August Peak News
Youth Spotlight
Leo, who has been staying at Urban Peak’s Shelter, recently turned 18. When he’s not working at Mod Pizza, he often can be found spending his summer days in the Education & Employment Classroom to learn money management and budgeting skills.
Leo is kind, considerate and always willing to lend a hand around the Shelter when needed. He is quick to share his thoughts and has many great stories to tell.
Leo is currently saving up for more permanent housing as he continues meeting with his case manager. Keep it up, Leo!
Peak Spotlight
At Urban Peak, we believe in empowering our youth to speak their truth and providing space for them to give feedback about how we can do better. That’s why we host Youth Council, a youth-run group at our Shelter that provides a platform for our youth to share their opinions. Each week, a different youth facilitates the group discussion while a designated staff member takes notes. In Council, youth are in charge of the whole process: they decide the agenda, review expectations, come up with ideas for fun activities (such as youth prom and community clean-up day) and much more!
A traditional Youth Council meeting starts with a round of introductions and ice breakers for any new attendees before jumping into a review of group norms and expectations, or rules for how to behave during council. Youth often give shout-outs to staff for the awesome work they do and then move on to the most substantive element of the meetings, the “yays and nays.”
The main goal of Youth Council is to give youth the chance to voice their honest thoughts and feelings about their experiences with Urban Peak, both the good and the bad, so that we can continue refining our programs to best meet their needs. To that end, the “yays” segment is a time to discuss what’s going well at the Shelter, the types of groups and activities youth enjoy the most and which of our services have been most beneficial.
The “nays” are arguably even more important, as they give our staff the chance to hear firsthand from youth who are engaging directly with our programs about what isn’t working for them. We want to know what aspects of our services need improving and how the necessary changes should be implemented. Their feedback is then reviewed at Shelter staff meetings in order to determine what changes we can make based on their input. We deeply appreciate our youth’s willingness to step up, be vulnerable and speak out about their needs for our community.
Partner Highlight
Many of our youth have struggled or continue to struggle with substance use, and often we hear how alone they feel in their battles with addiction. That’s why we partner with The Phoenix, a national non-profit with a mission to build a sober active community that fuels resilience and harnesses the transformational power of connection to rise, recover and live.
The interior of The Phoenix's Denver gym.
The Phoenix has a fitness gym located just a few blocks from Urban Peak’s Drop-In Center, making it a natural fit for youth who are looking to work on their physical and mental health in a setting that emphasizes fitness as a tool for sobriety. They offer a space that fosters a sense of connection and community between members, many of whom are former or recovering addicts. There are no fees or costs associated with membership; the only requirement is to be sober for at least 48 hours before attending a class.
Eric (DIC/Outreach Case Manager) and Michaela (Milieu Assistant Shelter Supervisor) have been coordinating with Leilani Whitt of The Phoenix to provide youth with an hour of private instruction every Thursday morning.
Leilani has an amazing ability to tailor her High-Intensity-Interval Training (HIIT) workouts to ensure inclusivity for all skill levels, abilities and limitations. Her dedication to meeting youth where they’re at and her willingness to improvise on the fly have resulted in a safe space for youth from all walks of life, many of whom have been excluded systematically from fitness spaces due to different ability, to begin their personal fitness journeys. Many of her youth trainees also choose to attend open gym hours or other classes ranging from rock climbing and CrossFit to boxing and yoga after their private instruction.
Interested in becoming an Urban Peak partner? Email donate@urbanpeak.org.
Mindful Self-Compassion
As a teacher and coach focused on emotional resilience practices, Skip Hudson supports the wellbeing of Urban Peak youth by teaching mindfulness and self-compassion. Trained at the University of California San Diego Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, he offers online courses to private groups, business leaders and individuals. Participants rediscover a lost part of themselves – that they are worthy of love and can offer that love to themselves in effective and meaningful ways. His mission: guiding people and organizations to being at ease.
Skip started volunteering with Urban Peak in 2018 after moving to Denver and researching non-profits in the area. Initially, he ran Mindful Monday sessions with youth at the Drop-In Center, but quickly realized that our youth were already “amazingly adept at real-life mindfulness.” He understood that they were teaching him more than he was teaching them. Skip then began teaching a class on self-compassion at our Rowan Gardens housing and met our support services coordinator, Meghan. Since their meeting, Skip has become something of a mentor to Meghan as she strives to become a mindfulness teacher in her own right. He also has helped guide staff through several self-compassion meditations during monthly staff mindfulness meetings. His focus on emotional resilience and compassion for oneself resonates strongly with our youth and staff, and we’re so grateful for his continued support.
Urban Beets
Our second annual Urban Beets was a smashing success! This evening of small, outdoor house parties, designed to be safe from COVID-19 while gathering together many of Urban Peak’s most dedicated supporters, raised over $100,000 that will go directly to our programs that help youth create self-determined, fulfilled lives. More than 325 guests came together at 13 different locations to share in delicious food and drink, learn more about Urban Peak and celebrate the good, dedicated work of our staff and youth over a challenging but remarkable year.
We are incredibly grateful to our hosts for opening their homes and their hearts and we are thankful for the abundant generosity of their guests. If you are interested in learning more about Urban Beets, or if you’d like to be considered as a host next year, please contact our Director of Development at alicia.economos@urbanpeak.org.
