Our work cannot happen without the support of our community. Together we can dismantle violence, incarceration, and heal generational trauma in the lives of youth and their families, invest in our youth today!
- "It helped me get everything out that I needed to get out like to tell my mom what I needed to."
- "I learned a lot about what I did and how it affects others."
- "I feel as though the class is conducted well. It has a great arrangement where the kids get to hear each others experiences and learn from each other to empower better choices for fellow colleagues."
- "That it helped me understand not to shoplift, and things about what I'm doing and how it could affect me and my family."
- "What I found most useful is that it taught my child that violence is not always the option you have to take."
- "I have lived and experienced a lot of things through this program that has helped me feel inspired and has helped me not only learn more about the people around me, but learn more about myself. and it makes me feel really powerful."
"I feel safe because we're all a family basically because we all have each others' backs and palabra".
"Some of the messages society says about girls like me is that we're not good people or that they want us out of here because we're "criminals" and things like that. The messages that I received about myself in Hueliti is that I'm the one who can change what other people say about me. It's in myself to be the better person."
-"What I would say about the program is mostly that it's life-changing because I would've went through life thinking about what society says about us and I would've brought myself down because of how much you hear things. Through Hueliti, it made me feel more powerful, more valued, more sacred, and more loved and made it feel like I had another family."
To create a pathway for our youth to discover sacred relationships with self, family, and community to reduce juvenile violence and incarceration so that youth can reach their full potential.
The Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) of Denver began in 1993 in response to the "Summer of Violence" that occurred in Denver, Colorado. A small group of interested members of the First Mennonite Church of Denver, led by Pastor Jerry Weaver, came together to determine what could be done to forestall another "Summer of Violence." This group acknowledged that specific societal forms of oppression, such as racism and poverty, contributed to the violence communities of color were experiencing and wanted to create an organization whose values were rooted in social justice, non-violent conflict resolution, intentional anti-racist approaches and was community led.
Throughout the years, VORP has provided an array of programs including mediation, non-violent resolution to conflict, restorative justice programming, and leadership development for youth and families. In response to youth and family feedback in 2016, VORP engaged in a listening campaign that included focus groups and data gathering to better connect to community and, in 2017, began doing business as Colorado Circles for Change (CCFC). As of 2019, the organization has served over 4000 youth and families who have been impacted by the criminal justice system, various forms of violence, and harm caused by racism and systemic oppression.
Organization name
Colorado Circles for Change
other names
Colorado Circles for Change, CCFC, VORP
1995
Category
Youth Development
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
430 West 9th AvenueMailing
430 West 9th Ave.Denver County, CO, US