Resources - Partners

A group of eight organizations serve as partners with Making Connections – Denver. They help create and approve the overall budget, review progress on goals and help set priorities to achieve results. Eight organizations currently are considered MC-D partners:

The Annie E. Casey Foundation ( www.aecf.org )

Making Connections is an initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF). The primary mission of AECF is to foster public policies, human service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today's vulnerable children and families. 

The Chinook Fund ( www.chinookfund.org )

The Chinook Fund is a Colorado community foundation that supports small grassroots organizations working for peace, human rights and economic justice. It supports organizations that challenge the root causes of our most serious social problems stemming from discrimination of all types. Chinook provided funds for the Social Justice Institute (SJI), a leadership training program that helps MC-D residents change the systems that negatively affect their lives.

City and County of Denver ( www.denvergov.org )

Denver’s government offers many resources and services relevant to Making Connections – Denver through Health and Human Services, Families and Children, Human Rights and Community Relations, Safety and Justice. The city and MC-D are partnering on a workforce pipeline, to help entry-level workers obtain training and education so they can move up the career ladder, thus opening new vacancies that can be filled by other workers from MC-D neighborhoods. MC-D also works with the city to provide child care subsidies to eligible families and to improve the quality of child care provided by families, friends and neighbors.

Metro Organizations for People ( www.mopdenver.org )

Metro Organizations for People (MOP) was founded in 1979 with the mission of empowering people to strengthen and transform their communities through community organizing. With support from Making Connections – Denver, MOP organizing has led to research and advocacy to expand library hours in MC-D neighborhoods; create a uniform district-wide report card for public school students; and develop an analysis of funding inequities in the public schools.

Mile High United Way ( www.unitedwaydenver.org )

Making Connections-Denver and Mile High United have partnered to create a workforce pipeline in MC-D neighborhoods that will help residents earn a living wage. Workforce training is provided to entry-level workers so they can move up the career ladder, thus opening jobs to other workers from the same neighborhoods. Open to both men and women, the program utilizes a variety of private and public resources to achieve success.

The Piton Foundation ( www.piton.org )

Piton is a private operating foundation in Denver, Colorado, that develops and implements programs to improve public education, expand economic opportunities for families, and strengthen low-income neighborhoods in Denver. Piton has provided both direct and in-kind support to Making Connections-Denver. Some Piton staff are directly involved in MC-D priorities, including family economic success, social networking and early childhood education.

Project WISE ( www.denverprojectwise.org )

Project WISE (Women’s Initiative for Service and Empowerment) helps low-income women achieve economic goals. It provides mental health services, mentoring, leadership development and advocacy to women who are moving from welfare to work and to low-income families. Within the MC-D communities, Project WISE has formed two groups of women who are attending Community College of Denver. Through career counseling, coaching, and job search assistance, Project WISE is helping the women succeed.

The University of Denver ( www.du.edu/gssw )

The University of Denver (DU) Graduate School of Social Work has been assisting the MC–D Community Learning Network (CLN) on research and evaluation of outcomes that matter most to residents’ communities. DU also has provided training to CLN members on the six stages of evaluation so they can gather data directly and establish personal relationships with people participating in the multi-year Family Data Collection study.