Hope House breaks ground on $5.4 million Early Learning Center

BY RYLEE DUNN RDUNN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

About a hundred teen moms will have a massive burden lifted o their shoulders soon, as Hope House Colorado broke ground on its new $5.4 million Early Learning Center, which will provide all-day childcare for 104 of the nonpro t’s moms and sta .

All seats at the Early Learning Center are eligible for parents enrolled in Colorado Child Care Assistance Program for Families, and about 10 will be reserved for Hope House sta working at the center. e project broke ground on April 1 with a large crowd of onlookers in tow and is slated for completion in fall 2024. e project was initially planned as a long-term objective for Hope House — an Arvada-based nonpro t that helps teen moms achieve selfsu ciency through help with housing, transportation and childcare — but was jump-started by a $1 million gift from the Ackerman Trust after the trustee, Bill Ackerman, died. Ackerman was a barber from Evergreen who was abandoned by his mother during the Great Depression. He went to live in a group home and earned a prosperous life for himself, but wanted to help others avoid the same hardships he went through.

“( e donation) moved it up by 18 months,” Lisa Steven, Hope House’s founder and executive director. “We had not planned to start that early.”

Steven said Hope House has $700,000 left to raise, which she said they hope to achieve through grants and individual donations. Steven added that Hope house prefers to be debt-free and currently has no debt on any of the buildings they own.

Steven also highlighted that Colorado is considered a “childcare desert” and only has one childcare slot available for every three children who need them. She said that quality childcare can make a world of di erence, especially for the young moms Hope House serves.

“Everything we do is based on building relationships and trust,” Steven said. “(Moms) may be starting at 16, 17 (years old) and they’ve never left a child with anybody besides family, and they’re very anxious about that. So, the fact that we o er an Early Learning Program is critical for building that transition pipeline.”

Hope House currently o ers a three-hour-per-day childcare program for moms, but when the Center is completed, it will operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., providing more coverage.

Maria, a Hope House mom, said she’s been using the nonpro t’s Early Learning Program for ve years, and it’s allowed her more exibility in her life to achieve her goals.

“It has been very helpful in many ways, while I have been utilizing it I have been able to attend classes at hope house such as self-care classes, parenting classes, nancial classes,” Maria said. “It has bene ted my kids so much, they have interacted a lot more with kids while been in there, they love all the volunteers, and also how they do many bene cial things to help them learn.” e groundbreaking on April 1 was attended by almost 100 community members, including Arvada Mayor Marc Williams and District 2 City Councilmember Lauren Simpson.

“ e celebration on Saturday is really a celebration for our whole community,” Steven said. “We’re so proud and so humbled to be part of the Arvada community, just operating Hope house out of Arvada has been a joy. Our community is so supportive, the fact that our community is coming together again to support and empower our teen moms is so important and special to us.

“We love being part of the Arvada community,” Steven concluded.