April Peak News
Youth Spotlight
Michael needed a fresh start. After serving time in prison in California, he found himself regressing back into old patterns, hanging out with the same people and doing the same stuff that had gotten him into trouble in the first place. So, he made the difficult decision to leave his old life behind and start fresh in Colorado.
He landed at Urban Peak soon after arriving in Denver and — with help from staff — he has already found housing and employment as a cook! He also obtained his certificate to conduct IT support management, and at some point in the future he’d like to go back to college. His ultimate goal? To get a master’s degree and become a software engineer for Google. 😎
These days, Michael no longer feels like he needs to constantly be looking over his shoulder. He’s been working on controlling his anger in stressful situations, using his passion for boxing and mixed martial arts as an outlet. He enjoys reading and learning new things, and he’s excited to share his story to let people know that while everybody makes mistakes, they don’t have to define your life. Well said, Michael!
Peak Spotlight
Cerby, Certified Therapy Dog and Good Boy
Beyond therapy, what are other ways we support youths' mental health? One popular activity involves cuddling with a furry friend. Urban Peak has partnered up with Denver Pet Partners (DPP) and its volunteers (both human and canine), to bring the short-term joy and long-term benefits of emotional support animals to youth in our spaces.
Cerby gets some much-needed belly rubs from Destin and Caitlin
Caitlin and their adorable rottweiler Cerby have been coming to The Spot every other week for a few months now, and they are popular visitors! Cerby loves to walk right up to our youth and immediately flop over on top of them, demanding pets. He is a big boy with a gentle soul. 🐶❤️
Caitlin personally trained Cerby to be a therapy dog and then generously decided to volunteer their time with us after reading about Urban Peak through DPP. Caitlin shared that they chose to train Cerby as a therapy dog because they wanted to push back against the common misconception of rottweilers as dangerous dogs. Rottweilers are often misunderstood by people, much like the population of youth experiencing homelessness that we serve. When you really take the time to get to know them, though, whether dogs or humans, it’s readily apparent that they’re no different from anyone. Just in need of love and support, like all of us.
Partner Highlight
Urban Peak partners with Servicios de la Raza (“Services for the People”), a local nonprofit that works to build and cultivate a thriving Colorado Latino community in which all members have the opportunities and the support systems to achieve equity and self-sufficiency. There is plenty of overlap between their work and ours and their partnership has been helpful, especially with the recent surge in Spanish-speaking migrants.
Each week, several bilingual behavioral health peer specialists come to The Spot to connect with our youth. They’re great at finding something in common with all our youth no matter their background.
It’s hard to overstate the value of having someone who looks and talks like you to connect with and share experiences. Even more so when they’re also well-versed in navigating the systems that provide support to this community! We’re grateful for our partnership with Servicios de la Raza and deeply appreciate their ability to connect on a personal level with our youth.
Mothership Highlight
Expanding our Services for Minors Aged 12 to 17
The opening of The Mothership in July will significantly expand our capacity to provide stabilizing shelter to both minors and young adults, increasing from 40 beds to 136 beds for youth experiencing homelessness. Of those 136 beds, 20 will be for youth in the minors’ shelter on the first floor, up from just 8 beds that we have now. What’s more, for the first time we’ll be able to expand our age range to include minors as young as 12 to teenagers aged 17. By expanding our capacity and resources that are targeted for minors, Urban Peak will offer more developmentally appropriate services to this highly vulnerable population as well as their families.
A digital rendering of the minors' shelter at The Mothership.
Supporting Siblings and Families
One of the most exciting outcomes of expanding our services is being able to support not only minors but their siblings and families too. Urban Peak’s director of shelter services, Ben Kinghorn, explained that there’s a family sheltering crisis in Denver and that unhoused families seeking help are often separated and diverted to different shelters throughout the city. But with our expanded age range, more siblings can stay together in our shelter and support each other. This will also make it easier for our staff to support whole families and work toward reunification.
Unfortunately, unhoused minors’ families are often also unhoused themselves, or else dealing with significant struggles like substance abuse, mental health issues, job insecurity and more. They need support just as much as the youth does because “you can’t help a 15-year-old in a vacuum,” Ben shared. “He’s not just gonna go home [after working with Urban Peak] and suddenly, everything's fixed." The home environments youth are returning to need to be safe and stable for them to continue to thrive and ultimately create self-determined lives. By supporting a minor’s whole family with mediation, resources and referrals, Urban Peak can help ensure that our youth are returning to supportive bubbles that will keep them on the right path.
The Mothership’s opening is now just a few months away, and we need your help to ensure that youth like Michael and Genaiber can get the support they need during this transition. For $30/month, by the time The Mothership opens you will have provided one youth with a GED study book and practice tests. Will you commit to becoming a recurring donor and help support unhoused youth in our community?
