Follow the many ways that YEA programs are having a positive impact on the community through stories in local media.
Arts Street
Rocky Mountain PBS & Westword:
Artist Melody Epperson worked on a visual and sound installation project, "Tree Tales"
collaborating with eight young through Arts Street to create flags that now adorn the branches of eight trees in the installation; each one includes a digital recording of a story about the tree recorded by the artist that visitors can find online here.
Arts Street
Rocky Mountain PBS:
This special weekend workshop with Community Skis and funded by Colorado School of Mines, taught Arts Street youth how to build skis and use their own graphics on professional products. MORE
Arts Street
Rocky Mountain PBS:
Fully functional and edible art provides resources and connection in Denver
The Edible Artscapes project worked with youth artists to learn about Permaculture and create a neighborhood beautification project based around urban gardening. MORE
Arts Street
Article on Artist Adama Bama in TALON Magazine:
Interview with Arts Street's multimedia artist Adama Bama in Community College of Denver's Talon magazine.
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Washington Park Profile & Life on Capitol Hill:
Becoming successful in the workplace: Youth Employment Academy helps people obtain career, education goals.
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Denverite: Need milk? Check. Need a satisfying Philly cheesesteak for less than ten bucks? Also check.
Residents in Lincoln Park and the Mariposa District can grab both items and more at the relocated Osage Café and Mercado, a social enterprise bistro and supermarket run by the Denver Housing Authority and the Youth Employment Academy.
“We outgrew our space,” said operations manager Lori Laurita. “We’ve been open since 2013 and now we use that space for catering. Now we can train our youth in a café, in a grocery store and in wholesale production…And now we’re also the community grocery store.” MORE
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Spot on Colorado: Osage Cafe and Mercado held a grand opening Tuesday to launch their expanded space that includes a grocery store. Residents in Denver's Lincoln Park neighborhood will now have a place to get groceries and prepared food within walking distance. WATCH VIDEO
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Mile High CRE: Denver Housing Authority (DHA) just announced that Osage Café, which has been located at 1099 Osage Street in Denver’s Mariposa District in Lincoln Park for the past nine years, has moved into a new space at 1035 Osage Street in Denver. The Café is also expanding its offerings to include a market that sells affordable, nutritious, and culturally relevant food options including grab-and-go meals. An opening celebration will be held on July 19 from 2-4 p.m. The new Osage Café & Mercado continues to be a program of DHA’s Youth Employment Academy (YEA) employing underserved young adults and training them in skills to help them succeed in the culinary industry. MORE
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Denver Business Journal: Osage Café, which has been located at 1099 Osage St. for the past nine years, has moved and is holding an official reopening today in its new space in the Denver Housing Authority property at 1035 Osage St.
The market, which provides a culinary training program through DHA’s Youth Employment Academy, offers breakfast sandwiches, burritos and avocado toast, as well as lunch specials like burgers, sandwiches, salads, wraps and by-the-slice pizza. MORE
Osage Cafe & Mercado
CBSCOLORADO: New Lincoln Park grocery store expands community resources, provides free, healthy snacks to kids. WATCH VIDEO
Osage Cafe & Mercado
CBSCOLORADO: New Lincoln Park grocery store expands community resources, provides free, healthy snacks to kids. WATCH VIDEO
Osage Cafe & Mercado
AXIOS Denver: Lincoln Park residents have a place to buy their groceries.
Driving the news: Osage Café, a restaurant with a skills training program, is relaunching as Osage Café & Mercado on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Osage Café, operated by Youth Employment Academy (YEA), is a community institution in the Mariposa District near La Alma-Lincoln Park, the city's second-ever historic district.
w Lincoln Park grocery store expands community resources, provides free, healthy snacks to kids. MORE
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Denver 7: Osage Cafe adds mercado in Denver's Lincoln Park neighborhood. WATCH VIDEO
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Westword: Nonprofit restaurant Osage Cafe has operated at 1099 Osage Street in the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood for nine years, but now it's moved into a larger space at 1035 Osage Street and added an affordable market. MORE
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Westword: This nonprofit cafe, which provides training and internships for at-risk and other youth, supplies a number of grab-and-go items at HELLOFOOD. Founded by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA), it's also got expansion plans.
"Through our partnerships with Meow Wolf and other vendors, we've outgrown our space," says Lori Laurita, operations manager for social enterprises within DHA. MORE
Decatur Fresh
The Colorado Sun: One of Denver’s poorest, most diverse neighborhoods was a food desert. Until now.
Residents of Sun Valley have had to travel miles by car or bus to get to a real grocery store. Then came Decatur Fresh Market, a government-subsidized store full of fresh produce and international spices.
When Selena Ramirez was growing up, shopping for groceries was an hours-long ordeal that involved riding the city bus miles away with her mom and little brother and lugging home bags of food. MORE
Decatur Fresh
DENVER (CBS4): After a decade of planning by the Denver Housing Authority, the doors of a brand new 1,800 square-foot market are officially open for the neighborhood of Sun Valley.
“I am so excited. This has been a long time coming,” said Annie Hancock, Interim Director of Community Connections at DHA. “Sun Valley is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the state of Colorado. And they have come around this master plan in such a unique and positive way.” MORE
Osage Cafe & Mercado
Westword: Until Meow Wolf debuts its latest project, Convergence Station, at 1338 First Street on September 17, the art isn't the only thing that you should be hungry to see...and taste. In addition to dozens of installations in one massive art experience, this Denver offshoot of the Santa Fe-based group is also introducing HELLOFOOD, a fast-casual cafe with a focus on one of the immersive installation's central ideas: fusion. MORE
Arts Street
Westword: A year ago, when people were excited to get out of their houses, event organizer Chris Getzan and pop-culture genius Andrew Novick put together The Lost Book of Astrid Lee: A Physically-Distanced Mystery Quest through the History Colorado Center. A scavenger hunt with weekly clues that one could solve alone, skulking alone around the noirish empty city like a modern-day Philip Marlowe (or maybe with a close friend or two from your COVID pod), Astrid Lee was designed to provide some relief from boredom and quarantine fatigue. MORE