Youth Programs

Open Gym

Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH)

CATCH works to create a community of healthy youth by providing education surrounding exercise and nutrition.
The CATCH program also has been proven to prevent childhood obesity, this is backed by 25 years of research into the effects of the program.
CATCH tackles childhood health by teaching youth to be able to identify healthy food, and by using moderately vigorous physical activity to engage the youth in a healthy lifestyle.

After School Program (ASP)

Provides activities daily for middle and high school students: games, art, mural development, Youth Advisory Council.
Provided in a safe space for youth to hang out while engaging in enrichment opportunities.

Summer Program & School Break Programs

Provides daily activities to help support the development of youth in the community.
Activities range from life skills, community service to just plain fun!

Friday Funday

Piñon Youth Leaders provide all day activities on Friday for youth in the community, ages 5 to 17 years.
The fun takes place at Mesa Elementary School From 7:30am to 5:00pm.
Lunch and snacks are provided.

For more information, please contact the Youth Programs Department at 970-564-3812.

Check and Connect

Check & Connect is an intervention used with K-12 students who show warning signs of disengagement with school and who are at risk of dropping out.
At the core of Check & Connect is a trusting relationship between the student and a caring, trained mentor who both advocates for and challenge the student to keep education salient.
Students are referred to Check & Connect when they show warning signs of disengaging from school, such as poor attendance, behavioral issues, and/or low grades.

Click here for our referral form!

For more information, contact Becky Flaugh at 970.564.3812.

HB-1451, Community Evaluation Team and Communities of Excellence

HB-1451 is designed to increase collaboration, reduce duplication of services, identify targeted interventions and encourage cost sharing where appropriate.
Through HB-1451 at-risk youth are staffed by our Community Evaluation Team (CET).
The Team is made up of representatives from many different community agencies; it meets every 2 weeks in order to share information and provide services for at-risk-youth and their families.
During a CET meeting, case planning is developed and individualized services are created for families and youth.
Communities of Excellence (COE) provides high-risk families with a wraparound facilitator to streamline services, provide additional support, and create one case plan to meet the family’s vision.
COE also provides a Family Advocate to families to help them effectively navigate systems.

For more information, please contact at Asialynn Hager, Regional Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator, at 970-564-3812.

Youth Suicide Prevention

Regional Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator works within the community to support organizations, systems and the community to build capacity to prevent youth suicide.
Sources of Strength (SOS) and Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training are key pieces to youth suicide prevention.
QPR is a suicide intervention program designed to support all people to intervene when someone is thinking about suicide and to ensure they get the help they need by the right people.

For more information, please contact at Asialynn Hager, at 970-564-3812.

Sources of Strength suicide prevention program (SOS)

The framework of this program is to strive to build connections to overcome the negative events such as bullying, substance abuse, trauma and suicide.
This program is practiced in a school-based program with the help of peer support from within the schools. This helps the program focus on hope and resiliency.
The youth within the schools are trained as peer leaders and trained to promote change and connect peer members within the schools and the community.
Peer leaders are nominated from the staff of the school. This process helps build protective factors.

Boys To Men Southwest Colorado (B2MSWC)

Boys to Men Southwest Colorado (B2MSWC) is a new organization in Montezuma and La Plata Counties dedicated to providing positive role models for boys 13-17.
Support includes weekly-mentored group circles in schools during operating hours, weekend adventure activities, as well as periodic Rite of Passage Adventure Weekends (ROPAW).
B2MSWC operates under the 501(c)(3) umbrella of The Piñon Project Family Resource Center in Cortez, CO, and is part of a national organization, Boys to Men USA, currently engaging boys in schools across the country. Through this work, young boys can expect outcomes including improved mental health, reduced loneliness and isolation, increased school attendance, and a rise in emotional intelligence that positively impacts the entire community.
B2MSWC is currently active in the Southwest Open School in Cortez, Mancos Middle School, and Animas High School in Durango. In the Fall 2022 Durango High School and Miller Middle School in Durango will join the Boys to Men program.
Contributions and donations on the PayPal account below will support mentor training, adventure weekends, ROPAW scholarship, and marketing materials.

For more information on how you can support B2MSWC, please contact Becky Flaugh at 970.564.3812 at The Piñon Project Family Resource Center.