Denver Indian Family Resource Center (DIFRC) was recently awarded $100,000 of grant funding by The Colorado Health Foundation to support the expansion of youth prevention services for children impacted by the child welfare system. Services support children and families through pandemic recovery support, mental health wellness, sobriety, and life skills through community reconnection, elder mentorship, and cultural activities. DIFRC’s mission is to strengthen vulnerable American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and families through collaborative and culturally-responsive services.
“DIFRC is pleased to receive this grant award and put it towards expanding our youth services by hiring youth programming staff who will implement activities that will create meaningful activities for and in collaboration with our youth.” said Tallerita Tunney Rogers, Executive Director, DIFRC. “The hiring of dedicated youth programming staff will allow our organization to provide dedicated attention and support to our youth’s needs, while allowing our Family Engagement staff to continue to support the youth’s family’s overall needs. By focusing on youth’s needs, we can help establish strong resiliency and life skills to support their family’s growth and development while serving as a prevention tool for their own future families.”
“At DIFRC, we are seeing firsthand the urgent desires of our families to provide focused attention and support to youth in ways that they can put into practice the life skills that their families are oftentimes learning alongside them. We believe that the curricula we use supports the unique needs of today’s AI/AN youth and that our role in supporting the families we do includes developing our youth to become the healthy parents of our future grandchildren. With the creation of these positions, the availability of more youth slots will be forthcoming.”
The grant funds will create Youth Program Manager and Program Coordinator positions. Interested applicants and youth ages 10-17 years are encouraged to follow DIFRC’s website and social media for announcements of the application process for both employment and youth group activities.