11 Womens Luncheon Program-revised.indd - Mile High United Way

30% of Colorado’s 3rd Graders can’t read at grade level.
Children who start behind stay behind.
Eighty-five percent of a child’s brain is developed by age five.
Children in poverty hear as many as 30 million fewer words than
their wealthier peers before they reach kindergarten.
School Readiness Initiative
Mile High United Way’s School Readiness Initiative
provides thousands of children from low-income families access to
high-quality early education so they enter school ready to learn and
read at grade level by the end of the third grade.
Colorado’s graduation rate is 78%.
50% of students in Denver don’t graduate.
Dropouts cost taxpayers more than $8 billion annually
and they earn $10,000 less a year than workers with diplomas.
Youth Success Initiative
Mile High United Way’s Youth Success Initiative provides thousands of students
access to mentoring, quality afterschool programs, tutoring and dropout
prevention, gang and violence intervention programs. Students who
participate in mentoring programs are 90% more likely to advance to
the next grade and 75% more likely to graduate from high school.
Photo Credit: Amy Loomis
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SPECIAL NEEDS FOR SUCCESS
3-year-old William is a bright child with sensory
issues. Certain sights, sounds - even smells can
send him into a rage. Traditional pre-schools and
daycares weren’t equipped to provide him with
the support he needed. He wasn’t learning. He
wasn’t progressing. Then William’s parents found
help through Mile High United Way’s partner
agency Children’s Outreach Project a nonprofit
therapeutic preschool and child care center that
offers integrated, quality, early childhood education
to typical accelerated and developmentally delayed
children. Now, William is thriving and on the
road to success in the classroom and in life.
We LIVE UNITED when children like
William have the support they need to
learn and grow.
Give. Advocate. Volunteer.
HAPPY TRAILS TO PROMISING LIVES
Juan and Sazian both struggled as teenagers. Juan
became a teen father. Sazian dropped out of school.
They were both going nowhere fast until, with the
help of Mile High United Way’s partner agency
Mile High Youth Corps, an organization that helps
youth make a difference in themselves and their
community through meaningful community service
opportunities and educational experiences, they
got a second chance and are working, learning
and planning for college. We LIVE UNITED when
young men and women graduate from high school
prepared for career training, higher education
and life.
www.UnitedWayDenver.org
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Photo Credit: Amy Loomis