College Access Navigators (CAN) is a youth-led nonprofit organization that co-creates bright futures with youth in Fort Morgan through mentoring, leadership development, and youth-led, innovative programming focused on community building. CAN builds on ten years of direct work and cultivating trusted relationships in the community as well as the strength and resiliency of local youth. We envision a future where all youth have access to high-quality education, meaningful mentorship, and career pathways that lead to economic stability and social mobility.
College Access Navigators is a youth-centered, grassroots organization that co-creates bright futures with youth through mentoring, leadership development, and innovative programming. We serve youth in Fort Morgan through our Mentor Fellowship Program, after school workshops, the Morgan County Precollege Program, and the Contigo Summer Program.
Built on ten years of direct work and developing trusted relationships with Morgan County’s historically-marginalized students and families (primarily from immigrant and refugee backgrounds) the youth-led initiative “DreamKeepers Project” (DKP) received seed funding from the Education Innovation Fund (EIF) and was implemented during the 2020-21 school year. EIF funds were utilized to create four part-time positions: three college-age, bilingual, first-generation, near-peer mentors (Shirley Perez, Ayan Husein, and Amy Carillo Arroyo) and one project manager (Taylor Jordan) with a goal of providing social-emotional support to youth in Fort Morgan during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In the summer of 2021, the Contigo Summer Program was hosted for the first time through a community collaboration between College Access Navigators and other local organizations which engaged with 30 students, all from first-generation, immigrant, and/or refugee backgrounds. Due to the success of the initiatives resulting from this project, the organization was invited to apply for additional funding after an interview with TCHF (The Colorado Health Foundation) in June 2021.
Organization name
College Access Navigators Inc
2020
Tax id (EIN)
87-2215706
Category
Youth Development, Community Improvement & Capacity Building, Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy, Education
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
931 LINCOLN STREETFort Morgan, CO, US, 80701