February Peak News
Celebrating Black History Month!
February is Black History Month, and Urban Peak staff across our programs have come up with creative and engaging ways to celebrate Black beauty and brilliance.
Downtown, assistant shelter supervisor Michaela and social emotional coordinator Manon decorated The Spot with a variety of posters celebrating Black culture and individuals who’ve changed the game. These ranged from artists and musical icons like Lizzo to athletes, scientists and civil rights activists such as Annie Lee Cooper, giving everyone who visits us a chance to learn more about Black history.
Over at our housing sites, peer navigator Celeste and lead life skills manager Tamisha are leading the charge for Black History Month with plans for delicious meals of soul food at each housing site’s community dinner. Additionally, they will be taking youth from all our housing programs on a field trip to tour the Stiles African American Heritage Center in Five Points, followed by a delicious lunch. 😊
We're so glad to have caring staff who celebrate our youths' rich and diverse cultural backgrounds and create safe spaces where they can just be themselves. Black History Month may be coming to an end soon, but our work to create a more equitable and just world where everyone can thrive is ongoing.
Peak Spotlight
Urban Peak hosted both a Valentine’s and an Anti-Valentine’s party this month at The Spot to celebrate with our partnered romantics and fiercely independent singles alike.
Our Valentine’s-loving youth and staff celebrated the season by enjoying some music and dancing along with plenty of tasty treats like cupcakes, cookies and candy bowls, replete with icing in all the colors of the rainbow. Meanwhile, the Anti-Valentine’s crowd played video games and took pleasure in decorating their sweets with black icing, naturally. 😈
Moral of the story: regardless of one’s feelings on Valentine’s Day, sweet treats are a surefire way to connect with our youth!
Partner Highlight
The youth we serve are dealing with significant stressors as they navigate what it means to create a self-determined, fulfilled life while also working to exit homelessness.
Urban Peak serves as a refuge and safe haven for the most vulnerable young people in our community to escape their struggles for a bit, especially during the harsh winter months. This would not be possible without the incredible support of so many donors, partners and friends of Urban Peak.
Subaru has been an awesome partner to Urban Peak and we so appreciate their help over the years. Most recently, they collected and donated significant quantities of high-quality, warm blankets and socks to help us keep our youth comfortable and protected amidst the freezing cold and snow. Subaru also provides grant opportunities to organizations that align with the mission of their pillar of support, Subaru Loves to Help, to provide aid to communities in need.
We could not be more grateful to partners like Subaru who understand that youth need to have their basic needs met before they can even begin to think about how to thrive and ultimately exit homelessness. Thank you, Subaru!
Interested in becoming a partner of Urban Peak? Contact us and let us know how you can help!
Youth Spotlight
Colby always has a positive attitude and makes every room he walks into better.
He’s a major music lover and can often be found at our music studio, where he seamlessly blends genres such as rap and rock to make his own unique sound.
For the last few months, Colby has been working hard with our Support Services team to apply and register for college and in January, he started his first semester at Red Rocks Community College as a theatre major! After graduating, he hopes to attend a historically Black college or university (HBCU).
Colby has shown great passion, determination and tenacity in his pursuit of education, and we can’t wait to see his progress as he continues to grow. Great work, Colby!
