About Youth Connections
The Youth Connections initiative was formed in 2019 by Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) and Caring for Colorado Foundation (CFC). The Denver Foundation, through the Colorado Health Access Fund*, joined the partnership in 2022 to grow the reach of Youth Connections, with a focus on rural communities. CFC and the Denver Foundation partner with CEI to provide implementation support and technical assistance to the participating Youth Connections districts (highlighted in the map to the right), evaluate progress against the outcomes, and identify lessons learned.
Cohort Schools
Three cohorts, totaling 13 school districts are participating in Youth Connections, each over a four-year period. The first cohort of schools in dark blue began in 2019 and includes the school districts of Alamosa RE-11, Cañon City RE-1, Mesa Valley 51, and Sheridan 2. A second cohort in purple was added in 2021, made up of the Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Delta County 50(J), Pueblo City 60, and Weld County RE-1 school districts. The newest cohort in green includes the rural school districts of Clear Creek RE-1, East Grand 2, Holyoke RE-1J, Summit and West Grand 1-JT, each that have invested in deep, systems-level career-connected learning (CCL). In each district, at least one high school and a feeder middle school are participating to foster vertical alignment.
Youth Connections involves six essential components
Local community leadership and design teams comprised of a district representative, educators from a middle school and high school, students, and other family/community members as available.
Participation in a well-supported process to design programs that provide a culture and climate that meets students’ social, emotional, and academic needs.
Specific focus on intersecting CCL and SEL systems and practices, grounded in a high-quality profile of a graduate that aligns with local community values.
Data analysis with an equity lens, including learning about and using empathy building techniques with a variety of stakeholders.
Building mindsets for authentic youth-adult partnership and engaging youth as equal partners in design.
The opportunity for funding in the planning year and to launch implementation plans.
About the Youth Connections Partners
About Caring for Colorado
Caring for Colorado works with communities to catalyze and accelerate change to improve the lives and health of Colorado’s children, youth and families. With optimism and dedication, we work to improve the lives of children and families in Colorado through collaboration, partnership, shared knowledge and grantmaking. We take a long-term view of our work as we seek to address root causes, promote prevention, improve systems and advance policy change.
About CEI
The Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) cultivates systems improvement and equity in K-12 education. For more than ten years, we have been at the forefront of improvement, innovation, and change in Colorado’s public education system.
About The Denver Foundation
The Denver Foundation is a community foundation that inspires people and mobilizes resources to improve life in Metro Denver. In 2021, the foundation and its donors awarded $115 million in grants. The Denver Foundation has three roles: stewarding an endowment to meet current and future needs for Metro Denver, working with community leaders to address the core challenges that face the community and managing more than 1,000 charitable funds on behalf of individuals, families and businesses. *Established in 2014 with an anonymous gift of $40 million, the Colorado Health Access Fund is dedicated to improving behavioral health access and outcomes for underserved Coloradans with high health care needs.