Read Our History
The summer of 1993 gained notoriety as the “Summer of Violence” or “Summer of Fear” in Denver, Colorado, as the state’s capital and largest metropolitan area witnessed 74 homicides. The number of crimes linked to youth violence included 6 homicides, 142 aggravated assaults, 29 simple assaults, and 18 robberies. Additionally, some 58 juveniles were treated for gunshot or stab wounds at Denver Health Medical Center (then the Denver General Hospital) one block north of the First Mennonite Church of Denver where CCFC was housed for 33 years. Nearly one out of every four murder suspects arrested in Denver was a juvenile male of color. Colorado ranked tenth in the nation for violent juvenile crime, most of that crime was among youth of color. In response to this violence and the police response that ensued, a small group of interested members of the First Mennonite Church of Denver led by Senior 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.
The Victim Offender Reconciliation Program of Denver, or VORP of Denver, was founded. For 20 years VORP provided conflict, resolution, community mediation, and restorative justice for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. In 2012, current Executive Director Angell Pérez was hired with the goal of ensuring VORP’s staff, programs, and organizational structure was informed and led by those most impacted by the work being done. Under Ms. Pérez’s leadership the organizations programs expanded to meet needs in the community, providing both intervention and prevention programing. With the acknowledgment that there are structures and systems in place that criminalize and over incarcerate our youth fail to keep our communities safe and exacerbate the mental health crises, trauma, and healing disparities that already exist in communities of color. Additional programs such as healing circles, culturally rooted mentoring programs, and girls programs to dismantle gender violence were created. In 2017 VORP embarked on a new strategic plan and began doing business as Colorado Circles for Change or CCFC. Since then CCFC continues to build off the incredible 30+ year history of the organization and truly embracing transformative justice as an approach to community safety, equitable heath, and ensuring the next 7 generations and beyond are prepared to create thriving communities. Currently CCFC offers 11 programs that are rooted Indigenous teachings and take a comprehensive approach to supporting youth by creating a safety net of support through the individual youth, their family, and the systems they engage in.
Watch Our Story
The summer of 1993 gained notoriety as the “Summer of Violence” or “Summer of Fear” in Denver, Colorado, as the state’s capital and largest metropolitan area witnessed 74 homicides. The number of crimes linked to youth violence included 6 homicides, 142 aggravated assaults, 29 simple assaults, and 18 robberies. Additionally, some 58 juveniles were treated for gunshot or stab wounds at Denver Health Medical Center (then the Denver General Hospital) one block north of the First Mennonite Church of Denver where CCFC was housed for 33 years. Nearly one out of every four murder suspects arrested in Denver was a juvenile male of color. Colorado ranked tenth in the nation for violent juvenile crime, most of that crime was among youth of color. In response to this violence and the police response that ensued, a small group of interested members of the First Mennonite Church of Denver led by Senior 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.
The Victim Offender reconciliation program of Denver or VORP of Denver was founded. For 20 years VORP provided conflict, resolution, community mediation, and restorative justice for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. In 2012, current Executive Director Angell Pérez was hired with the goal of ensuring VORP’s staff, programs and organizational structure was informed and led by those most impacted by the work being done. Under Ms. Pérez’s leadership the organizations programs expanded to meet needs in the community. With the acknowledgment that the structures and systems in place that criminalize and over incarcerate our youth fail to keep our communities safe and exacerbate the mental health crises, trauma, and healing disparities that already exist in communities of color. Additional programs such as healing circles, culturally rooted mentoring programs, and girls programs to dismantle gender violence were created. In 2017 VORP embarked on a new stratified plan and began doing business as Colorado Circles for Change or CCFC. Since then CCFC continues to build off the incredible 30+ year history of the organization truly embracing transformative justice as an approach to community safety, equitable heath, and ensuring the next 7 generations and beyond are prepared to create thriving communities. Currently CCFC offers 7 different programs that are rooted Indigenous teachings and take a comprehensive approach to supporting youth by creating a safety net of support through the individual youth, their family, and the systems they engage in.
Watch Our Story
CCFC's Approach
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Healing Informed
CCFC’s work is relationship centered and focuses on the gifts (assets) of the youth, family, and community in which they live. We emphasis the interconnectedness we have within our communities and work collaboratively with youth and their families to provide a safety net of support. It is important that we provide an intentional space that offers youth the opportunity to connect with elders and we ensure staff and volunteers model skills for recognizing triggers, calming, centering, and staying present during emotionally pressuring moments. Our work is informed by the culture, gender, age, and other identities of our youth to ensure youth feel connected, safe, and trusting of our staff, volunteers, and space. Healing generational wounds to build resilience and coping skills is key in our approach to transformational healing. Self-care for youth, families, staff, and volunteers is weaved into the fabric of CCFC on all levels. We acknowledge trauma can impact personal development and how youth make decisions, therefore we focus on supporting the healthy development of youth within the four domains of healing and good health.
Culturally Rooted
CCFC’s work is rooted in the cultures, traditions, and ancient teachings of the youth and communities we serve. In a society that has shamed youth for cultural behaviors, beliefs, folklore, and practices, CCFC knows these are strengths that need to be honored and cultivated. Ancestral and historic traditions are weaved into every aspect of the organization. We root our work in community values that are intergenerational to cultivate a sense of identity, belonging, and kinship. CCFC works to cultivate a strong sense of community support mirroring an extended family to strengthen the sacred circle embracing them.
Restorative & Transformative
CCFC has continued to embrace values that focus on healing harm caused by crime and supporting youth in changing behaviors.
CCFC has taken Restorative Justice to a deeper level of Transformative Justice (TJ) and captures TJ by taking the principles and practices of Restorative Justice beyond the criminal justice system. It is a way of practicing accountability which acknowledges individual experiences and identities and works to actively resist the criminalization of youth, keep them in school, out of the criminal justice system, transform decision making, and create safe and healthy communities.
The focus of TJ is to begin a journey of transformational healing for youth, families, and community by focusing on the root causes of harm (crime) while creating a safety net of support for youth. This is done by addressing chronic stress, generational wounds and trauma, lack of support, and resources to develop empathy, heal the harm, and transform behaviors.
Transformative Justice also actively works to transform systems and address issues such as poverty, under resourced schools and communities, the cradle to prison pipeline, the war on drugs, and the prison industrial complex that disproportionately impact communities of color.
Racial Justice
In 2011 the founders of CCFC (known as VORP at the time) recognized various forms of societal issues rooted in racialized oppression impacted the lives of youth in the Metro Denver area, and race was at the forefront of that oppression. There continue to be extreme disparities in education, incarceration, those living in poverty, and in overall health. Youth of color face various forms of violence rooted in racism and oppression that includes ideological (ex: stereotyped as criminals), institutional (ex: school to prison pipeline), interpersonal (ex: being feared as criminal, woman clenching purse when youth enters elevator), and internalized (ex: joining a gang). It is critical we not only acknowledge racism is a very real thing in the everyday lives of our youth, but we work to provide a space that compensates for and heals the racism they experience. We work to provide an equitable environment and interactions with youth and families that incorporate direct conversations about how racism causes harm, chronic stress, and trauma. CCFC sees advancing racial justice at the core of our work and we build a knowledge base and tools to dismantle racism.
Healing Informed
CCFC’s work is relationship centered and focuses on the gifts (assets) of the youth, family and community in which they live. We emphasis the interconnectedness we have within our communities and work collaboratively with youth and their families to provide a safety net of support. It is important that we provide an intentional space that offers youth the opportunity to connect with elders and we ensure staff, and volunteers model skills for recognizing triggers, calming, centering, and staying present during emotionally pressuring moments. Our work is informed by the culture, gender, age, and other identities of our youth to ensure youth feel connected, safe, and trusting of our staff, volunteers and space. Healing generational wounds to build resilience and coping skills is key in our approach to transformational healing. Self-care for youth, families, staff and volunteers is weaved into the fabric of CCFC on all levels. We acknowledge trauma can be central to development and a wide range of adaptations in which youth make decisions therefore we focus on supporting the healthy development of youth within what we can the four domains of healing and good health. Our organizational journey is that of healing harm/hurt and emotional, mental and spiritual wounds.
Culturally rooted
CCFC’s work is rooted in the cultures, traditions, and ancient teachings of the youth and communities we serve. In a society that has shamed youth for cultural behaviors, beliefs, folklore, and practices, CCFC knows these are strengths that need to be honored and cultivated. Ancestral and historic traditions are weaved into every aspect of the organization. We root our work in community values that are intergenerational to cultivate a sense of identity, belonging, and kinship. CCFC works to cultivate a strong sense of community support mirroring an extended family to strengthen the sacred circle embracing them.
Restorative and Transformative
CCFC has continued to embrace values that focus on healing harm caused by crime and supporting youth in changing behaviors.
CCFC has taken Restorative Justice to a deeper level of Transformative Justice (TJ) and captures TJ by taking the principles and practices of Restorative Justice beyond the criminal justice system. It is a way of practicing accountability which acknowledges individual experiences and identities and works to actively resist the criminalization of youth, keep them in school, out of the criminal justice system, transform decision making, and create safe and healthy communities.
The focus of TJ is to begin a journey of transformational healing for youth, families, and community by focusing on the root causes of harm (crime) while creating a safety net of support for youth. This is done by addressing chronic stress, generational wounds and trauma, lack of support, and resources to develop empathy, heal the harm, and transform behaviors.
Transformative Justice also actively works to transform systems and address issues such as poverty, under resourced schools and communities, the cradle to prison pipeline, the war on drugs, and the prison industrial complex that disproportionately impact communities of color.
Racial Justice
In 2011 the founders of CCFC (known as VORP at the time) recognized various forms of societal issues rooted in racialized oppression impacted the lives of youth in the Metro Denver area in very negative ways and race was at the forefront of that oppression. There continue to be extreme disparities in education, incarceration, those living in poverty, and in health. Youth of color face various forms of violence rooted in racism and oppression that includes ideological (ex: stereotyped as criminals), institutional (ex: school to prison pipeline), interpersonal (ex: being feared as criminal, woman clenching purse when Black youth enters elevator) and internalized (ex: joining a gang). It is critical we not only acknowledge racism is a very real thing in the everyday lives of our youth but we work to provide a space that compensates for the racism they experience. We work to provide an equitable environment and interactions with youth and families that incorporate direct conversations about how racism causes harm and trauma. CCFC sees advancing racial justice at the core of our work and we build a knowledge base and tools to dismantle racism.