A 'Word of Thanks' from Next: In the face of gentrification, this group meets needs and elevates voices

Our conversations about gentrification often focus on the Denver Metro area, but it's happening in neighborhoods across Colorado. In Fort Collins, a nonprofit is helping to organize Latino families, so that they have a greater voice in what their community looks like and what it will be in the future.

This week's Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign supports the work of The Family Center, also known as La Familia.

The North College Avenue corridor is dotted with mobile home parks that have been targets for development. That often means displacement for the families who live there, in some of the most affordable housing in Fort Collins.

La Familia's Mi Voz (My Voice) program provides a way for families to lead the conversation surrounding what will happen to their neighborhood -- where they'll be able to live, buy and grow food – and it even provides support for communities organizing to buy the mobile home parks where they live.

This is all on top of the work this group does to help underserved families. Providing childcare, interpretation services and the essentials families should live without, like hygiene products or a car seat for a kid.

Bottom line: If underserved families in Fort Collins need it, the Family Center is there for them.

Kyle never asks you to give to anything he doesn’t give to himself. That’s why he’s matching the first fifty donations of $5, just like every other week that we’ve highlighted a nonprofit through Word of Thanks.

Since we started this group project in 2020, you have helped raise more than $11.4 million for nonprofits doing great work in Colorado. As gentrification threatens neighbors in Fort Collins, the Family Center is meeting their needs and elevating their voices in the conversation. Let’s see what we can do together for them this week.

As always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

9/20/23: Alternatives to Violence | When Coloradans in Loveland and Larimer County are making a life and death decision to escape domestic violence, sexual assault or human trafficking,  there's a nonprofit waiting with decades of expertise on how to keep them safe -- and eventually begin life anew.

This week's Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign supports Alternatives to Violence.

Sadly, there's no shortage of demand for their services. Last year, their SafeHouse was 100% occupied, and their hotline took 1,400 crisis calls.

This organization responded with emergency shelter, safety planning and the long-term work that survivors of violence need to rebuild their lives. That could mean a place to stay for one night or long-term. It might be transportation for survivors and children to get to school or work, if they had to leave their car behind with an abuser. Maybe a victim needs help paying grocery and utility bills.

And when survivors are ready to move out to their own place, those families get to shop at the nonprofit's boutique, without cost, so they have clothes and furniture and the essentials of life.

Every week since 2020, we’ve asked you to consider giving even just $5 to a nonprofit doing great work in Colorado. This Next community has raised more than $11.4 million.

We know every 5 bucks helps. In this case, your donations could add up in a big way:

• $25 provides groceries or gas gift card for a victim
•  $50 provides a victim of violence with the essential items they may have left behind
• $75 provides one night of shelter to a victim and children
• $100 provides transportation for victims and children to school, court appearances, and medical appointments
• $200 provides electricity, water, and heat for 8 families in the shelter
• $1000 helps a family of 4 transitioning out of our Emergency Residential Shelter move and furnish their own apartment

Kyle never asks you to give to anything he doesn’t give to himself. That’s why he’s matching the first fifty donations of $5.

This is lifesaving work being done by Alternatives to Violence, and we can be a part of it.

As always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

9/13/23: Early Childhood Service Corps | Colorado has a shortage of early childhood educators, and workforce shortages in general. Meanwhile, there's an ever-growing group of older Coloradans looking for purpose and engagement. What if we told you there was a solution to address both of these problems at once? 

This week's Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign supports Early Childhood Service Corps, which is a nonprofit seeking to do just that.

ECSC provides free training for older Coloradans who are interested in the early childhood field. Then, they connect them with early childhood education centers across the state that are desperate to find willing workers - and embrace the idea of having older adults bring their perspectives to the classroom.

The nonprofit trains adults 50 and older on how to become classroom volunteers. They offer deeper college coursework for people willing to become teachers and subs, and others are trained to be volunteer business advisors, using a lifetime of skills in fields like accounting, to help run the books for small early childhood centers around Colorado.

The organizers tell us many of their volunteers are men who say they feel like they missed out on their own children's childhoods while working and want to give back and help kids.

Kyle has highlighted a non-profit doing great work in Colorado every Wednesday for the last three years as part of our Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign. Like every week, we ask you to consider even a $5 donation, and because Kyle won’t ask you to any cause he doesn’t support, he’ll match the first fifty donation of 5 bucks.

This Next community has donated more than $11 million to support Colorado non-profits.

The Early Childhood Service Corps offers connection and purpose to older Coloradans, along with crucial help for the early childhood educators teaching our kids.    

As always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

9/6/23: El Centro Humanitario | Several of you reached out after our recent reporting on migrants getting cheated out of wages in Colorado, and Kyle promised to find a trustworthy group in a position to help.

That's why we're supporting El Centro Humanitario, known for decades simply as El Centro.

This non-profit connects day laborers who are looking for work with ethical employers who promise to pay fairly and on time, and to keep the employees safe on the job. Recently, El Centro has been working with the newcomers in Denver -- migrants here from the Southern border. We've met migrants here on Next who say they just want to work to support themselves and their families but often run into unethical bosses who don't pay them what they're promised.

El Centro says it’s Denver's first day laborer organization, running since 2002. It started because of an employee working in the 90s who fell off a roof during his work and was left there. The organization’s efforts now extend into Aurora, Thornton, Westminster and Commerce City.

Beyond El Centro's long-running employment program but has branched out into other assistance the newcomers need, too. That includes coordinating meetings with school districts where their kids are going to class, so they can understand the system, and helping them integrate into our community. El Centro has watched out for the wellbeing of the Denver area's day laborers for decades, and they're there now to help the newcomers who just want to work and be paid fairly. Let’s see how we can support their work.

You raised over $25,000 to help migrants connect with ethical employers.

8/30/23: Longmont Humane Society | Pet owners are surrendering animals. Donations are slowing.

Animal shelters and humane societies across Colorado are struggling, and they're faced with a choice to cut services, which can sometimes mean euthanizing more animals -- or finding new revenue.

That's why this week's Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign supports the Longmont Humane Society.

Longmont Humane doesn't euthanize when they run out of space for new animals, and they don't euthanize for behavior issues. That means the shelter focuses on intensive behavior training with their animals, so that those pets can lead happy lives with their forever families.

Longmont Humane says it's that approach that helps set them apart. But it's also expensive. They pride themselves on the fact that 98% of the animals that come in are placed in new homes in Longmont, Frederick, Firestone, Lyons, Dacono, Mead and other locations in Boulder County.

We’ve highlighted a non-profit doing great work in Colorado every Wednesday for the last three years as part of our Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign. Like every week, we ask you to consider even a $5 donation, and because Kyle won’t ask you to any cause he doesn’t support, he’ll match the first fifty donation of 5 bucks.

This Next community has donated more than $11 million to support Colorado non-profits.

We'd love to save every single pet in Colorado. What's within our power tonight is to help Longmont Humane keep saving as many as possible:

• $15 Feeds a pet for one month

• $50 Covers the cost of a spay or neuter surgery

• $100 Will save the life of a severely injured animal

• $250 Buys medication for homeless pets in our hospital

• $1000 Helps ensure our ability to provide shelter to animals in need

As always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

8/16/23: Ma Kaing Scholarship Fund | It's been more than a year since Ma Kaing, a pillar in the refugee community on the Denver-Aurora line, was killed by a stray bullet in her neighborhood. She'd spent years trying to help her neighbors find success and safety here.

Last year, Next viewers helped establish a scholarship in her name for people in the refugee and immigrant community. This week's Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign will make dreams come true for a new group of scholarship recipients working hard to build a life here.

Last year, with your help, the Ma Kaing Scholarship Fund was able to award 22 scholarships to refugees and immigrants pursuing higher education in Colorado.

    A future English teacher.

    A pre-med student hoping to be a neurosurgeon.

    A woman working toward a computer science degree with a plan to improve interpretation services for people who speak rare languages.

We’ve highlighted a non-profit doing great work in Colorado every Wednesday for the last three years as part of our Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign. Like every week, we ask you to consider even a $5 donation, and because Kyle won’t ask you to any cause he doesn’t support, he’ll match the first fifty donation of 5 bucks.

This Next community has donated more than $11 million to support Colorado non-profits.

Kyle had the honor to meet some of these scholarship recipients. They have beaten long odds to get to where they are. More important, though, is where they're headed. They have the kind of determination and drive that we wouldn't bet against in a million years.

They are living Ma Kaing's vision, where people who escape violence in their home country can come to Colorado and succeed.

Right now, the nonprofit Spring Institute and community partners behind this scholarship are accepting applications from new Coloradans determined to succeed. They'll be able to award more scholarships to more people with our help.

As always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

8/16/23: School is Cool | For decades, volunteers in Northern Colorado have made sure every kid goes back to school with the supplies they need. This is a huge effort with thousands of backpacks full of supplies. This year, they're short of the money needed to get it done, but we can help.

The nonprofit School is Cool is in charge of the backpack and school supply drive put together by volunteers from Colorado State University.

They're putting together 2,700 backpacks filled with school supplies for underserved students in the Poudre School District. CSU employees and students volunteer their time to put them together, and the supplies are bought in bulk through the campus bookstore to save money. $30 gets a kid a backpack and the specific supplies called for by each grade level in Poudre Schools.

This nonprofit effort has expanded its reach to cover preschoolers in the state's new universal preschool program, and they leave backpacks with homeless shelters, knowing there will be kids coming into the district throughout the year.

School is Cool is so close to their fundraising goal this year: To serve more kids in Northern Colorado than ever. An organizer told Kyle they were just saying last week they needed an angel to get there. We know there are a whole bunch of them watching Next.

You raised $31,000 to get kids the supplies they need.

8/11/23: Funding the Unfunded | No school district in Colorado has seen the public struggles of Adams 14 in Commerce City. It's the first to go through a state-ordered reorganization to improve performance. School started there this week - with a lot of teachers and students - trying to be part of that turnaround.

Adams 14 Education Foundation's Funding the Unfunded program helps Adams 14 teachers and staff pay for creative projects that aren't in the district's budget.

It's how fourth graders at Kemp Elementary learned about kinetic energy through roller coaster kits. How Rose Hill students revived their step team. How Adams City Middle Schoolers were able to finish paying for their trip to New York City and Washington.

Right now, Adams 14 teachers and staff are putting together their grant applications outlining what they could do with a bit of extra funding for their class. The Adams 14 Education Foundation looks for projects that are original and creative, can continue after one-time funding and have a strong connection to improving student achievement.

Students in Commerce City have real challenges -- inside and outside school -- but their teachers are working hard to make this year special and productive, and this week, we can help.

You raised over $11,000 to help kids learn.

8/2/23: DAWN Clinic | The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora is home to all kinds of world-class health care, and inside one small office tucked into a corner of the campus, that medical care is free to people who need it.

DAWN Clinic (Dedicated to Aurora's Wellness and Needs) is run by student and community volunteers with help from the medical specialists from the Anschutz campus who volunteer their expertise. DAWN offers more than primary care; it has wraparound clinics for patients who need specialized care in the areas of cardiology, nephrology, ophthalmology, diabetes and women’s care. Neighbors who use the clinic can even get food from community garden or assistance with job searching and housing.

All of this is provided at no cost to the medically underserved neighbors in that community. Sometimes, it's as simple -- and as life-changing -- as the occupational therapy diagnosis, care and equipment that someone needs to get back to work. 

As the people working there describe it:

“The goals of DAWN Clinic are: Provide integrated health care access to the medically underserved adult population, and create an opportunity for hands-on experience with integrated, team-based primary care for healthcare students. Our takeaway for the students is the act of providing access, empathy, and support in the face of diseases is meaningful to our diverse patient population, who often feel ‘outside’ the health care system. 

DAWN has proven to be an asset to the North Aurora community, bringing together the disparate parts of the population and working toward health equality for all. A little place with a lot of heart, DAWN Clinic is an example of the power of neighborhood collaboration and innovation.”

You raised over $12,000 to get everyone access to affordable healthcare.

7/26/23: Edgewater Collective | In an effort to fight gentrification in Edgewater, Latinas in that neighborhood are starting their own businesses with the help of a non-profit, Edgewater Collective’s Incubadora Colectiva. These are women who are leveraging their skills and adding business knowledge with the organization’s help, all with the goal of creating a co-op.

We’re supporting Edgewater Collective to assist these women who have real skills – and who, with business knowledge, will be off to the races. These will be businesses that are owned and operated by the workers themselves. This can not only raise an individual family’s income, but can also raise the incomes of neighbors who work for these co-ops, and the hope is everyone can stay in the neighborhood they love.

The first three are about to launch in August:

• Rocky Mountain Language Coop is focused on offering interpretation and translation services to the community and partners.
• Cuenta Conmigo Coop offers a range of services to support breastfeeding parents and families with young children.
• Casitas Pin Pon is a group of childcare providers (Family, Friend and Neighbor – FFN providers) who offer childcare in their homes.

You raised over $8,000 to help empower women to make change in their community.

7/12/23: Berthoud Adaptive Park Project | Come this fall, the community of Berthoud, in mid-northern Colorado, is going to start building something they've talked about for years: a playground where every kid can play.

People in that town have done an amazing job raising money for an adaptive park that's accessible to all. What's just an empty lot now will be transformed into an inclusive playground built for children and parents with all abilities.

Picture a swing that lets kids in a wheelchair go for a ride. Lower monkey bars. A big "barn" structure with ramps. A sensory play roller table...and all of it is alongside slides and other climbers that able-bodied kids can use. Everyone is welcome, and all kids can play alongside each other. The project was inspired by the Bowling family, who have to travel 40 miles to the nearest park where their son can safely play.

It's taken years of fundraising to get to this point -- lemonade stands, basketball tournaments, live auctions. They finally have enough funding to build the centerpiece of the adaptive playground -- but how much accessible, inclusive equipment they can add to the plan will depend on how much additional funding they raise.

So, let's build a playground. The non-profit Can'd Aid is making the playground a reality. The Bowling family, and Berthoud, have made this park happen for families in Northern Colorado. We can make it ever bigger and better.

You raised over $20,000 to make sure every kid can play.

7/12/23: Delores Project | When people move from homelessness to housing, they deserve to feel at home.

The Delores Project, based in Denver, specifically works to help single women, and transgender and nonbinary people overcome barriers to housing, while also offering counseling service. In the short term, they run a shelter to get people out of harm's way. Then comes the challenge of getting them into housing.

They operate without judgement through the entire process. The Delores Project wants people to feel comfortable, stable and respected. To achieve that, they offer these individual move-in kits; otherwise, people show up to their new homes and don't have a bed to sleep in, or bath towels or basic kitchen supplies.

Today, as Coloradans head from the homeless shelter to a place of their own, let's help them get set up with a bed and the other essentials of home.

You raised over $29,000 to help folks feel at home.

7/5/23: Hayden Flood Relief Fund | A flood from back in April still haunts a small town in Northwest Colorado, because dozens of families haven't been able to repair the damage to their houses.

Mold has set in, and some homeowners without insurance are wondering if their homes will be condemned. That's why we're supporting the Hayden Flood Relief Fund.    

When Dry Creek flooded in April, it flowed into a part of Hayden where the homes are primarily owned by people who don't make a ton of money, like teachers, restaurant workers, small business owners, and seniors.

The area isn't a flood zone, so most people didn't have insurance that will cover the damage, like cleaning out mold, replacing drywall, insulation, and floors. The Town of Hayden would love to help, but its limited funds are paying for damage to town property. 

The Yampa Valley Community Foundation has set up a Hayden Flood Relief Fund. They're waiving fees so every dollar will go to the Coloradans impacted by the flood. The town of Hayden will screen applicants, starting with lower-income folks, and then directly pay vendors when the flood remediation work is done.    

You raised over $56,000 to fix up after the flood.

6/28/23: Imagine! | It's summer camp season, and there's a special camp for kids who are often left out of the traditional experience.

A group of parents founded the Imagine! nonprofit in 1963 to make sure their kids with developmental disabilities could participate in the community just like others. They still serve kids in Boulder and Broomfield counties today.

Imagine!’s summer camp program is for kids with Down syndrome, autism and other disabilities. Each camper with Imagine! gets a personalized plan based on their own challenges, strengths and goals. Pair that with specialized support for each camper, and you have a summer camp experience that lets these kids have the fun they deserve. It gives them a chance to be included, as campers' bodies, minds and social skills are challenged and allowed to grow.

The camp activities are also out in the community, so it's not just the campers that benefit from creating an inclusive space. Ninety kids are part of the Imagine! camp this summer. Our support can help the nonprofit fund the kids’ adventures, paying for things like special bikes, sensory toys and adaptive equipment for cooking, rock climbing and horseback riding.

You raised over $17,000 to help kids have a summer to remember.

6/21/23: IFCS | There's a grocery store in Englewood, right on the Denver line, where people come, pick out their food and leave without paying. That's the point.

Integrated Family Community Services (IFCS) has been serving the community for more than 50 years, and their store is their latest way to meet people's needs with respect and dignity.

In collaboration with 9NEWS’ 9Cares Colorado Shares food drive, we're specifically supporting the Market at IFCS, a place where people can shop for fresh food and meal ingredients, and not just fast or convenience items that often aren't that healthy. This non-profit wants low-income families to be able to make meals they'll remember -- meals that create family traditions and memories.

The store just opened up shopping from once a month to twice a month for families, and our donations can help continue their mission. A generous, anonymous donor will also match what we raise together, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000. We’ll stock the shelves with the healthy food our neighbors need to create family memories around the dinner table.

You raised over $64,000 dollars to put food on the table for low-income families.

6/14/23 | Inside Out Youth Services: The LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs was strong before last year’s shooting at Club Q. That’s when a lot of people, inside and outside Colorado, learned there was a thriving LGBTQ community in the historically conservative city.

Since the mass shooting at the nightclub, the city's other haven for the community has faced death threats and security challenges, but they've persevered. That's why, during Pride Month, our Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign supports Inside Out Youth Services.

For decades, this nonprofit has provided a safe space and support for LGBTQ youth in the Springs. It’s a place to find encouragement and friendship as they help young people build access, equity and power within the community.

Death threats after the Club Q shooting this organization to close their community center for a few months, but they are back open with physical security and cybersecurity -- something they never anticipated needing at a place where young people hang out and have fun.

Inside Out says the last year has brought more hate than they've ever seen, yet also more acceptance than ever. They also said that when allies step up, it means everything. So, here we are. The nonprofit says support from allies helps them feel like they are not alone, even after the hardest year in their community's history. Thank you for helping us send that message.

You raised over $18,000 for LGBTQ+ youth.

6/7/23 | It's going to be a busy summer for a non-profit that preserves historic places across Colorado, while also training volunteers for careers in the trades.

This week's Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign supports HistoriCorps as it protects Colorado history and prepares our neighbors for future careers. 

If you hike to the Devils Head Fire Lookout Tower in Pike San Isabel National Forest, for example, you can see the restoration work of HistoriCorps volunteers.

 They've worked to preserve old mining camps, and schoolhouses. Homesteads and park buildings.

If HistoriCorps reminds you of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), it's somewhat similar. And some of the buildings being preserved were first built in the 1930s and 40s by the CCC.

HistoriCorps builds a sense of community, proving that history on public lands belongs to all of us, and it builds specific, marketable skills in the trades for the volunteers who work on the various restoration projects.

This summer, they'll be working in Denver, up near Aspen, in the foothills forests, and in Northern Colorado.    

Like every week since Kyle started Next’s Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign, he will match the first fifty donations of $5 to this non-profit. You’ve donated more than $10.9 million to non-profits in Colorado since Word of Thanks began in 2020.

This wee, we have a chance to rebuild Colorado history in places that we can visit, with the knowledge that the people who worked on the project got a head start on their careers in the building trades.

As always, thank you!

If you're interested in giving, you can donate here.

5/31/23 | Jeffco Eats: Let's talk about some things we know about hunger in Colorado. We know it's everywhere, from cities to suburbs to rural areas. We know one in 12 children in Colorado struggles with hunger. We also know a nonprofit that helps with that.

Jeffco Eats estimates that more than 50,000 people in that county struggle with hunger. They focus on kids, and they're determined not to have them miss meals this summer. The people with this organization will actually tell you the summer months are the most challenging of the year. Kids are out of school, so they may be missing meals they'd get there, and the non-profit isn't able to send food home with them.

So, this summer, Jeffco Eats will be where the kids are, at places at libraries, churches and in their neighborhoods. They want to make it quick, easy and stigma-free for a kid to grab a bag of food and take it home for the entire family.

• $35 provides ten children with food for a weekend
$105 fills School Pantries with food choices for 20 families for a week.
• $55 gives 100 snacks for High school and middle schools - snacks for hunger during school day or after school.
• $125 feeds one student for school year.

You've raised over $18,000 to keep kids fed.

5/24/23 | Denver Park Trust: This Memorial Day, as we remember Americans who gave their lives in defense of our freedom, we want to highlight the actions of one particular Coloradan. Private Joe P. Martinez's heroism was awarded the first Medal of Honor given to a Latino in World War II.

Few Americans today know about the only land battle on North American soil during that war. Martinez died leading the charge against enemy positions in the Battle of Attu on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Back home in Denver, a park in West Denver was named for that hero. That park and a small memorial have fallen into disrepair.

Our Memorial Day edition of your Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign is kicking off the public effort to build a new memorial in honor of Martinez as the city revitalizes the park. The city has worked with Denverites in the Villa Park neighborhood and veterans groups to plan a new design for the park, which will be centered around the memorial dedicated to Martinez. There will also be tributes to Latino veterans and all who served, with a special focus on Medal of Honor recipients.

The non-profit Denver Park Trust has secured $70,000 to start the process of funding an artist to create the tribute to Private Joe Martinez. They came to us -- you -- for the first public request for help making this happen.

This the first time Word of Thanks will help create a piece of public art, but it’s more than that. It's a chance to honor a hero, to respect the history and heritage of West Denver and to a create a beautiful, meaningful place we all can visit.

You raised over $19,000 to honor a veteran and create art this Memorial Day.

5/17/23 | Newcomers Fund: The migrants arriving in Denver have uncertain lives ahead, but often what they need in the moment is pretty simple: a meal or two, a place for a family to stay for the night, the cost of a ride to get them across town to a spot where they've been offered shelter. That help is often being provided by small non-profits on a one-to-one, person-to-person basis. And many of you have asked how you can help.

Every week for nearly three years, this Next community has been part of our Word of Thanks micro-giving campaign to get money to non-profits doing great work in Colorado. This time, your donations will support the Newcomers Fund, which is funding those small non-profits on the front lines of this work.

You've seen in our reporting on what that means. Think of Yoli Casas, from Vive Wellness -- she talks with families sleeping in a parking garage and finds them a place to stay, gets them an Uber to get across town, buys a bus ticket for a migrant who doesn't want to stay in town and deplete Denver's already stretched resources.

The Newcomer Fund is run by the Rose Community Foundation. They identify and fund the small non-profits doing the best work. That means whichever group is doing the most impactful work month to month will get the dollars needed to get it done.

“I know that not everyone will want to give to help the migrants coming to Denver. For me, giving a few dollars isn't a statement about immigration policy. It's a statement about what we do when someone in desperate need is in our community -- and we're in a position to help,” Kyle said.

You raised over $50,000 to help people seeking a fresh start.

5/10/23 | Colorado Pet Pantry: is a statewide resource that was founded in 2013 to help pets and their people. Food banks love to add pet food from Colorado Pet Pantry because it's one-stop shopping for families. All the pet food is donated. Then, the nonprofit's hundreds of volunteers and a few staff make sure it gets distributed across the state.

The pantry says it donated close to 7 million meals last year, which fed 115,000 dogs and cats. The demand has gone up every year since the non-profit got its start. They're noticing increased need lately because of inflation, and with food stamp benefits being cut in February.

Their largest pet food banks are in rural Colorado, where shelters are full and the need is great. It's more expensive to transport the food there, but Colorado Pet Pantry is determined to reach every corner of the state. With our help, they can do that. Colorado Pet Pantry says they can feed a dog or a cat for a month on five bucks. That $5 could be the difference between a family being able to keep a pet at home or having to give them up.

You raised over $72,000 to keep pets with their families.

5/3/23 | Mile High Youth Corps: This summer, there'll be young Coloradans hard at work on conservation projects, converting homes to be more energy efficient and working in construction and healthcare. They're with the Mile High Youth Corps, a non-profit that helps young people complete their GED and get started on a career.

This week we supported this three-decade-old nonprofit that runs programs from the Metro Denver area clear down to the New Mexico line. The young people involved do community work and complete their GED in the process.

The Corps members work on all kinds of community projects like protecting Colorado's land and water, helping people add energy efficient features to their homes, learning the ropes of healthcare and construction. These young people are 18 to 24-year-olds who aren't connected with school or work. Their futures are uncertain. Mile High Youth Corps helps them overcome barriers in their lives to complete that phase of their education and get launched on a career path with real world experience preparing them for the future.

The community benefits. The students benefit. Employers benefit. Donations will help with a range of needs, whether it’s housing, new work boots or even a cap and gown for a student’s graduation.

You raised over $14,000 to help Colorado's young people start careers.

4/26/23 | Valley First: There's a turnoff south of Pueblo on I-25 that'll take you to the Greenhorn Valley and into the small town of Colorado City. And the only park in that town has sat partially completed for almost 20 years. Funding ran out, so it was never finished.

Colorado City is not a wealthy community, but the people there are determined to build out their park. They've been raising money any way they can, and Valley First is the nonprofit trying to finish the job.

Right now, there are rodent holes and rattlesnakes in the unfinished ball field. Valley First plans to install turf, goalposts and bleachers, and make it a place for the community to gather. The next phase of their plan calls for a new little league field, so the younger kids have a place to play. Currently, the limited field time is for the older kids. The last phase would be refurbishing the playground and building out the trails around the park.

Valley First wants to raise $800,000 to fix up this park. That’s not easy for a small town, but they have more than $600,000 in donations and grants already lined up. That means there’s $150,000 left to go. The people of Colorado City are ready to transform that partially-useable eyesore into a safe and welcoming gathering place for their community. We can help.

This time, the people of Colorado City might finally get a useable park, and it'll be fun to pull off the highway down there and go see the park you built.

You raised over $30,000 to get this town a real park.

4/19/23 | Cobbled Streets: “Foster children are invisible. Torn from their homes through no fault of their own, they face extreme emotional trauma. We respond with a sense of urgency to provide life changing experiences and enriching opportunities that help them heal, feel like they belong and dream about who they can become.”

Cobbled Streets is a nonprofit based in Arvada that supports foster families and wants to give these kids a true childhood. Their goal is to help support foster children’s mental health, help them develop new skills and allow them to form new relationships.

Foster families are also stretched thin. This group also gives these kids access to experiences they otherwise couldn’t have, like summer camps, Broncos games, art or horseback riding. Even tutoring. It’s the kind of stuff no child should go without, and this Cobbled Streets offers it for free. They helped more than 800 foster children last year. With our support, they can help more kids in 2023.

You raised over $17,000 to help foster mental health and relationships.

4/12/23 | Neighbor to Neighbor: One approach to the problem of homelessness is preventing it before it starts. That’s what Neighbor to Neighbor, in northern Colorado, is doing. This nonprofit works to keep people in their homes through emergency rent assistance, helping pay utility bills, fighting evictions and working with people to find affordable housing.

Neighbor to Neighbor knows that having a stable home is the foundation to having a stable life. They say their work prevented more than 4,500 evictions in 2022 alone. The Coloradans they work with can focus on their work and earn more money. Kids can focus on school and improve their grades. Families become more financially secure when they don't have the month-to-month worry that they'll lose their housing.

Neighbor to Neighbor has secured a matching grant from a national non-profit. If this Next community can raise $25,000 together, they'll get the $25,000 match.

You raised over $50,000 to help Coloradans stay off the streets.

4/5/23 | Minds Matter Colorado Colorado prides itself on being a well-educated state, but one place where we fall short is getting our brightest first-generation college students through that process.

The nonprofit Minds Matter Colorado is a group that connects some of the brightest young people from low-income families in Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs with mentors. These mentors guide them through a three-year process preparing them to finish high school and end up in a college situation that works best for them.

It means weekly college-prep sessions and that one-on-one mentorship that allows them to envision a future they might not have imagined for themselves. 

There are students with incredible potential all across Colorado who just that extra help, that boost, that vision to get them into a four-year education. Minds Matter Colorado can get it done.

You raised over $23,000 to keep futures bright.

3/29/23 | Kaizen Food Rescue: Food is community. It's what binds us together. A nonprofit in the metro area sees its work, providing food to people who need it, as a way to build community as well. Kaizen Food Rescue's multipurpose mission is to prevent food from going to waste, to get food into communities that need it, and to create events that bring neighbors together - around a meal, or a holiday.

They focus on communities of color, sometimes immigrant and refugee communities. Sometimes that means going out of their way, and out of their own funds, to bring in food items that mean a lot to communities but aren't always found at food banks. Their work is about listening carefully to communities that might not otherwise ask for help.

Like when a local priest approached them recently with the concern that inflation's impact on grocery prices had some of his elderly Vietnamese parishioners buying cat food instead, Kaizen Food Rescue came to the aid of that community, as it has so many, through its pop-up food distributions.

Kaizen Food Rescue got the equivalent of a quarter million meals to our neighbors in February, with the deep roots in our community to know where that food is needed most.

You raised over $13,000 to get food to people who need it.

3/22/23 | Street Fraternity: On March 22, two school administrators were shot by a student at East High School. Later, that same student took their own life. Down East Colfax from East High School, there's a nonprofit literally working day and night to intervene in young lives before teenagers get caught up in violence. They provide one-on-one attention and intervention designed to save lives.

We'd featured Street Fraternity two weeks ago, but in light of the East High shooting we continued that campaign, because that nonprofit is in a position to stem the tide of violence in our community.

Street Fraternity has a hangout spot along one of the most dangerous stretches of East Colfax, a place where young men can go every night for a meal, a workout, a place to do their schoolwork, and place to find encouragement and brotherhood that doesn't involve gangs or bad influences. The team there builds direct relationships with young people to steer them away from guns and drugs.

Street Fraternity's team doesn't always succeed. It's not magic. It's hard work trying to keep teenagers safe when the temptation of dangerous decisions is always right around the corner.

The head of Street Frat told us he'd been up late the night before the shoting at East after another shooting in the neighborhood, the kind of incident that doesn't always make the news like a school shooting. He didn't sound defeated. He sounded determined.

You raised over $40,000 to help stem the tide of violence before it begins.

3/15/23 | Clothes to Kids of Denver: There's a store of sorts in Denver where kids in need can come into to get a whole wardrobe of clothes for free. They walk out more confident about going to school and taking on their challenges in their lives.

Clothes to Kids of Denver is a nonprofit that feels more like a clothing boutique, where kids from low-income families or families in crisis can come to shop for clothes that will help them feel comfortable and confident. They leave with a whole wardrobe, so they're not as self-conscious around their peers at school.

It's easy to see how that confidence translates into better performance in school, not to mention happier kids. Clothes to Kids made a change during the pandemic. Most families coming to them have a referral from a social worker or school, but it's no longer required. They know that if a parent has the courage to ask for help, they need help.

3/8/23 | Street Fraternity: The violence impacting teenagers these days is not a surprise to the leaders at Street Fraternity. For years, they've seen younger and younger kids carrying guns and using them. That nonprofit's mission is to keep those young men alive and steer them away from violence.

Street Fraternity intentionally set up its headquarters in a spot on East Colfax that's seen violence for years. It offers safety, stability and support for young men in the neighborhoods surrounding East Colfax. A place where they can go every day for a meal, a place to study, work out and play games. The goal is to create friendships and bonds stronger than the pull of gangs or other choices that could lead them into harm's way.

The leaders of Street Fraternity have been at this work for a decade. They say they're seeing younger and younger kids carrying guns. It used to be 18-year-olds, 17-year-olds, sometimes 16. Now it's kids who are 14, 13, even 12 years old. They've lowered the age range for participation in their programs to intervene early before a life goes off track.

Street Fraternity is a deeply respected nonprofit in the area of violence prevention because they're literally on the street doing the day-in, day-out work to steer kids toward a safer future.

You raised over $14,000 to keep kids safe.

3/1/23 | Hands of the Carpenter: There are nonprofits in Colorado that run highly complex projects across a number of service areas, and there are others that do only one thing and they do it really well.

Hands of the Carpenter provides reliable transportation to working single mothers with children. Sometimes that means giving a family a car. Sometimes that means repairing a car. Sometimes that means helping people who are unfamiliar with vehicle maintenance learn how to take care of their vehicle. The nonprofit has been doing this work for 20 years, and they just opened a second location so they can serve families all over the metro area.

Hands knows that reliable transportation can make all the difference in finding and keeping a good job or getting job training or higher education. Reliable transportation can make all the difference in getting kids safely to and from childcare or school. They call it the "Good Neighbor Garage," a simple mission with a deep impact, to help working single mothers in the Denver Metro area succeed.

You raised over $20,000 to help moms get where they need to go.

2/22/23 | Housed, Working and Healthy: Homelessness can be a trap. It's hard to afford a place to stay without a job. It's hard to find a job when your energy is spent finding safe places to stay, and both those stresses would wear down anyone's mental health. We wanted to tell you about a nonprofit in the metro area working on all three challenges at once.

Housed, Working, and Healthy is focused on just that: Helping people experiencing homelessness get housed, working, and healthy.

The nonprofit runs a job training program primarily for people living in shelters. It picks them up in the morning and brings them to the kitchen facility where they learn the skills needed to land in-demand restaurant and cafeteria jobs. Mental health support is woven into breaks in the training program.

Along the way, students all receive support to find housing and connect with directly employers. So, at the end of the three-to-four-month program, they're ready for restart. The nonprofit is expanding its work and we can help. For all of us looking for a way to help people motivated to escape homelessness, Housed, Working, and Healthy has a step-by-step model that's changing lives.

You raised over $29,000 to help change lives.

2/15/23 | Our Front Porch: When a home fire happens, we're used to seeing the firefighters first, then the Red Cross comes offering a hotel voucher and clothes. But then what? What happens to those families who are displaced with nowhere to stay?

A small non-profit called Our Front Porch is there for the next steps in the journey of recovering from a house fire. They get referrals from the Red Cross for the next stage in the process. The nonprofit offers personalized case management, to help people fresh of a fire navigate insurance claims or try to get their rental deposit back.

They help homeowners prepare to rebuild with an architect's expertise on staff. Our Front Porch offers therapy sessions, because they found that the trauma of escaping a house fire and losing a home was something that was often ignored when material needs were so immediate. They even have a few rental units to give families a place to stay at low cost while they find a more permanent home. 

Home fire survivors get lots of help for a few days. Our Front Porch helps fill in the gaps for the coming weeks and months. A fire at home is something that can happen to literally any one of us. Our Front Porch is there for Coloradans when first responders and the Red Cross need to move onto the next call.

You raised over $12,000 for ongoing support.

2/8/23 | Denver Asset Building Coalition: During tax season, we know some families who need their refund the most won't get it. The federal government will keep that money because these families, often working a bunch of jobs to get by, can't afford help with their taxes. The Denver Asset Building Coalition is here to help with that.

Their small staff of four people and army of tax prep volunteers put $8.5 million dollars back in the pockets of Coloradans. It's their money, but the beauty of the Asset Building Coalition's work is that money ripples out into our community. Families spent it on car repairs so they can keep getting to work. They spent it on medical or dental care they've been putting off.

The nonprofit works with clients across the metro area to resolve more complicated tax situations and help them save what they can. We're talking about the lowest income Coloradans. People earning up to $35,000 dollars. Families making up to $58,000. They often bring in a stack of W-2 forms, they're grabbing work hours whenever and however they can to get by, and getting what they're due back from the government is life-changing.

The Asset Building Coalition's leaders are honest - it can be tough to raise money for their work. It's tax prep. It's not sexy. But, if you're looking to turn a donation of a few dollars into a ton of dollars helping those most in need in Colorado, they deliver a huge payoff. It's why people come in from around the state each tax season for their help.

You raised over $17,000 to help people get their refunds back.

2/1/23 | Karis Community: If there was a simple solution to homelessness, we wouldn't be talking about it all the time. We know the causes and contributing factors vary and different paths out of homelessness will work for different people. Karis Community is a group that provides transitional housing for Coloradans with serious and persistent mental illness, our neighbors who don't need hospitalization for their mental health but aren't ready to live on their own.

They stay at a house in Denver, where Karis' staff surrounds them with support, acceptance, guidance and structure. It's a place where Coloradans find an opportunity to step out of one phase of life and into another. 

The leaders at Karis Community told us about 40% of the people staying with them come directly from living on the streets, and 80% have experienced homelessness somewhere in their journey. Karis is designed to be one path out of the tough situations that are rooted in serious mental health challenges.

You raised over $15,000 to help people heal and move forward to living independently.

1/25/23 | Gateway Domestic Violence Services: An overwhelming number of women in abusive relationships say their abuser also hurt their pet. Few domestic violence shelters are set up to take in pets, too. It's one reason why Gateway's shelter often gets calls for help from outside the area it primarily serves in Aurora and Arapahoe County. 

Gateway Domestic Violence Services works to keep adults, children, and pets safe from abuse. Gateway is a place where families find safety from abuse, children get mental health support, and partners escaping violence receive long term counseling and someone to walk alongside them through the justice process. It's a place where family pets are safe, too. The nonprofit offers all these services in English and Spanish and for free.

We learned the latest numbers of domestic violence deaths in Colorado. There were 91 deaths in 2021, which is the most in any year since the state started a new form of reporting in 2017. Case by case, Coloradan by Coloradan, Gateway is saving lives. Gateway will be there today, tonight, tomorrow, and whenever a family needs to escape violence.

You raised over $38,000 to help survivors.

1/18/23 | A Little Help: A Next viewer reached out to say she's scared of being ticketed for not clearing her sidewalk. She’s a senior with disabilities who can't physically do it, and several volunteer snow-shoveling programs said they couldn't assist her. She, quite literally, needed A Little Help.

A Little Help is a non-profit that can assist seniors with snow shoveling in the wintertime, but does so much more, too. They work on the Front Range, in Northern Colorado and on the Western Slope to connect volunteers with seniors who could use a hand.

On days like today, that might mean shoveling snow. It could also mean transportation to appointments, help with grocery shopping, yardwork in the warmer months, and sometimes, just visits to keep someone company and fight loneliness. Here's where we come in.

If you can sign up to volunteer with them, that would be great. But anyone can pitch in from home right now. A Little Help does a background check on its thousands of volunteers. Together, we can help this nonprofit cover program expenses and the costs associated with finding new volunteers and conducting those checks.

We aren't all able to shovel a senior's sidewalk today, or help them safely get to the doctor tomorrow, but we can help expand the effort doing that all over Colorado.

You raised over $18,000 to get people a little help.

1/11/23 | CommunityWorks: As we think about fresh starts for the new year, we also think about fresh starts for our neighbors who are ready for a second chance in life. That often starts with landing a job. A chance to be self-sufficient. For some, that's where the dream of a fresh start ends, and it can be because of some barrier to employment in their past. That's why we're supporting CommunityWorks, a longtime non-profit working across Colorado. They get people who really want to work back into the workforce.

CommunityWorks provides job training, apprenticeships, and job placement help for Coloradans with barriers to employment. Sometimes, that's as simple as helping someone who is coming out of the justice system get safe and warm work clothes so they can get back to life and earning a living. Sometimes that means longer-term mentoring with a personal career coach to help someone find a job that will provide stability in their life.

CommunityWorks has connections with employers who are willing to give people a second chance in life, so when they walk in for that interview there's less nervousness about uncomfortable questions. There’s an understanding that the person there to interview is trying to bounce back and have a fresh start.

A CommunityWorks participant named Casper said he came to them at his lowest. He said they kept him on the right path, and now he enjoys "being the person that others can rely on." That's what it's all about. That's life-changing stuff.

You raised over $13,000 to change lives.

1/4/23 | You be You Early Learning: This campaign was a longtime request of Next viewers who saw this nonprofit featured in a story and said, “we want to do more than just watch, we want to help.”

 You Be You Early Learning is a preschool with a unique model. They're a nonprofit teacher co-op and mobile preschool. Converted vehicles that drive to where the kids are, where families who are low-income might have trouble getting kids to and from a traditional preschool. You Be You Early Learning comes to them to include more kids and more families in the benefits of pre-school.

The nonprofit wants to buy another vehicle to convert into a mobile preschool to serve a new neighborhood of students. They work with the Aurora Housing Authority to find the best spots, and the housing authority told us they'd love to have another You Be You Early Learning mobile preschool and said plenty of neighborhoods could use it. The nonprofit is trying to raise $40,000 to purchase and convert another vehicle. 

You raised over $29,000 for accessible preschool. 

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