Organizational Activities

As Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives (Open Door) embarks on its 21 st year of serving the Denver Metro Area, fundamental shifts in strategy and program implementation have been developed. From its inception in 1986, Open Door was created to fill an urgent community need to build a community-based program that addressed and alleviated the devastating effects of increasing gang activity and violence. In recent years, Open Door has adjusted its focus to a preventive posture. This is an attempt to address the larger socio-economic issues that surround the problem of gang violence. Open Door is now seriously focused on prevention by providing alternative choices, understanding opportunities, and presenting new realities for a healthier lifestyle for urban youth.

Open Door accomplishes its mission by utilizing a combination of in-school and after-school based, community outreach and summer programs. Through the implementation of its various sub-programs over 100 elementary age children receive intensive tutoring, character education and recreational programs. Their parents receive monthly parenting classes and also have home visits. Open Door identifies an additional 10-15 youth, ages 12-15, that have continually been involved in negative behaviors that have resulted in drastic consequences in an effort to provide intensive intervention and redirect their Jives. The Youth Outreach and Professional Development Programs provide additional service to an additional 100 people throughout the Denver area.

Core Open Door Programs

Open Door's most important goal is to prevent kids from ever joining gangs and therefore has developed successful programs that focus on prevention among elementary aged children. These programs are tailored for schools, corporations, other non-profit agencies, law enforcement agencies and civic groups. The programs seek to educate as many as possible and are designed to involve all segments of our community in the education of gang-related violence. Services for 2007 were initiated and authorized by Open Door's Board of Directors, the Executive Director; 189 volunteers, providing 4,474 volunteer hours.

Open Door uses a multi-pronged approach to accomplish its goals. Open Door provides awareness, prevention and intervention services to youth, to families and to the community. It addresses gang-related issues through the following programs:

• Professional Development
• Academic and Character Education Program (ACE)
• Parent Connection
• Intensive Intervention and Redirection Program (IIR)
• Youth Outreach Unit
  
  

• Professional Development
Open Door is committed to enhancing the knowledge and skills of professionals working with youth and families. Open Door's multidisciplinary focus emphasizes the need for all professionals working with youth to have a common understanding of complex issues. Training programs are specifically designed to meet the needs of the profession taking into consideration geographical location, cultural competencies and professional objectives. Open Door trains on average 2 times a month to groups of professionals ranging from treatment center workers to church leaders. Training topics include prevention, intervention, and treatment regarding gangs and other youth sub-cultures, family and youth violence, school failure, trauma/crisis, victimization, as well as community intervention strategies.

• Academic and Character Education Program (ACE)
Understanding the philosophy that the most effective way to control the growth of gangs in the community is to stop the recruitment of potential youth into the gang, the ACE Program is designed to reach out to school children ages 5-14 through daily in-school and after-school programs. Among other things, daily programs address three potential risk factors that have been proven to lead to anti-social behavior. Those are-poor academic skills, lack of pro-social decision-making and attitudes; and, lack of adult supervision during high-risk times of the day. During the normal school year the ACE Program operates at Wyatt-Edison Charter School in cooperation with administrators and staff. It is conducted after¬school and consists of a snack, homework and reading help and character education and developmental activities that promote self-discipline and higher value development. Recreational and sports activities are also provided to round out the experience. Open Door also provides structured activities for youth during holiday and summer breaks that creates exposure to experiences outside their usual urban environment. These activities include trips to the Zoo, Museum of Nature and Science, Art Museum, local Universities, and regional parks in the region. The goals of these programs are to provide structure and adult supervision during at risk times of the day and year, and to provide exposure to cultural activities that will expand thinking about future potential and opportunities for them as they grow.

• Parent Connection
The Parent Connection includes monthly parent/child support groups and in-home visits. The meetings and visits are intended to assist parents in helping their children to build the skills necessary to prevent participation in gang activities. In addition, group meetings provide an opportunity for parents who are experiencing similar challenges a chance to support, assist one another and solve common problems.

• Intensive Intervention and Redirection Program (IIR)
The IIR Program mandates the identification of 5-10 youth that have continually been involved in negative behaviors that have resulted in drastic consequences. These youth are assigned to a Prevention Specialist that will work intensively with them and their families in an effort to redirect their anti-social behaviors and attitudes. This will be accomplished by the use of effective youth development approaches designed to create more supportive and asset-rich environments that connect these youth to their school communities, engage them in learning, promote their resilience, and reduce their involvement in substance abuse, violence, and other at-risk behaviors.

• Youth Outreach Unit
The Youth Outreach Unit acts as the critical link providing support during the difficult times of need, as well as creating a bridge to long-term intervention and support systems. Appropriate crisis intervention to victims and witnesses of violence can be crucial in promoting positive healing and coping skills, as well as diffusing future occurrences of violence. Responsibilities of the Youth Outreach Unit includes:

• Responding to crisis situations;
• Monitoring and crowd support at public events;
• Follow-up and tracking of youth who have received services through Open Door;
• Assisting with the ACE and IIR Programs;
• Family visits; and Group presentations to schools, businesses, and youth facilities.
  
  
  

Prevention Programs

After School Education, Bonding and Character program (AEBC)

This program is designed to reach out to school children ages five through twelve. The activities are conducted in Denver Public Schools (DPS) facilities in cooperation with the DPS Foundation and United Way. Activities consist of an after-school snack followed by homework assistance, mentoring and recreational activities. At the end of every session, a strong emphasis is put on self-discipline, self-improvement and character education that help the children to make positive choices when confronted by negative influences. Wyatt Edison Charter School donate their space and materials to Open Door to provide after-school prevention programming twice weekly to the elementary school children. The average daily attendance is in the high ninety percent. To date, there are 157 students in the after school program.

In addition, every effort is made to communicate with parents and guardians and develop strong relationships with entire families. Monthly parent meetings are held in an effort to build relationships and educate parents and guardians. Food baskets and Christmas presents are also provided to all involved families. The program provides transportation home to ensure the safety of those who participate, as well as, occasional excursions to sporting and special events within the metropolitan Denver area on evenings, vacations, and weekends.

Open Door has established an excellent relationship with Colorado Christian University. The University places students with Open Door to work in the elementary schools. This has provided the agency with the ability to provide increased individual attention to the children. Parents of the program are also key volunteers. The agency provides opportunities that can be performed at the school or at home if the parents work during program hours.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.

Summer Day Camp and Teen Program

The Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives Summer Day Camp and Teen Program will consist of a three-dimensional service to youth and families of children ages, five to eighteen years old living in the northeast Denver community. It will include:

The Daily Program

This program is designed to serve elementary age children who need daycare, supervision and enrichment activities. This particular need has escalated in the past few years due to welfare reform which dictates that parents who receive social assistance must seek employment, attend school, or do both. The need is further fueled by the number of aging grandparents who are caring for their grandchildren.

It is our intention to expand our existing Summer Program from 30 children to 45 children. The program components would continue to include literacy support, spiritual growth, excursions, recreational outings and special events. By providing a well-rounded program, the children develop positive attitudes, experience the world outside of their neighborhood and enjoy a summer full of fun activities, safe from negative influences.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.

Experience has taught us that there is no better way to develop a strong bond and the trust of a child, then to spend time with him or her in a situation away from their environment and outside of their comfort zone. In past summers, we have taken children along with staff members for a week at Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je, a camp in the Rocky Mountains, approximately 90 miles west of Denver. We have found upon return from these camp experiences, that the children respond to the staff in a more positive and trusting manner. These relationships result in redirection. It is our plan to send more children along with a staff member, to additional camp sessions each summer.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.

• How to complete job applications and preparing for interviews
• How to relate and communicate with younger children
• How to dress appropriately for work
• How to relate to a supervisor in a positive manner
• How to work with other employees as a team
• How to develop positive work ethics

The criteria for recruitment of these teens will include a strong interest in community service, a caring attitude and willingness to help younger children and positive school participation. The recruits that complete the six-week training period and continue to show an interest and growth in their training, will then be employed as program assistants in the Summer Day Camp Program.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.

Youth Resource Unit

The Youth Resource Unit consists of four to six young adults recruited from within the community served by Open Door. The primary function of the unit will be to serve as an extension of the After School and Summer Program reaching out to the families of the children Open Door serves in an effort to identify problems away from school that could lead to gang involvement or other negative activities. They will also be responsible for reaching out and following up on youth that were involved with Open Door but have moved on to middle school.

These resource leaders will have either grown up surrounded by gang activity or have actual experiences in gang involvement and have made admirable progress overcoming these negative influences and in changing their lifestyles.

The Youth Resource Unit will function as a team in order to achieve the programmatic goals set forth by Open Door. All members of the unit will participate in an orientation and training period to ensure that they understand clearly the policies and procedures governing all staff of Open Door. They will also receive training on relationship building and intervention strategies.

All members of the unit will assist with the After School and Summer Programs.

• They will become acquainted with all of the children in an effort to develop strong relationships and rapport.
• They will do home visits and maintain positive communications between the families.
• Unit members will be available to partner with Rev. Kelly when necessary to stifle potential violence or confrontations.
• They will also serve as monitors for crowd control at special events, such as the Juneteenth celebration and the MLK day parade.
• Lastly, they will partner with Rev. Kelly or other staff members to do group presentations for schools, service clubs, churches, and other venues.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.

Public Education

Community Education is provided through speaking engagements to civic organizations, churches, schools, and businesses. Open Door provides educational information for the general public, making at least two presentations per week. The purpose of this program is to increase the awareness of gang activity and solicit assistance in prevention. Presentations made to schools and other youth groups are designed to reduce gang recruitment activities.
Former gang members volunteer their time to participate in these prevention activities. One of the goals of this program is to give younger children the information and tools they need to resist the pressures to join gangs and participation in drug-related activities.

Communities experiencing youth issues can access consultation services free of charge. These services assist the community in understanding the issues they are confronting and in accessing available resources. During 2007, we made 93 presentations to schools, churches and other community agencies.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.

The Cool Cars Program

A new focus of Open Door has been the inclusion of the "Cool Cars" Project which includes low-riders, racecars and racing bikes. Open Door has teamed up with the Eternity Car Club and the Fox Racing Team to establish certitude in an effort to reach younger children in elementary and middle schools. Rev. Kelly believes that one of the keys to keeping youths out of gangs is to reach them when they're young and impressionable. "We want to plant the seeds in their lives." Children of today are into both audio and video entertainment as a way to pacify the voids in their lives. The "Cool Cars" Project exposes the children to the flamboyant world of automobiles and bikes, breaks down barriers and opens up channels of communication.

For more information on getting involved with this program, please call 303 893-4264.