Notes From the Road: Kids in Denver need YOU!
Colorado is known for its highly educated workforce. We are second or third in the country in terms of college degrees per capita. However, it is disturbing that most of our educated workforce is moving in from out of state. In other words, we aren't doing a great job of creating an ongoing pipeline of educated workers from within. There are many reasons for this including the fact that Colorado ranks almost dead last in terms of public funding for higher ed.
Another important factor is our high school drop out rate. Our largest school district, Denver Public Schools, has a high school dropout rate of nearly 40% with a couple of its high schools at over 50%! Hard to believe but nearly 4 out of 10 ninth graders won't graduate from high school in DPS. The new leadership at DPS has a strong plan to help mitigate the dropout rate which, among many things, includes a community wide call for youth mentors to help kids stay in school!
Colorado Youth at Risk (CYAR) has been a long time member of Community Shares. They have paired over 2,500 kids with adult mentors over the past 14 years. CYAR is part of the Youth Mentoring Collaborative in Denver. This unique partnership includes CYAR; Big Brothers, Big Sisters and other youth mentoring organizations. One of the great aspects to CYAR is they provide both initial and then ongoing training to its cohort of mentors so they feel well equipped to provide support to the kids. Have a listen to this short interview with CYAR's Executive Director, Hollen Ferrendelli, on the rewards of mentoring if you have time...
Becoming an adult mentor can be a very rewarding experience and Denver's kids need mentors more than ever! It is estimated there are over 35,000 "at risk" kids in DPS from single parent, low income households. CYAR has 40 kids in its program at any one time. If you would like to support Colorado Youth at Risk or become a mentor, please call Hollen Ferrendelli at 303-623-9140.
-Jesse
Another important factor is our high school drop out rate. Our largest school district, Denver Public Schools, has a high school dropout rate of nearly 40% with a couple of its high schools at over 50%! Hard to believe but nearly 4 out of 10 ninth graders won't graduate from high school in DPS. The new leadership at DPS has a strong plan to help mitigate the dropout rate which, among many things, includes a community wide call for youth mentors to help kids stay in school!
Colorado Youth at Risk (CYAR) has been a long time member of Community Shares. They have paired over 2,500 kids with adult mentors over the past 14 years. CYAR is part of the Youth Mentoring Collaborative in Denver. This unique partnership includes CYAR; Big Brothers, Big Sisters and other youth mentoring organizations. One of the great aspects to CYAR is they provide both initial and then ongoing training to its cohort of mentors so they feel well equipped to provide support to the kids. Have a listen to this short interview with CYAR's Executive Director, Hollen Ferrendelli, on the rewards of mentoring if you have time...
Becoming an adult mentor can be a very rewarding experience and Denver's kids need mentors more than ever! It is estimated there are over 35,000 "at risk" kids in DPS from single parent, low income households. CYAR has 40 kids in its program at any one time. If you would like to support Colorado Youth at Risk or become a mentor, please call Hollen Ferrendelli at 303-623-9140.
-Jesse
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