Life Stories Child & Family Advocacy was established in 1995 to serve child victims in Weld County. The agency mission is to provide advocacy and support for abused or neglected children by advancing coordinated investigations, prosecution, and victims' services. The Child Advocacy Center (CAC) serves children who have been sexually abused or traumatized by witnessing homicide or extreme acts of violence. Child victims and their non- offending family members are provided a comfortable and supportive setting that decreases trauma and allows the victims to begin the healing process. In 2019, the Child Advocacy Center Program served 412 children and their 715 non-offending family members.
This capital project request is the second stage of a building renovation of the new Life Stories Building which has been our home since 2018. Our request for funding is to assist with the renovation of two office spaces, reception area and accompanying bathroom to better accommodate a medical exam room, reception area and second forensic interview room. The remainder of the space in the unit will be suitable for the individual and group counseling rooms and hall. The renovation plans include additional soundproofing, updated lighting, HVAC changes, plumbing, electrical and architectural design, updating a small bathroom enclosed in the future medical exam room, replacement of some doors to improve confidentiality and soundproofing and carpeting over the wooden floors for soundproofing.
The addition of a second forensic interview room will allow for necessary growth to accommodate the anticipated growing numbers of children in our large county. It will increase our ability to schedule more interviews in one day when needed, and the new counseling group room will serve as a second family waiting area. We will be partnering with SAVA, our current provider of mental health services for onsite mental health counseling programs and local medical providers for non-acute medical exams. Providers that are ready to work with children and families soon after a report of abuse can help families at their most critical moments. In the welcoming and supportive atmosphere of the CAC, support feels like an extension of the healing process. We feel that as an agency that has had a long and successful reputation for responding to child victims of crime, it is a natural time to improve services with the addition of our on-site services.
With its breadth of vision, scope of understanding, flexibility and capacity of organization, and relational connections, United Way of Weld County (UWWC) is well suited to take on and solve some of Weld County's most enduring challenges. Since its founding in 1940 in Greeley, Colorado, UWWC has been discovering, funding, and developing programs that improve lives and catalyze social transformation. Today's United Way brings individuals, businesses, foundations, and public and private organizations together for shared effort that creates lasting positive change. United Way fights for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in Weld County; the mission of UWWC is to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community.
UWWC is seeking funds to perform much needed repairs on the exterior of our main office at 814 9th Street in Greeley. This includes replacing old windows and repairing brick work. This project is important as the old, leaky windows are energy in-efficient, and the damaged brick work could lead to additional problems if left without repair. This is an important project for our organization for a number of reasons:
1) This building serves as our main office: hundreds of employees, volunteers, clients, and other community agencies utilize the building each year for many purposes. If it is in disrepair, we're unable to serve the community as effectively. Our most vulnerable Weld County neighbors count on United Way to help the human services infrastructure stay strong.
2) Improvements and maintenance done now will prevent more expensive repairs in the future, and will save the organization money on heating and cooling, beginning as soon as the new windows are installed. These saved funds can be spent on programming instead.
3) Providing an environment for staff to thrive and be productive is essential for UWWC to attract and retain dedicated and skilled professionals that serve our community.
4) As an organization that seeks to improve people's lives, we attempt to make our energy footprint as small as possible, knowing that this effects people in our community and beyond. Having more efficient windows would reduce our impact on the environment.
5) We believe in the revitalization of old downtown areas, and we're proud to be a part of Greeley's downtown. We seek to preserve the building we call home so that the local culture and business community thrives.
The primary goal of this project is to update our main office's building so it becomes more energy efficient and structurally sound. This will help it to remain a hub of human services activity in Weld County for many years to come. In short, UWWC fights to improve the health, education, and financial stability of every person in Weld County. The building from which all this work stems is critical; without strong infrastructure, UWWC wouldn't be as efficacious in its efforts.
The YMCA of Northern Colorado was founded in 1874 with the mission "to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all." YMCA of the USA launched a rebranding of the entire YMCA movement in 2010, establishing 3 areas of focus further cementing our organization as one that strengthens the foundations of community. Our focuses include:
*youth development (nurturing the potential of every child and teen),
*healthy living (improving the community's health and wellbeing), and
*social responsibility (giving back and providing support to our neighbors).
The YMCA of Northern Colorado is unique in that we exist to serve the underserved; no one is turned away based on inability to pay. We offer YMCA Financial Assistance to those who need it to ensure that all community members have access to our programs and services. We are constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of the communities we serve. In June 2020 we opened our newest branch, the Johnstown Community YMCA. This was birthed from an innovative partnership with the City of Johnstown. Most recently, throughout our COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, during which all regularly scheduled programs and services were on hold, we still provided emergency childcare and preschool to families of first responders and essential workers.
We are seeking funds for a permanent structural change to our Johnstown Community YMCA facility. For this request, we are seeking funding for 2 out of the 3 sun shades we plan to install outside on the patio that connects to our indoor Community Event Space. The Community Event Space is a 3000 square feet room complete with catering kitchen and adjoining outdoor patio space. The community room itself has a maximum capacity of 309 people at a time. In addition to being available for the use of Y meetings and programs, The Community Event Space is open to the general public; YMCA members and nonmembers alike are welcome to reserve and use the space. The Community Event Space exists so that community members can gather, whether it be for personal use such as birthday parties or business purposes. Adding sun shades to the patio of the Community Event Space will increase our capacity to serve our community in the warmer months so they can enjoy the warm Colorado sunny weather, but from the comfort and safety of shade. The capacity to fully utilize the patio space makes our Community Event Space even more versatile for entertaining small and large groups, which will therefore make it even more appealing to the community. We will be supporting local businesses to purchase and install the sun shades from.
Centennial Area Health Education Center (CAHEC), located in Greeley Colorado is a small non-profit serving eleven (11) rural/frontier counties located in the northeastern area of the state. For 40 years, we have partnered with Colorado AHEC, an educational arm of the CU Medical Campus, and together we provide the infrastructure for Northeastern Colorado to address community healthcare needs, build partnerships, and provide educational resources to health professionals, students, and the community.
AHEC Careers Exploration Program (ACEP) provides high school students with a curriculum that educates on financial aid, healthcare careers, public health professions, service learning, mental and behavioral health, teamwork and professionalism, and self-reflection/personal statements. In addition to the curriculum students are invited to spend (either in person or virtually) a week at CU Boulder and CU Medical Campus learning about different healthcare professions, cadaver lab experience, and how to pursue an education in healthcare. We are asking for funds to continue to offer this program in Weld County.
It is known that students exposed to health careers in their high school years are more likely to select health professions as an occupation. The mission of CAHEC is to promote healthcare professionals in our communities and with these programs we hope to reach as many youth as possible. Now more than ever, there is a critical need to create diverse health profession careers in rural and under-served areas and the majority of school districts are challenged with providing hands-on health care experience and education to these students. Even when impacted by Covid, students only have four years to complete High School, and its critical to continue to support students to become our next diverse healthcare workers. While Covid has presented challenges to this program the fact remains in-order to encourage a future workforce we need to provide hands-on, creative learning.
The project is designed to reach unique high school students who have expressed an interest in pursuing a career in healthcare. This curriculum has been developed to provide these students with non-traditional learning experiences related to healthcare. The end goal of the program is to encourage and facilitate various healthcare credentialing, whether in high school or post high school and therefore increase the diversity in our healthcare workforce.
The Success Foundation exists to build partnerships, engage the community, and bring resources together to support the education of students in Greeley-Evans School District 6.
The Success Foundation and District 6 have partnered with Creative Learning Systems in bringing Smart Labs to our schools. Smart Labs engage all learners in a hands-on, project-based approach in which STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) disciplines are integrated. In a world where these disciplines are critical to every job, field of study, career, and even home life, it's essential that all students have a strong foundation in STEAM, not just those who are naturally proficient in math and science. For this reason, this project is focusing on elementary schools in order to build that foundation early for District 6 students.
For 2019 and 2020, $185,000 was donated to launch the SmartLab Project. With matching funds from District 6, two labs were installed at Martinez Elementary School and McAuliffe STEM Academy in 2019, and three additional labs are being installed in 2020 at Jackson, Meeker, and Monfort Elementary Schools. SmartLabs are providing students with hands-on experience and project based learning that is preparing them for college and career.
College and career-success also demand a robust set of 21st-century skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, and effective application of technology. A Smart Lab provides a complete program that promotes the development of these skills, engages students in personalized learning, and prepares them for academic and career success.
We Matter Learning is a newly formed nonprofit organization providing education services for school aged children. We Matter Learning forms partnerships with public, private and home-based schools with the goal of global mental wellness. Our goal is to assist educators in all settings: public, private, online, and home; to have research-based literacy materials, comprehensive professional development, and curriculum based on topics of mental wellness. Our work is based on the understanding that the way to increase positive impacts and reduce inappropriate behaviors, not only in school but as an adult, is through a multi-disciplinary approach where positive social emotional skills are taught not separately, but throughout a student's preschool to high school experience. To do this we believe social emotional learning needs to be integrated into all aspects of education: reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, sciences, fine and performing arts, and physical education.
This request is to help fund the development costs of a five-week comprehensive preschool unit based on social emotional learning targets titled "The Things that I Love." Along with the academic curriculum, there will be a teacher's manual, manipulatives, STEM projects, center-based activities, songs relative to social emotional topics and transitions, movement activities, relevant arts and crafts, and parent resources. Once the initial product is available, we will provide it for free to the pilot schools within Weld County who are partnering with us to track student growth. This unit will advance the quality of life for youth of Weld County because it focuses on the learner's academic needs while providing mental healthiness tools and strategies.
Each week a We Matter Learning preschool unit will assist with:
*Self (me): behavior/emotion identification and regulation, understanding of personal attributes/needs, growth mindset, healthy alternatives to stress, goals, control of impulses, intrinsic motivation, realistic awareness of consequences
*Community (we): healthier relationships, boundaries of others, culture and personal acceptance, addressing stereotypes and personal biases, collaboration
*Globally (us): Responsible decision-making: identification of problems, consideration for ethical standards and safety, considerations for both self and others
Our hope is that students who complete their schooling via the lens of We Matter Learning will truly be mentally healthy individuals who will contribute positively to society. "We" and "Us" specifically assist students to understand their influence and partnerships within their community, as well as, within the world. Through awareness and the continual reinforcement of empathy, students will have a clear understanding of the impacts their choices will have towards others and their environments. Our intent is to have a solid curriculum which can be adapted to any learner, whether it is a student with special needs or deemed gifted throughout the world. Therefore, not only do we have an obligation to understand our community resources, but also to be aware of the global needs.