THE BRIDGE PROJECT
The Bridge Project believes that education is the key to leading an individual away from poverty and into self-sufficiency. They serve a highly impacted population, with 62% Latino, 14% African-American and 9.4% Asian-Pacific Islander participants. Their mission is to provide educational, social and career opportunities to individuals living in Denver public housing developments and the surrounding area.

The Bridge Project has partnered with YFP to bring yoga to its students, staff and volunteers.

DENVER CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (DCIS)
DCIS prepares students for college by developing multilingual, interculturally competent citizens who are actively involved in our rapidly changing world.

Founded in 1985, DCIS is a world-class magnet program of Denver Public Schools. With a firm foundation of challenging and relevant coursework, intercultural interaction and international opportunities, DCIS students really learn by doing, choosing, and directing many of their own internationally focused projects.

Students of DCIS represent one of the racial and ethnic groups most affected by health disparities in Colorado with a student population of 58.5% Latino, as well as having 64.4% of the school population receiving free or reduced price lunch. DCIS is also situated in two of Denver’s poorest and highly impacted communities.

DCIS leadership believes offering yoga greatly enhances the students’ ability to constructively release their energy, strengthen their bodies, and calm their minds.

DENVER HEALTH

Yoga for the People offers donation-based classes open to the general public onsite at Denver Health’s main campus.  Denver Health is committed to high quality health care for many vulnerable populations; superb emergency and trauma care; public health vigilance; educating the next generation of health care professionals, and research to patient care.

Denver Health is Colorado’s primary “safety net” institution. In the last 10 years, this compassionate organization provided more than $2.1 billion in care for the uninsured. Nearly $276 million of that care was provided last year and more than 40 percent of the care was provided to uninsured patients. Twenty-five percent of all Denver residents, or approximately 150,000 individuals, receive their health care at Denver Health. One of every three children in Denver is cared for by Denver Health physicians.

FOCUS POINTS FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER

Focus Points serves primarily young, low-income, Spanish-speaking immigrant families in northeast and north central Denver through family-literacy programming. This consists of adult education (English as a Second Language, Adult Basic Education and Spanish GED classes); parenting information and workshops; Early Childhood Education in home- and center-based settings and Parent and Child Together activities in both our center and the homes of over 150 families with more than 200 children ages birth through five.  YFP provides bilingual classes in Spanish to young mothers in the program.

THE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM

The mission of The Empowerment Program is to provide education, employment assistance, health, housing referrals, and support services for women who are in disadvantaged positions due to incarceration, poverty, homelessness, HIV/AIDS infection and/or involvement in the criminal justice system. Empowerment’s goal is to decrease rates of recidivism by providing case management, support services, basic skills education, housing and resource coordination that can offer alternatives to habits and choices that may lead to criminal behaviors.  YFP provides yoga classes for the women Empowerment serves.

PROJECT WISE
Project WISE is an award-winning, local nonprofit that was founded in 1995 to provide support services for families moving from welfare to work and families with low incomes. Project WISE operates on an empowerment-based model, which provides mental health support, mentoring, leadership development and advocacy services to its families. Project WISE works exclusively with women who are receiving TANF and welfare-to-work benefits.

Project WISE participants want yoga as a tool for stress management. In addition, many of the women are survivors of physical and/or emotional abuse, and the Project WISE staff sees yoga as a way to reduce the resulting chronic health issues.

ROUNDUP FELLOWSHIP

Roundup Fellowship serves people with developmental disabilities-recognizing their dignity, affirming their ability to contribute, and helping them become as productive and self-reliant as possible.  Roundup’s array of services include: homes for children and adults, an on-ground school and day treatment program, supported-living apartments, a vocational program, community participation program, and in-home support for families.  In every setting, Roundup seeks to enable each participant to develop the skills and attitudes needed to function at home, on the job, and in society.  Roundup functions as an interdependent network of people giving and receiving from one another, and in the process, building long term relationships through commitment. YFP provided yoga to men with developmental disabilities at Roundup.

SOBESKY ACADEMY
Yoga programming at Sobesky supports individual needs, students’ emotional growth and well being, and stress reduction.  Sobesky Academy is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools Special Education continuum. They are licensed Day Treatment facilities that operate in cooperation with Jefferson Center for Mental Health. These programs are an alternative to out-of-district placement, and are designed to meet the intensive emotional, behavioral, and related academic needs of students with identified emotional disabilities. Staff is invested in promoting growth in these areas through the provision of a therapeutic and educational environment, which is highly structured, predictable, consistent and supportive.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO CANCER CENTER

The University of Colorado Cancer Center is the Rocky Mountain region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. Headquartered on the Anschutz Medical Campus, UCCC is a consortium of three state universities and five institutions. Together, 400+ members are working to ease the cancer burden through cancer care, research, education and prevention and control.  YFP provides restorative yoga classes for people who are being treated for cancer.

URBAN SERVANT CORPS

Urban Servant Corps is a one-year, full-time Lutheran volunteer program involved in ministries serving inner-city Denver. The USC works in cooperation with community agencies, churches, and individuals in the city as channels of God’s love and concern. USC volunteers bring a variety of gifts to the larger community. USC volunteer positions balance between working with direct service programs to address immediate needs, and advocating or networking with other organizations to work for long-term social change. YFP provides yoga to USC volunteers, to give back to those giving so much to cupport our community.

 

We also partner with like-minded yoga groups. These partnerships with our fellow yogi’s enable us to provide yoga to a broader group of people.

COREPOWER YOGA
CorePower Yoga’s (CPY) mission is to introduce everyone to the adventurous journey of yoga. Each year, CPY offers several teacher training scholarships to members of our partner agencies who wish to expand their understanding of yoga and build a self-sustaining yoga program in their local community. All graduates of the CPY 200-hour teacher certification program are encouraged to expand their understanding of how yoga can impact a person’s wellbeing and apply to become YFP apprentices. (YFP apprentices receive specialized training so that they can confidently and effectively lead yoga classes for our partner agencies.)

VITAL YOGA
With three donation-only studios in the Denver area, Vital Yoga seeks to make yoga accessible to all populations. YFP participants, who are looking for a yoga “studio” experience, are encouraged to visit one of their three welcoming locations. As part of the YFP apprentice program, Vital Yoga also provides master yoga instructors and studio space for workshops.