January Peak News
Be The Spark for our Future
If you’ve been to The Spot downtown in the last few months, you might have noticed the gorgeous new #BeTheSpark mural on the side of our building!
This lovely addition to the Urban Peak façade was made possible by a former staff member, Katie Vuletich. We wanted to represent the diverse and beautiful tapestry of stories and experiences we have here at Urban Peak, so Katie sat down with youth and staff for brainstorming and input on what they’d like to see.
Ultimately, Katie layered different design ideas so that the mural truly feels like a reflection of all that Urban Peak is, as well as our hopes for the future. Huge thanks to Katie for her hard work and beautification of The Spot! Check out Katie’s webpage and Instagram account and show her some Urban Peak love. ❤️
Samantha Fish and youth Ashley with her brand new electric guitar! 📸: Doug Hardesty
Shredding the Blues with Samantha Fish
There’s nothing like the thrill of a live musical performance, especially when it includes perks like meeting the artists! Recently, Urban Peak staff member Christian and youth Ashley took a trip up to the Boulder Theatre to see the amazing blues guitarist Samantha Fish shredding up a storm.
This fantastic opportunity was made possible through Christian’s longtime partnership with Blue Star Connection, an organization he’s worked with for years whose mission is to provide access and ownership of musical instruments to children and young people facing life’s challenges. Not only have they generously donated musical instruments for our youth to use (including five new guitars and two keyboards just last week!), but it was also through them that Christian and Ashley had the chance to meet Sam Fish in Boulder. Ashley, an aspiring artist herself, was stoked to talk to Sam about all things music and even received a signed electric guitar and amplifier from her!
Thank you, Blue Star Connection and Samantha Fish, for making opportunities like this possible for our youth!
Peak Spotlight
On Monday, January 23rd, Urban Peak broke ground on its new campus for youth experiencing homelessness. The Mothership, as it is commonly known, represents the culmination of a massive capital campaign project and will offer an innovative approach of integrated services, shelter and housing when construction is completed in late 2024.
Urban Peak has been at the forefront of providing solutions for youth experiencing homelessness since we opened Colorado’s first and only licensed shelter for these young people in 1998. After several decades, though, our aging and overcrowded shelter was no longer conducive to providing dignified space where youth and staff could flourish.
The transformative campus will replace the aging and overcrowded shelter facility with a new four-story building with 136 beds. Expanded shelter, including distinct areas for minors as well as those ages 18 through 24, will be co-located with transitional housing and supportive services such as case management, a medical clinic, on-site mental health services, education and employment services and life-skills development.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock joined Urban Peak CEO Christina Carlson for the groundbreaking and spoke to significant federal and city investments in the project. “This is a big deal for our community,” DeGette said. “This innovative new project will transform the way we support our homeless youth and I couldn’t be more thankful to everyone at Urban Peak for their tireless efforts to make this project a reality.”
“Thanks to Denver voters passing the RISE Denver bond program, we’re able to make these types of critical social infrastructure investments that directly improve lives for current and future generations,” Mayor Hancock said. “Urban Peak makes all the difference in the lives of so many.”
“Bringing The Mothership from a vision to reality is the result of hard work, dedication and support from a vast network of allies,” said Urban Peak CEO Christina Carlson. “Encouragement and backing from Rep. DeGette and Mayor Hancock are incredibly meaningful, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The project, estimated to cost $37 million at completion, is funded through a variety of public and private sources, which speaks to the incredible support Urban Peak benefits from at all levels of our community. The City and County of Denver made the largest financial commitment of over $16.7 million from the RISE Denver bond program, while Rep. Diana DeGette secured more than $3 million for the project.
Urban Peak is entering an exciting new era and we need your help to get across the finish line. To support our operations and the services we’ll offer at the Mothership, donate today at www.urbanpeak.org/support. Thank you for being the spark!
Partner Highlight
As Urban Peak began working to reimagine the site of our youth shelter, we quickly knew we wanted to partner with Shopworks Architecture, a local firm with expertise around affordable housing and trauma-informed design. We wanted a new space that could better address youths’ unique needs while offering expanded shelter for more youth. Based on the principles of dignified, trauma-informed design as well as direct feedback from Urban Peak youth and staff, The Mothership began to take shape (see Peak Spotlight).
Founded by Chad Holtzinger in 2012, Shopworks’ primary focus is urban infill development, especially affordable housing, transit-oriented and mixed-use development and community-oriented projects.
Urban Peak has partnered with Shopworks since 2014, and they have been frequent collaborators on many of our building development projects. One of the first jobs Shopworks took on as a firm was revamping Rox’s Place, one of our housing sites, according to the principles of trauma-informed design such as plentiful natural lighting and big community spaces.
We are immensely grateful to Shopworks for their expertise and tireless efforts over the last eight years, not only for bringing The Mothership project to fruition, but for regularly improving our existing locations.
We also could not have secured the funding necessary to turn The Mothership dream into reality without government support at all levels, from federal all the way down to the City and County of Denver. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, Mayor Michael Hancock, Britta Fisher (former head of HOST, now CEO of Colorado Coalition for the Homeless) and so many others have been strong advocates. It truly takes a village.
See below for renderings, created by Shopworks, of what The Mothership will look like upon completion!
Youth Spotlight
Since joining the Urban Peak family, Anayia has demonstrated impeccable independent-living skills such as money management, cleanliness, organization, and grocery shopping.
She is resilient, funny, caring, family-oriented and motivated. Anayia is great at advocating for herself and has been a real go-getter, having earned her degree from Emily Griffith High School in May of 2022. Since graduation, she has been focusing on her mental health, working on getting her driver’s license and working two jobs: with our Workforce Innovation Grant partners at Tattered Cover Book Store and with Allied Universal Security. Great work, Anayia!
