GOLDEN, Colo. — For many families, a few bad weeks or an unexpected emergency could be the difference between making rent that month or not.
That’s what Denver Rescue Mission is trying to tackle through their homelessness prevention program. The religious nonprofit launched their pilot program in fall of 2025, partnering with two school districts to locate children and families on the brink of homelessness and help them keep their homes.
See a report from Denver7's Alex Dowd in the video below:
Denver Rescue Mission President and CEO Dennis Van Kampen says starting in schools is one of the best ways to locate those struggling.
“They say, really, in the first week of school, they can identify a family or a student that's in crisis,” Van Kampen said. “They're really great at helping to understand this family needs some help. We have specially trained case managers that the staff can do a handoff of that family to us if the family agrees, and then we can help prevent them from ever becoming homeless.”
For the first year of the program, DRM worked with Jefferson County School District R-1 and Poudre School District, placing case workers in the district to help faculty and staff identify warning signs and help connect students and their families with resources.
Staff looks for holistic changes in a student’s life — they start showing up late or without lunch, or they start acting more withdrawn or disruptive in classes — to identify areas of need.
“In my over 20 years with Jeffco Public Schools, housing instability has been an ongoing challenge that we previously lacked the direct resources to support,” said Dave Kollar, the district’s Director of Student Engagement. “Families living in poverty or working paycheck-to-paycheck are often forced to make impossible choices. A single unexpected expense — like a car repair, a medical bill, or a spike in utilities — can threaten their housing or keep a child from getting to school. Partnering with DRM has provided one-time, emergency financial support. By resolving that immediate crisis, we keep students housed, in class, and ready to thrive both socially and academically.”
In the pilot year, Van Kampen counted 106 families — and 211 children — the program has kept in their homes through an average one-time $2,900 payment. Forty of those families had children in Jefferson County schools.
“This partnership has proven to be an indispensable lifeline for our families who are struggling and meet the criteria, and we hope to continue collaborating for years to come to ensure our students remain safe, housed, and connected to their schools,” said Kollar.
The program is entirely funded by Denver Rescue Mission donations.
“It's the least expensive program that we do because we don't need a building to do it,” said Van Kampen. “The only funds that we need are the funds for the case manager and then the funds to help the families. So at that point the ROI in business language is really strong because again if another community in Colorado called us and said could you help us do prevention here, we don't need to build a building. We just can go right ahead and we can build the program there with a caseworker and the funds.”
They are planning to expand for their first official year of the program.
“I think what we learned from the pilot was that this is needed and that this works,” Van Kampen said. “Our vision is in long term vision is to bring prevention throughout the entire state of Colorado whether that's us doing it or whether that's us helping other organizations and other communities to be able to do this.”
DRM is partnering with Clayton Early Learning — a Head Start and Early Head Start school in northeast Park Hill.
“We see far too many families experiencing homelessness or unstable housing,” a Clayton Early Learning representative said. “Our families work hard, but one unexpected event, like a car breaking down, a medical bill, or a loss in the family, can put a rent or mortgage payment out of reach for a month, which can quickly turn into a financial crisis. The Denver Rescue Mission's Homelessness Prevention Program gives us a way to help a family at exactly that moment, before they lose their housing. It's a natural fit for how we already work.”
All involved parties say they plan to continue working within this program until while the funding and the need remains.
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