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In 1968 Metro Denver Partners was founded by a small group of
business people and community volunteers in response to a growing
rate of juvenile delinquency in Denver. Their goal was to provide
youth with the discipline, maturity and direction needed to prevent
further involvement with the law, and to become stable and
productive members of the community. We continue to work toward that
goal and have expanded our range of programs to better serve at-risk
youth. As a result of being matched with adult mentors, our youth
gain self esteem and confidence, show higher achievement and take
increased personal responsibility for their own actions. To date
we have served over 15,500 youth.
 The youth we serve are between the ages of 8 and 17
years old and come to us through referrals from schools,
social services, and other human service agencies. All
of our youth exhibit risk factors such as problems at
school, living at the poverty level, and difficulties at
home that have the potential to negatively impact their
futures. Our youth are called Junior Partners and their
participation in our programs, as well as the
participation of their parents/guardians, is completely
voluntary.
Our mentors are
adult community volunteers, whom we refer to as
Senior Partners.
They serve as friends, role models, and advocates for
Junior Partners. They dedicate their time to listening
to Junior Partners and to providing a consistent and
stable relationship that will promote positive decision
making both now and in the future. This relationship
develops over time as the Junior and Senior Partner
share in fun activities that they plan based on their
common interests. Senior Partners do not replace a
youth’s parents, but instead serve as an additional
support for Junior Partners as they face the challenges
of every day life. The only real qualification to be a
Senior Partner is a love for young people. Each
volunteer has something to offer a Junior Partner simply
by sharing a bit of his or her time.
Senior and Junior
Partners commit to spending time together every week for
one year, although many continue far beyond that goal.
To facilitate the building of strong relationships and
to help maintain those relationships once they are
established, Partners offers a variety of services such
as ongoing case management, monthly free or low-cost
activities, Life Skills trainings, and activities
especially for mentors and staff that are called Senior
Partners Only (SPOs.)
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