Denver to Start Charter School for Homeless Youth

Two nonprofit organizations in Denver, Colo., will open a charter school for homeless youth in 2005.

Urban Peak Denver provides shelter, food, addictions counseling, health care, and other services to homeless and runaway youths. Now, the Jared Polis Foundation and Urban Peak will work together to create a charter school attached to the services already provided by Urban Peak.

Last year, 180 adolescents received a General Education Diploma (GED) through the organization's education program, said Jamie Van Leeuwen, associate executive director of Urban Peak Denver.

A charter school for homeless youth is "something that hasn't been done," he said.

Charter schools have flexibility to design programs to serve a specific population and decide how dollars are spent.

"The idea of charter schools offering a particular program ... is one of the premises on which chartering is based," said William Haft, associate director of National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

(9/10/2004)