The Colfax Community Network, which serves thousands of struggling families along Colfax Avenue, may suspend summer operations because of a drop in funding.
After a large foundation grant fell through, the network will decide next week whether to cancel a free summer program for kids living in motels and apartments along Colfax as well as programs that serve teen girls, mothers with toddlers, and provide meals, bus passes and general assistance to those in need.
Every cost in the network’s $300,000-a-year budget has been trimmed, but demand for help has more than doubled. Last year the group served 5,000 people living in squalid motels and apartments along Colfax. This year, the network is on pace to serve more than 10,000.
“Demand is increasing and for me it is terrifying to think where this community’s folks will turn if we are not going to be able to do this anymore,” executive director Brooke Davidson said.
Tuesday, the network’s board will consider shuttering the operation for June, July and August.
The network’s food bank is brimming and there are plenty of clothes and shoes in the cache. Those programs would not cease, although the network could whittle the food bank’s operations from every day down to three days a week.
But its operating dollars — money for rent, utilities, phone bills and salaries — have dwindled to near zero. Federal and state stimulus funding isn’t available until this fall. Several foundations have committed operating dollars, but not until the fall.
“We have families hungry and losing their homes right now,” Davidson said. “We need help with these operating dollars. Once we meet our needs, we are in a better position to serve others.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com
