(1) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that:
Urban Peak is a humanitarian organization that provides supportive housing and comprehensive support services to youths age fifteen to twenty-four who are experiencing homelessness in Colorado;
Urban Peak serves more than two thousand five hundred youths experiencing homelessness each year;
Urban Peak provides street outreach six days a week and provides hygiene materials,clothing and food, referrals, assistance in obtaining personal documentation, and an adult lifeline to more than one thousand one hundred youths a year living on the streets;
Urban Peak provides the following to one thousand five hundred youths per year in alow-barrier, drop-in center:
Temporary respite from outdoor elements;
Hot breakfasts;
Lockers;
Laundry service;
Showers;
Individualized case management;
Harm reduction; and
Life skills classes;
Urban Peak also provides sixty shelter beds three hundred sixty-five days per year toyouths experiencing homelessness in Colorado, providing five hundred youths ages fifteen to twenty-one a safe place to sleep, three meals per day, medical and mental health care, family mediation, individualized case management, and access to numerous other support services;
Urban Peak provides supportive housing, which places youths in their own apartments, to one hundred fifty-five youths per year, which supportive housing includes individualized, strength-based case management, education and employment services, and skill development to increase their ability to achieve self-sufficiency; and
Urban Peak provides education and employment support services to nearly six hundred youths each year, including GED tutoring and testing, individualized case management, high school reengagement support, post-secondary educational opportunities, job readiness training, job retention support, and food safety and retail certifications.
(2) In order to assist Colorado in fulfilling the mission of Urban Peak Housing and Support Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness, the general assembly recognizes that many citizens of Colorado may be willing to provide moneys to assist in its efforts. It is therefore the intent of the general assembly to provide Coloradans the opportunity to support the efforts of Urban Peak Housing and Support Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness by allowing citizens to make a voluntary contribution on their state income tax return form to the Urban Peak Housing and Support Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness fund for that purpose.
Source: L. 2017: Entire part added, (HB 17-1055), ch. 38, p. 113, § 1, effective August 9.