Dear Kidpower Friends,

After several years of pandemic-related adjustments and disruption, it was a joy to be back to a sense of normalcy doing in-person programs again!  It was exciting to work from our new home at the Safe Passage building that we share with Safe Passage, Colorado Springs Police Department Crimes Against Children Unit, UCHealth, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, El Paso County DHS, and The Family Center. This collaborative environment has allowed us to partner better than ever with other agencies, increase efficiencies and capacity, and has given us an opportunity to tour community members through an operational space to educate them about what we do and why it is so important.

Sara (top), Jan (on slide)

In 2021-2022, Kidpower was effective in continuing to provide experiential, developmentally appropriate, evidence-based, trauma sensitive programs that teach young people how to build resilience, lower their risk of experiencing trauma, and stay safe. We trained 2,311 kids, teens, and adults in Colorado Springs, El Paso and Teller Counties, and the Denver metro areas. Last year, 59% of our programs were partially or fully funded, allowing us to maintain our commitment to ensure that all children may participate in our programs regardless of financial challenges.

Year-after-year, survey participants show a high level of confidence (99% to 100%) in the following outcomes: The workshop was very useful for their children; The workshop increased their children’s level of awareness and understanding about interpersonal safety; Kidpower skills are applicable in real life situations; They learned new ways to talk to their children about interpersonal safety; Instructors were knowledgeable about safety education; They would recommend the Kidpower program to other families. See below for this year’s survey results.

Other highlights of 2021 include the addition of a full-time program coordinator and an additional part-time instructor to support ever-increasing demand for workshops. We are grateful for the continued support of our donors and funders that helped make these staff additions possible.

We are moving into 2023-2024 with a number of new and continuing goals:

• Increase community awareness about the topic of child harm and ways to mitigate it
• Effectively communicate our mission, services, and resources through an update of our website and informational materials, and a short professional video highlighting our work
• Launch the teen men’s revised workshop
• Execute our signature fundraising event, Kidpower’s Chocoholic Frolic, with a new concept, format, date, and venue (click here for info: https://kidpowercs.org/events/)
• Begin a research study to document our impact on class participants in a way it has not been previously evaluated
• Continue our work to integrate justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) into all that we do

None of these past accomplishments and future projects would be possible without the inspiring support of our Kidpower community. Together we will continue to help our young people be safe, strong, connected, and protected in the year to come.

Wishing you and your loved ones health and safety,