traditions and spirituality to help participants find recovery and a new life off the streets.
- Colorado Mental Wellness Network – Continuing training for peer support professionals and their supervisors with an emphasis on expanding training opportunities in Denver, so that they are equipped with the skills necessary to provide effective peer support and improve mental health and recovery outcomes in Denver.
- Colorado Village Collaborative – Sustaining the organization’s supportive services program, which provides peer support, navigation of recovery and mental health support options, and clinical mental health services across the Tiny Home Village and Safe Outdoor Spaces sites.
- Commún – Supporting accessible and inclusive multilingual mental health groups for community members in Southwest Denver, as well as individual clinical therapy services, centered on community connection and sense of belonging as essential to mental health and wellbeing.
- Conectoras de Montbello – Using traditional methods such as psychotherapies combined with holistic therapies and biofeedback to work with more Denver residents, moving toward comprehensive recovery and reducing the impact of social isolation on substance abuse and mental health.
- Culinary Hospitality Outreach and Wellness – Addressing the significant gaps in mental health and substance use services in the underserved food/beverage/hospitality industry through the Enhancing Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Services in Underserved Communities project.
- Denver Civic Ventures – Continued funding for two outreach caseworkers to engage with unhoused people and other marginalized groups in Downtown Denver to get them to treatment and services.
- Denver Health Foundation – Supporting the Transforming Health by Reducing Inequities for the Vulnerable (THRIVE) program to expand behavioral health care coordination services to improve treatment accessibility—particularly for high-risk youth, patients experiencing homelessness, and justice-involved individuals.
- Fit 4 Recovery – Strengthening the Community of Healing program for adults in the Hispanic/Latinx community and providing an array of culturally centered peer support programs that help to reduce gaps in mental health and substance misuse.
- Harm Reduction Action Center – Increasing resources to deliver the physical, behavioral, emotional, and social services required to promote care, well-being, and health outcomes to people who use drugs. Low-barrier services include direct connections to experts, sterile equipment, and systems navigation.
- Housed Working and Healthy – Offering mental health workshops, case management, peer support, and individual therapy to help stabilize participants’ mental health and recovery needs so they can gain employment and become housing-secure.
- Ktone Cares Foundation – Supporting a community-centered mental health initiative using culturally relevant music-based therapy to support Black/African American men and youth in Denver to reduce stigma, foster emotional well-being, enhance access to care, promote healing, and improve mental health outcomes.
- Latina Safehouse – Supporting La Fuerza de la Mujer, offering culturally and linguistically responsive trauma-informed support to Latine survivors of domestic violence and sexual assaults which includes holistic case management, support by promotoras with lived experience, and facilitated trauma informed supported groups.
- Lifespan Local – Activating and enhancing a local system of mental health care requested by Southwest Denver’s most vulnerable community members including culturally diverse moms and babies, youth, and elders—those furthest from equitable access—to culturally affirming mental health services and well-being supports.
- Mile High Ministries – Adding on-site bilingual mental health services and peer recovery support to an existing program to make it more inclusive, equitable and relevant to the diverse needs of those the organization serves.
- Montbello Organizing Committee – Maintaining Montbello Solutions, a community-based approach to addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of Montbello residents of all ages. It is a collaborative impact initiative comprised of nine community-based partners who provide clinical and nontraditional services.
- Parker Personal Care Homes- UpRoutes – Offering empowering and healing therapeutic adventures to fill therapeutic service gaps for individuals with comorbid intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental health concerns. UpRoutes provides an alternative to traditional talk therapy that focuses on building resiliency.
- Rose Andom Center – Expanding integrated behavioral health, substance abuse, and mental health care for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Partnering with local agencies, this organization provides holistic, comprehensive support to empower survivors toward safety and independence.
- Sober AF Entertainment – Training Denver-based peers, hosting Sober Support and community-led events, and providing harm reduction resources including naloxone. Peers will offer linkages to care, while event interactions and community feedback will guide continuous program improvements.
- The Blue Bench – Providing equitable mental health and case management services to survivors of sexual assault to assist them on their path to recovery and healing.
- The Center for African American Health – Fostering culturally responsive mental health and substance misuse counseling services provided by licensed mental health professionals of color to positively impact the Black community within Denver.
- The Center on Colfax – Maintaining the successful support groups for transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Now well-established, this program trains and compensates peer facilitators to lead a wide variety of support groups designed to improve and support mental health.
- Una Mano Una Esperanza – Providing low-income, Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants in Southwest Denver with therapy sessions from licensed psychologists.
- ViVe Wellness – Reducing stigma and increasing equity in mental health by addressing Latino mental health and supporting emotional, physical and social wellness. Programs incorporate trauma-informed practices and promote community-driven cultural beliefs, traditions, and language-appropriate services.
- Voluntad – Offering clinical and non-clinical behavioral health services to survivors of human trafficking in Denver.
- WINGS Foundation Inc. – Improving the mental health of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their loved ones through donation-based services, including confidential intake consultations, individual therapy and resource referrals, and weekly therapist-facilitated, peer-centered support groups.
About Caring for Denver Foundation
Caring for Denver Foundation was founded and funded by the people of Denver with overwhelming voter support to address Denver’s mental health and substance misuse needs by growing community-informed solutions, dismantling stigma, and turning the community’s desire to help into action. Guided by community input, the organization has funded more than $186 million in the areas of alternatives to jail, community-centered solutions, youth, and special initiatives since it began.