DENVER — The majority of educators who participated in the Denver Public Schools Foundation's pilot Free Educator Housing Program have chosen to continue their careers with DPS, according to the Foundation's follow-up survey.
The DPS Foundation partnered with a developer on the program, which provided free housing to 15 DPS educators for one year.
“Ninety-three percent of the DPS educators who received the housing have chosen to stay within the district. And why that's so important is, these were early career teachers that received this housing, and some were even in hard-to-fill positions like special education or English as a second language teachers,” said Sara Hazel, president and CEO of the Denver Public School Foundation said.
She told Denver7 what's critical about the program is research shows that went teachers stay through their first three years, "they're more likely to stay five, which means they're more likely to stay more, and we know that teacher retention supports our students more. When teachers stay longer, our students are more likely to thrive.”
The foundation also found that 100% of participants reported being able to save money and reported a reduction in stress.
Hazel said the foundation hopes to continue the program.
“Our hope is that it continues to be of interest to other developers and property management companies who are looking to make an impact in the community. We want our teachers to create deep roots in Denver and stay here,” Hazel said.
Hazel said their program reinforces that affordable housing matters to educators and creative philanthropy can make a real difference.
