City Year is an education-focused, nonprofit organization founded in 1988 that partners with public schools to help keep students in school and on track to graduate. In 26 communities across the United States and through three international affiliates, this innovative public-private partnership brings together teams of young AmeriCorps members who commit to a year of full-time service in schools. Corps members support students by focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance through in-class tutoring, mentoring, and after school programs.
City Year Denver AmeriCorps members serve full-time at North High School, starting first thing in the morning when they welcome students as they arrive for school. Throughout the school day, the team of eight Corps members serve in the 9th grade core classes of English, Integrated Math, Geography and Biology, providing individualized attention and supporting student learning. After school, the City Year AmeriCorps team at North runs after school programs and clubs, including daily Homework Help. The team also supports and provides school-wide initiatives focused on improving student engagement, school culture, and attendance.
Visit City Year for more information.
We envision Denver as a place that boasts a 100 percent high school graduation rate. Some say “impossible,” but we say, imagine the potential. CIHAD is intent on changing one little corner of the world, one class, one child, one life at a time. It’s the ripple effect in action.
Visit the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation to learn more.
Colorado UpLift is a dynamic, youth service organization teaching character, leadership and life skills to urban kids in Denver. We impact 4,800 students annually from 28 urban Denver Public Schools (2nd through 12th grade) with long-term, life-changing relationships. We provide full-time teacher/mentors who function as life coaches during school, after school and through the summer, helping students graduate from high school, pursue post-secondary education and become successful in life.
Tanya Martinez
Area Director
720-423-2856
Start Here, Go Anywhere!
Located on the vibrant Auraria Campus in downtown Denver, Community College of Denver is student-centered and dedicated to providing an exceptional education. Our diverse community of motivated learners applaud our small-class sizes and flexible schedules, award-winning professors, extensive advisory and support services, world-class facilities, easy access via RTD light rail, and affordable tuition.
North High students are able to concurrently enroll in CCD courses while at North High.
Visit the CCD website for more information.
The Pre-Collegiate Development Program (PCDP) at the University of Colorado at Boulder is an institutionally-funded academic enhancement program for targeted middle and high school students. It is designed to motivate and prepare first generation students in pursuit of their higher education goals.
PCDP is structured to ensure that students are academically prepared to enroll and be successful at the University of Colorado or any postsecondary institution of the student’s choice.
The CU Denver Scholars Program is an early college enrollment program for college bound, high-achieving first generation students who enroll in college courses on campus during their senior year of high school. Students begin their college studies by taking one course at CU Denver during the fall and spring semesters of their senior year in high school. The credit earned in the course can be applied toward a bachelor’s degree at the institution the student will attend. While enrolled in the program, students participate in Saturday Academies. Workshops at these academies are designed to prepare students for college study and introduce them and their parents to the rigors of a college environment.
CU Succeeds – The CU Succeed Silver and Gold Programs collaborate with Colorado high schools, offering high school students the opportunity to gain exposure to the college experience! Students enroll in University of Colorado Denver courses, located at their high school, taught by qualified teachers, at a reduced tuition rate. All courses are taken for credit with a letter grade, recorded on a CU Denver transcript.
Contact the CU Succeed Office website or call 303-315-2680.
Denver Health’s School-based Health Centers (SBHC) form a large network of health centers located inside Denver Public School (DPS) campuses that serve any DPS student as well as children enrolled in DPS-affiliated Early Childhood Education programs at no charge to families. We offer medical, mental health, dental, health education and family planning, as well as insurance enrollment and advising services.
Our services are available at all locations throughout the school year and at a limited number of locations during the summer. School-based Health Centers offer convenient services that limit the amount of time students spend out of class and the amount of time parents/guardians have to take off work to attend appointments. In most cases, students can obtain same-day or next-day appointments.
If you do not have insurance, community health care advisors and enrollment specialists are available at all SBHC sites to assist your student and family in determining insurance eligibility and completing the application process for one of the following programs: Health First Colorado (Medicaid), CHP+, Connect for Health Colorado and Discount Programs (DFAP &CICP).
If you know the location where you want to make an appointment, please call the center directly using the phone number available on the locations page or call the Appointment Center at 303-436-4949.
The North High School-based Health Center can be reached at 720-423-2718.
Denver Kids, Inc. helps Denver Public Schools students, grades K-12, who face the personal challenges of higher risk environments to successfully complete high school, pursue post-secondary options, and become contributing members of the community.
Denver Scholarship Foundation makes college possible for thousands of Denver Public Schools’ graduates each year. For many students in Denver, continuing their education beyond high school doesn’t seem like a viable option.
Most often, it’s not low grades or lack of extracurricular activities keeping them from pursuing their dreams. There are thousands of intelligent, hard-working individuals facing the most intimidating barrier to college of all – they think it just isn’t possible. But Denver Scholarship Foundation is changing that. We’re making college possible for Denver’s students.
The DSF Future Center is North’s college resource center, where you can get information about colleges, financial aid and scholarships. The Denver Scholarship Foundation’s Future Center at North High is located in the Library Atrium. The Advisor at your Future Center will help guide you through every step of the college application and financial aid process.
Ms. Zulema Sierra is North’s DSF College Advisor:
O: 720.423.2907 (Calls) | Google voice: 719.301.5976 (text)
Schedule An Appointment Here
zsierra@denverscholarship.org
Here is a brief list of the services and resources available at your Future Center:
Every year the Denver Scholarship Foundation awards thousands of scholarships to qualifying DPS graduates who attend one of our eligible colleges in Colorado. DSF Scholarships are renewable for up to five years. DSF depends on donations from the community to pay for its scholarships, and award amounts can vary from year to year. Applications are due on April 1. View information on how to apply.
To qualify for a DSF Scholarship, students must meet these requirements:
For more information, please visit www.denverscholarship.org
Scholarship amounts depend on the following:
The DSF Scholarship is available to qualifying DPS graduates who enroll in any one of Colorado’s eligible technical, community or four-year colleges and universities.
Official DSF Partner Colleges are denoted below with an asterisk. These colleges provide our scholars with addi-tional support on campus to help them be successful. The support includes such services as mentoring, tutoring and special workshops. New Scholars in 2013-14 who attend one of the official DSF Partner Colleges also receive larger scholarship awards than those who attend non-partner schools.
Visit www.denverscholarship.org/colleges for details about award amounts, Campus Contacts, Student Success Requirements and required DSF Transition Workshops.
View the FAFSA School Code Database. You can use the Federal School Code Database to search for colleges you’re interested in including on your FAFSA. You can also find detailed college information, like tuition and fee amounts and graduation rates, and compare information for up to 10 colleges at a time.
FRIENDS FIRST educates and mentors teens to make positive life choices and develop healthy relationships.
GEAR Up stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness in Undergraduate Programs. Gear Up is a federally funded grant that places full time counselors in 3 of our Denver high schools (CEC Middle College, North High School and Abraham Lincoln High School) who follow the classes of 2017 and 2018. The purpose of the grant is increase graduation rates and college and career readiness. As GEAR UP counselors, we make it a priority to make college more accessible by providing opportunities such as college visits and college preparation courses to better prepare our students for their future goals and dreams. Most of the students supported by GEAR UP are the first in their families to go to college and our purpose is to ensure that these dreams come true.
We’re working to build a better community, one person at a time. We have four major program areas that serve nearly 23,000 people annually. As one of the leading charities in Colorado, our programs work in our own back yard to improve the quality of life for thousands of Coloradans each year. Discover how your purchases and donations change lives.
Youth Career Development: Goodwill employs teachers in 37 Denver metro and northern Colorado public schools serving nearly 18,000 at-risk youth with much needed career development assistance and college exploration. With the support of community volunteers, this program helps students formulate a career path and prepare for life after graduation.
Studies show that when young people focus on the future, they are more likely to graduate and be successful and self-sufficient.
Read the 2013-2014 Impact Report and find out more about Youth Services.
For more information, contact:
Sonya Palafox
Learn to Work Coordinator, Goodwill Industries of Denver
The Engagement Center at North High School
(720) 423-2869
spalafox@goodwilldenver.org
Sonya_Palafox@dpsk12.org
KidsTek is an after school computer enrichment programs to K-12 schools in Denver and Aurora. We only serve locations where at least 70% of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-cost lunch.
At North High School, we offer a Business Computing elective class, where students use the the Internet and software including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint to complete real-world projects like budgeting with spreadsheets and resume writing.
Read an article about Zyanna Casilla, a North High student nominated as KidsTek’s student of the month!
Read about the BBB’s LIFT Business Ethics program, part of the KidsTek Business Computing elective at North High School.
Minds Matter, Inc. is a nationally recognized not-for-profit serving high-achieving, low income students in cities across the United States. Our mission is to transform the lives of accomplished high school students from low-income families by broadening their dreams preparing them for success.
Since its founding in New York City in 1991, the effectiveness of Minds Matter has been affirmed — 100 percent of our students have been accepted into a four-year college. The organization has expanded to elevent cities, including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and the Twin Cities.
The 2014-2015 school year marks the beginning of the eleventh year for Minds Matter of Denver (“MMD”). The Denver chapter, founded in 2004, is the culmination of a grass-roots effort to level the educational opportunities for disadvantaged students.
Silvia Popoca, a Minds Matter Denver student at North High School, attended the Harvard Summer School’s Secondary School Program in 2015. Her cost of attending was partially underwritten by the Rocky Mountain Harvard University Club. Read her report on her experience.
Project PAVE empowers youth to end the cycle of relationship violence.Relationship violence is a learned behavior. Children raised in violent homes can grow up to be violent parents. A boy who is sexually assaulted as a child may grow up to sexually assault someone else. Young girls who have watched their mothers take beatings at the hands of their fathers may grow up thinking that’s okay. Violence has no age, ethnic, gender, racial, religious, sexual orientation, or socio-economic boundaries.
Project PAVE partners with North High School in three main ways. First, our educators visit the school to teach students a five-class curriculum which teaches students how to identify signs of abuse in dating relationships and how to communicate in a way that prevents violence. Second, PAVE recognizes youth leaders by offering scholarships and employment in our Youth Community Educators Program. Youth leaders are committed to ending relationship violence in their community. Third, PAVE offers school-based therapy for students and families effected by relationship violence.
At North High School, PAVE’s professional therapist, Julia Reeder, is available four days a week to provide ongoing, confidential counseling and education for students. Julia strives to help clients recover emotionally from relationship violence and work towards healthier relationship dynamics within their home or with their dating partner. Counseling services are free and available in English and Spanish to any student enrolled at North.
Julia can be reached by email at jreeder@projectpave.org, in her office at North, Room A202B, at 720-423-2751, or her confidential text line at 720- 310-0790. Calls and texts will be received during normal work hours and responded to within two business days. To learn more about PAVE’s programming, visit www.projectpave.org.
The TRIO High School Upward Bound program located at the Metropolitan State University of Denver is a federally funded college preparatory program designed to assist low income and first generation college bound high school students by generating the skills and motivation necessary to complete high school and to enter and succeed in a program of postsecondary education. The HSUB Program in Denver has been hosted since 1974 by MSU Denver, one of the nation’s premiere urban colleges. Our goal is to generate in program participants the skills and motivation necessary to complete a program of secondary education and to enter and succeed in a program of postsecondary education.
Founded in 2001 by current executive director Carol Kriekels and Susan Greer, YESS Mentoring has put its peer-mentoring approach to the test at Denver’s North, Lincoln and West high schools.
The YESS Institute youth development and education philosophy focuses on creating leadership from within. We seek to provide student leaders the framework and skills to be positive role models to their peers; hence to empower and serve the community from within. We recruit successful 11th and 12th graders to become the mentors in the YESS program. In addition, we select one mentor leader to represent each school’s program and assist the program specialist. The Peer Mentors may be the “star students” as well as students who once fulfilled the profile of the mentored students. All programs are on-site, school-based under supervision of YESS and school staff.
“YESS Institute has emerged as a premier organization in Denver, working fiercely to close the achievement gap. Building on student’s potential, the strength of relationships, and the power of student success, YESS Institute is harnessing best practices that lead to achievement both in school and in life!”
Dr. Maria Guajardo, Ph.D.
Mayor’s Office for Education and Children – City and County of Denver