UPCS Spring/Summer 2009

Urban Peak Colorado Springs Street Outreach Shows Marked Success

“People on the streets call us the trail angels,” muses the UPCS Street Outreach team. Thanks to a federal grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, UPCS has established an official street outreach team.

The team consists of two staff members and several volunteers who hit the streets 20 hours a week on different days and various times in order to connect with homeless youth in Colorado Springs. Street outreach at UPCS started full time in January and in four months they made contact with 237 new people and 686 total contacts.

The team also collaborates with other community resources in order to make referrals and more fully meet the needs of youth on the street. The team provides homeless youth with hygiene products, clothing, food, education and employment resources, STD/HIV counseling, and access to other Urban Peak services and programs. They have also been trained to provide free HIV rapid testing for any youth under the age of 25. These “trail angels” will continue to work hard during the summer months maintaining contact with youth, getting them the resources and connecting with our many service provider partners.

A Message to All Our Volunteers

THANK YOU to all of our wonderful volunteers at Urban Peak Colorado Springs! Without you, we could not survive.

In fiscal year 2008, there were a total of 4,280 volunteer hours with a value of $77,212. These are amazing statistics because we serve three meals for 20 hungry youth each and every day of the year. This also does not include the fact that nearly all the food served to our clients is donated by volunteers, catering companies, and through church and school food drives. Our Mentor Program continues to grow as does our GED tutoring program and our evening volunteers. At this time, we have more than 100 volunteers who will donate approximately 500 hours per month for 2009. In April we saw a whopping 591 volunteer hours! Thank you to each and every one of you!

We are currently recruiting volunteers to help our Street Outreach Team and go out daily to connect with youth living on the streets to provide help and tell them about our programs and services.

If you want more information about giving your time and talents to Urban Peak Colorado Springs, please contact Renae Gannon at 630-3223 Extension 22 or renae.gannon@urbanpeak.org.