Denver's Mental Health Outreach Programs Report Five Years of Progress

By Nahila Bonfiglio

Denver’s social outreach programs are on a path toward becoming among the most robust in the nation. The Caring for Denver Foundation met with Denver City Council on Wednesday, April 22, to provide an annual report on its progress and roadblocks from the last year. Over the course of an hour, the foundation broke down budgets, detailed data, and answered council members’ questions.

The nonprofit Caring for Denver Foundation was established in 2019, and for more than half a decade now, it has made an effort to address the city’s mental health and substance misuse needs. According to a report detailing progress made through 2025, it's managing just that.

Data shared explored how the organization’s grant funds were used over the last five years. A number of programs, many of them directed at the city’s youth, received funding through the program. The Alternatives to Jail Program, recently renamed to Care Over Incarceration, received more than $70 million, the second-highest number listed in the overview. It was only surpassed by Community Centered Solutions, which received $74.5 million.

With a core mission of offering stability to Denver’s youth, the Caring for Denver Foundation — in tandem with Denver’s Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program — has overseen a gradual reduction in mental health struggles and substance misuse among Denver’s unhoused population. In 2025 alone, upwards of 88,000 Denver residents received support. Nearly 19,000 of that number received care from a licensed professional in a “residential or outpatient setting,” while another 27,235 “engaged in groups and services with peer support.” An additional 12,199 caregivers participated in training and classes in order to better support those with mental health and substance misuse needs.  

In many cities, jails provide a disproportionate amount of mental health services. Nationwide, they’re the “largest provider of mental health care,” according to the National Library of Medicine, but even then, incarcerated people face many hurdles to receiving mental health care. On top of reducing wait times for mental health services by 95%, Denver’s STAR program aims to divert people away from the legal system and toward programs that address their specific needs. As a result, Denver residents receive better and more specified care, while police time is freed up to focus on more relevant issues. Rather than rely on the overtaxed prison system to provide mental health assistance, Denver aims to target and address mental health and substance misuse needs without involving the legal system.

There is still plenty of need remaining, but the data presented on April 22 shows Denver’s outreach programs narrow that gap every year. The effort toward identifying and eliminating the root causes of our nation’s mental health epidemic is still underway, but in the meantime, the Caring for Denver Foundation and STAR take steps daily to ensure that every part of the Denver community is served.