Norman Mestas and Dat Bui have gotten to know each other over the past couple of years. They talk about what’s going on in school, life in general and, of course, sports. Specifically baseball, Norman’s favorite.
The two were brought together through the program Denver Kids, a partnership between Denver Public Schools and the Rotary Club of Denver that works to keep students on track to graduation and possibly a post-secondary education.
Norman, 14, is a freshman at Rocky Mountain Prep SMART and in his second year with Denver Kids. Bui is an educational and social, emotional and learning counselor who has regular meetings with Norman and is available at other times. They sometimes play catch at lunch time and in the summer.
“For my first year of Denver Kids, Mr. Dat helped me when I needed help on my schoolwork presentations. When I needed help, I could always go to him, be able to text him,” Norman said. “It’s helped me a lot through school, grades and all of that.”
Guidance and help from counselors like Bui is among the services and programs Denver Kids offers students in the Denver school district. When the organization was founded in 1946, it was called Denver Boys and the focus was to support boys who had left school during World War II to help provide for their families.
Denver Girls was started in 1970 and merged with Denver Boys in 1993. Rotary Club members are still heavily involved, Denver Kids CEO Jay Grimm said. Several are on the board of directors, are donors and serve as mentors.
“The program has definitely changed since 1946, from being predominantly white, young men to now being a really diverse community,” said Grimm.
About 97% of the students are on free or reduced lunch and are people of color. Students are referred to the program by school personnel and counselors. The program expects to serve 1,000 students this year.
Denver Kids spokeswoman Bailey Bounds said the organization’s money comes from foundations; government grants; corporations; special events; individual donations; and significant in-kind support from DPS, including office space, access to students and schools and technology support.
Michelle Maldonado, the organization’s vice president of development, said students referred to Denver Kids might be struggling in school or could be a grade or two behind. She said the program takes a holistic approach to the student’s academic success and social and emotional growth.
“They may have attendance or behavior issues,” Maldonado said. “With some support, intervention, prevention, kind of addressing what those individual’s needs are, they can really thrive.”
Each student is paired with an educational counselor. Other staff can provide guidance about colleges or other post-secondary programs and financial aid and scholarships. About a third of the students are the first in their family to graduate from high school and about two-thirds are the first to pursue post-secondary education.
The program offers a year of supportive services after a student graduates.
Denver Kids participants had an 86% on-time graduation rate for the class of 2022. That exceeded the DPS rate by nearly 15 percentage points for the same population of students: those on free or reduced lunch.
The program is voluntary. Parents or guardians must give their OK for students to participate. The educational counselors will work with parents and caregivers to help them understand and navigate the school system.
An aspect of Denver Kids that has been around since the beginning is a volunteer mentor program. Interested adults go through training and are matched with a student. Grimm said a mentor can be one more adult in a child’s life who shows interest and provides support.
Maldonado said Denver Kids needs more mentors. Only 10% to 15% of the students are currently matched with volunteers.
“These are folks who are providing more enrichment opportunities, maybe outside of schools, on the weekend,” Grimm said, “just to see what potential is out there and see things they’ve never seen before.”
Denver Kids
Address: 780 N. Grant St., Denver, CO 80203.
In operation since: 1946
Number of employees: 32
Annual budget: $3.47 million
