Thousands of people in our community are working hard in their jobs. Some even have two or three jobs but are still unable to get ahead and achieve long-term financial stability and independence. 

Indeed, 20,000 families in metro Denver are just one paycheck away from being homeless. 

Together with our partners in the community, Mile High United Way is reaching out to hard-working individuals and families to stop their cycle of struggle. 

Our work centers around three related initiatives designed to create lasting change for people in our community: School Readiness, Youth Success and Adult Self Sufficiency. 

School Readiness - We are creating a strong infrastructure of quality early learning centers for children from low-income families.  By ensuring that children are ready to learn when they start school, we lay a solid foundation for long-term success in school and in life.

Our ultimate goal is a vibrant community of financially stable working adults who are not dependent on public assistance.

We’ve created a five-year plan to serve thousands more people in our community.  In 2006, we launched an ambitious $250 million campaign to put this plan into action.  We will focus the collective strength of more than 50,000 donors, 800 local businesses and 100 non-profit partners to deliver lasting solutions for individuals and families in metro Denver.  Together we can do what none of us can do alone.

To volunteer to leave a lasting impression on your community, click here.

To add your support to the collective strength of our community, click here.

Three Initiative Success Story
A Young Family Strives for Education and Independence

When 19-year-old Gary talks about the rocky journey of his young life he describes it as “going from being a knucklehead to trying to be a grown man.” Gary and his three siblings were raised by their single mother in a difficult urban environment, without the benefit of a male role model. “My father wasn’t really a father,” he explains, “just some guy I knew—in and out of prison a lot. It was hard for my mom to teach a boy how to be a man—I had to teach myself.”

Though Gary was loved and nurtured by his mother and grandmother, his adolescence turned into a series of scrapes and brawls. He describes years of getting into trouble, followed by a stay in a juvenile detention center. “I was on a path of self-destruction,” he says, and admits that he used the hard circumstances of his life as an excuse for his growing anger and defiance. “I wasn’t being my own person.”

Then in high school, Gary met his girlfriend Lanessa and she became unexpectedly pregnant. Gary dropped out of school and at age 17 started working 55 hours a week in a warehouse, accepting overtime shifts to make ends meet.  When the couple’s son was born several weeks premature, Lanessa dropped out of school, too--to take care of baby Donavin. Not long after their baby arrived, Gary was fired from his job. “I got fired for being unreliable,” he says,” because I needed to be there for my son.”

In fact, it was their overwhelming desire to be good parents to their son—as young as they are—that became the motivating factor for Gary and Lanessa to re-evaluate their lives. Instead of their situation becoming a “bad to worse” kind of story, it is slowly turning into a story of determination and success. Gary believes that when his son was born, “he basically changed my life—he’s my angel.”

Gary and Lanessa’s transformation took root in the programs offered at Parent Pathways, a Mile High United Way-funded agency that helps teen parents raise healthy families. The services at Parent Pathways are specifically designed to serve the full spectrum of a young family’s needs. Kari Buchanan, Community Relations Coordinator for the agency explains: “We have programs that provide for the children through our infant/toddler learning center, and a program that provides middle and high school education for teen moms at our Florence Crittenton School. And our Young Father’s Program provides education, employment readiness, financial planning and a housing services program for young men. We’re really trying to help teen families get the life they deserve and raise their families to be healthy and self-sufficient.”

Gary feels he has definitely benefited from being a part of the Young Father’s Program and attributes much of his growth to the guidance he receives from Tim Cunniff, the program’s Case Manager. “It’s teaching me to be a better person,” Gary says. “I’m more calm now—I know how to think things over instead of exploding.” Lanessa agrees wholeheartedly, commenting that Gary has developed much more patience than he had previously. “He’s not immature like he used to be,” she says.

In addition to almost finishing his GED, Gary has been steadily employed for over a year, working as a server and trainer at a local chain restaurant.  Lanessa attends high school full time at the Florence Crittenton School, and is thrilled that little Donavin is just down the hallway from her, engaged in his own learning and exploration. As the couple prepares to celebrate Donavin’s second birthday, they have concrete dreams for the future of their family. Gary wants to go to college someday, and hopes that Lanessa will too, when she graduates from high school. And both are adamant about their plans to help Donivan succeed in school. “I want my buddy to get his education.  I want him to work with his mind,” says Gary. Lanessa adds, “I just want Donivan’s life to be really good and my family to be healthy.”

Gary and Lanessa each express enormous gratitude for the services they have been able to access through Parent Pathways and acknowledge that life for young teens raising a baby is full of unexpected struggles. But Gary sums up his family’s current journey toward self-sufficiency with a determined nod of his head. “As a family we’re coming together—we’ve come a long way from when we first got together. A lot of growing up is happening.”