Dear Community,
A Quarterly Report on Impact: Spring 2025
Dear Community,
Thank you for supporting the Denver Public Schools Foundation and our vision to unite the community toward student success. Please enjoy our Quarterly Impact Report to learn more about how your contributions are making a meaningful difference for our students, educators, and families.
Let's Get REEL: The DPS Foundation Impact
A new initiative for DPS Foundation, Exceptional Student Services (ESS) ensures that all students can access and engage in learning, and experience belonging in their school communities. Programs within ESS that could benefit from funding support include training and development for social workers and school psychologists, external mental health partnerships, such as Care Solace, which provides additional mental health support for students and their families.
The DPS Foundation supports Care Solace, a local organization that helps navigate the mental health care system on behalf of DPS students and schools. Colorado Health Access Fund, a fund of The Denver Foundation, provides 100% of the funding for Care Solace. Many thanks to The Colorado Health Access Fund for supporting this initiative and making this possible for DPS students and families.
Check out the REEL impact in this video interview!
“School social workers and school psychologists have so many roles here in DPS, that having the additional support through Care Solace is substantial. It connects families immediately to the resources they need and is a huge partnership for not just our students and their families, but for the DPS staff members as well.”
– Kaylee, DPS School Social Worker
Educator Housing
When educators are supported, we all benefit.
At the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, the DPS Foundation partnered with Grand Peaks to offer 10 Denver Public Schools educators one year of rent-free housing. AvalonBay Communities joined this winter, providing five more educators with the same benefit. Our goal is to make this a regular practice, supporting teachers and investing in the future of our children and community.
Many thanks to both Grand Peaks and AvalonBay Communities for your continued support of our DPS students and educators!
To learn more about our Educator Housing Initiative and the positive impact it has on DPS educators, click here.
Pilot Program Funding with Chevron
During discussions with Chevron about their generous commitment to the DPS Foundation, they expressed a strong interest in supporting literacy in a way that was both distinctive and aligned with the district’s needs. It was determined that a middle school pilot project would not only address a unique group—since literacy efforts are typically focused on elementary students—but also offer flexible support for teachers, making it the ideal choice. Two DPS schools that have already begun planning how they will utilize these funds are Bruce Randolph Middle School and Montbello Middle School.
Funds At Work
Finishing the School Year Strong
Montbello Middle School will be using the funds to support their English Language Arts (ELA) team, with a focus on planning for the final unit of instruction to ensure students finish the school year strong. These funds will help pay for team planning sessions, specifically for internalizing the final components of the last unit. In May, Montbello’s ELA staff will move onto revising their previous subject plans to better target the priority learning of the topic.
Impacting Student Outcomes
Additionally, Bruce Randolph School will also be using a portion of these funds to support their English Language Arts (ELA) team. The funds will support teacher planning time, including meeting with their team’s specialists to determine the specific scope and sequence for the dedicated time. This time will also focus on providing their staff with structured planning time to internalize a new curricular resource (the new Middle School ELA district supported curriculum, Amplify ELA). Their goal is to allow educators to better learn new texts and curricular structures, which will ultimately accelerate teacher preparation to positively impact student outcomes.
Supporting Long Term Multilingual Learners: A Progress Update
The College Ready on Track Network, supported in part by the DPS Foundation, will continue assisting schools in their educational efforts throughout the 2024-2025 school year. In 2019, the district received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement Continuous Improvement strategies across the district. This initiative paved the way for the College Ready on Track team to provide secondary educators with opportunities to collaborate on shared challenges, design effective solutions, measure their impact, and refine instructional practices—all with the goal of improving student outcomes.
This year, the College Ready on Track Network brought together content-area teachers from nine DPS high schools to collaborate and deepen their understanding of how to support long-term multilingual learners. To learn more, please visit College Ready on Track.
Preparing Students for Career & College Success
The DPS Foundation’s Career & College Success initiative strengthens the pipeline to success so that our students feel confident and ready for the next step in their journey after graduation. This initiative supports one of the largest district-run work-based learning programs in the country and a nationally recognized career pathways model.
Learn More About Our Funds at Work:
- At the elementary level, Career & College Success is actively developing grade-appropriate lessons and investing in physical resources to create sustainable career exploration opportunities for K–2 students. This initiative is laying the foundation for young learners to explore their interests and build essential skills for the future.
- Additionally, the Spark Summer Job Shadow program has begun. This summer, Career & College Success is partnering with 13 DPS middle schools to recruit between 75-100 students, helping them gain meaningful exposure to various industries and career pathways.
The impact of these opportunities has been profound, empowering teachers with resources and training while inspiring students to explore their futures with curiosity and confidence.
I really like the idea of having students start thinking about their future careers based on things they enjoy doing.
DPS Foundation in the Community
The DPS Foundation staff have been busy spending time out in the Denver community!
DPS Foundation team members spoke at the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation’s Impact Denver event for Education Day (top right photo), the Colorado Business Hall of Fame to celebrate the Icons of Innovation (top left photo), and the National Multifamily Housing Conference in Las Vegas with Grand Peaks (bottom right photo). Our team has also been represented as a participant in the Downtown Denver Leadership Program. Additionally, we held our full team retreat at Manual High School in January (bottom left photo).
