Denver, CO
Nonprofit aimed to help teen moms set to open early learning center in August
(ARVADA) Colo, (KDVR) — Hope House Colorado, a nonprofit that helps teen moms become self-sufficient and pursue their dreams of higher education, is taking on their newest venture opening up an early learning center.
“Our mission is to empower them to become self-sufficient,” said Lisa Steven, Founder and Executive Director of Hope House Colorado.
Steven started this mission 21 years ago.
“My husband and I were teenage parents and so we really saw the need and the struggle that teen moms face,” she said.
Hope House Colorado serves about 265 teenage moms from across the Denver Metro Area. Their campus in Arvada has a residential program where six moms and their kids can live at a time.
19-year-old Rene Bruntmyer is one of them after joining the nonprofit in March.
“I found out about Hope House online, I was looking into pursuing to get my GED and a lot of other things for my son,” said Rene.
She had her son Leo when she was 17 and admits that times got challenging.
“So many things held me back before coming to Hope House,” said Rene. “It’s harder when you have a kid and you just don’t have those missing things to do the things you want to do.”
Rene is also working to get her GED through the nonprofit’s resource center. Among learning about renting, parenting, and building credit.
“I’ve learned a lot about good and bad and ugly relationships. I learned so much about renting and credit just things overall that we don’t really get to learn about as we’re younger and they’ve helped me get my license, and I’m almost done with school,” she said.
She’s extremely excited about a learning opportunity for her son with Hope House Colorado’s early learning center set to open in August.
“I’m just excited about the time I’m going to have to pursue college, and all the things I can do for my son and to know he’s going to be in a safe environment in a place I can trust fully,” said Rene.
Founder Lisa Steven told FOX31 that there is an incredible need for licensed child care in Colorado.
“Our entire state is 90,000 spots short for child care, and for our teenage moms who all qualify for CCAP, which is the Colorado Child Care Assistance program, it’s even harder to find a spot,” Steven said. Very few childcare centers accept CCAP so it’s always been our vision to build our own learning center.”
The new center will have seven classrooms and will provide licensed care to 104 children.
“Our center will open with 50 spots and grow to 100 spots over the next 18 months or so,” said Steven. “We’ll serve kiddos between six weeks old and five years old. During the summer we’ll have a summer camp for the older siblings of our children.”
Steven says it’s an opportunity for teen moms to go to school or work full-time.
“I can tell you, teenage moms, they face so much stigma and so much judgment. People tell them they can’t do it and I’m here to tell you they absolutely can,” she said.
Hope House Colorado is currently looking for about six qualified early learning teachers before their public opening date on August 15.
Everyone is invited. You can find out more information about how to get involved through their website.
The first major renovations in Civic Center Park for the first time in 100 years began this week. The City of Denver wants to make the park more inviting for events and people while preserving the area’s history.
The park is a popular spot for concerts, protests, and festivals based on its central location in downtown Denver and also its large lawn space with flowers and concrete paths.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the park is in need of a makeover while embracing its past.
“We are both custodians of the history of this place, and we are also caretakers of the future, which means we have to make sure that we make the investments like this to prepare this public space for the next 100 years of events,” said Johnston.
Phase one of the renovations is expected to be complete by Summer 2027.
DENVER — We’re in for a quiet night ahead, staying mostly dry and mild. The waiting game begins as the next system approaches Colorado.
Clouds increase throughout Thursday with cooler afternoon highs in the low 50s.
A complex storm arrives, and with models disagreeing on the details, confidence remains low for snowfall in the metro.
Expect rain to move in first. Pockets of rain and snow are possible later, mainly across higher terrain and areas farther east.
Rain returns Thursday; snow stays mostly in the higher terrain
On Friday morning, rain will continue for most of the metro and plains.
However, the Front Range mountains, foothills, and the Palmer Divide could see snow accumulation.
Precipitation should taper off Friday afternoon as the system weakens and moves east.
Heading into the weekend, dry air returns with temperatures bouncing back to slightly above normal.
We should stay quiet through the weekend.
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DENVER (KDVR) — The Adams County Veterans Memorial, a place built for quiet reflection, was left damaged and vandalized just hours after residents gathered to celebrate Veterans Day.
County leaders say they’re frustrated, and crews are once again being forced to repair a monument that’s been targeted repeatedly since it opened.
The Adams County Veterans Memorial, designed to resemble the World War II battleship USS Colorado, had been covered in flowers earlier this month for Veterans Day.
“We do a great event every Veterans Day,” said Byron Fanning, Adams County’s director of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Arts. “You can take a flower and place it at our remembrance wall in honor of somebody that you want to honor that’s important to your life.”
The morning after the holiday, Fanning said he discovered graffiti on the sidewalk, and a park bench soaked in paint. There was also damage to the plumbing system, which now needs to be pumped out.
“It really hurt my heart,” Fanning said.
Fanning described the graffiti as “gibberish” but said photos of it have been blurred while the sheriff’s office investigates.
Most of the cleanup work is already done. Crews removed graffiti that had been sprayed across the walkway and took out a bench for repairs after someone dumped a bucket of paint on it.
And it’s nothing crews aren’t used to. Fanning say this is the tenth time the memorial has been vandalized since it opened in 2023.
“Some of them are small, just a little graffiti on the railings or on some of the structures behind me,” Fanning said. “But some of them have been rather extensive.”
Hoping to protect the memorial as a place to honor those who served, Fanning offered a simple plea to the public.
“Please stop,” he said. “Please show some respect for who this was built to honor, and for those veterans that mean so much to our community. You’re disrespecting them, and it’s not okay.”
Officials estimate the latest cleanup cost about $3,000. The county is working to install security cameras, and the sheriff’s office is increasing nighttime patrols in hopes of preventing future vandalism.
The county is also asking visitors to report any vandalism to law enforcement.
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