Mile High Ministries, Inc.

Background Statement

Mile High Ministries (MHM) began in 1988 as a collaborative partnership among ten churches to support and strengthen marginalized communities. Our mission is to seek God's peace for our city through the creative, compassionate, and prayerful development of people and communities. As MHM leaders embedded themselves in urban culture, they adopted a more holistic and community-centered approach in which spiritual development became one of many responses and supportive housing, economic development, job training, legal services, and leadership training emerged as the forefront of MHM's work.

MHM has established numerous organizations to serve Denver's most vulnerable populations. Through its Marion Street Project in the early '90s, MHM purchased and renovated five former "crack" houses, which became an icon of community-based ministry. The homes were eventually sold to Open Door Ministries to serve people with disabilities, teen mothers, and single women in crisis. MHM also launched Bud's Warehouse, Denver Street School, a private high school for troubled youth and Belay Enterprises, a social capital venture that provides jobs to those hardest to employ and loans to urban entrepreneurs. Issachar Center for Urban Leadership, Mile High Workshop (social enterprise), and Justice and Mercy Aid Legal Center were all begun as Mile High Ministries programs and now are thriving as independent organizations with whom we partner.

Mile High Ministries creates supportive housing communities our two facilities: Joshua Station and Clara Brown Commons. We also provide an array of experiential learning opportunities for people seeking to be involved in transformative work in the city.