Down on the farm: At-risk youth find their way on urban farm in Colorado
At the grounds of the old Stapleton Airport, something else is growing. The Urban Farm in Northeast Denver has partnered with the Denver Juvenile Justice Department’s Helping Youth Pursue Excellence program (HYPE) to give justice-involved youth the opportunity to learn hands-on skills and while participating in what staff calls a, “earn-while-you-learn,” program earn money to provide financial stability.
In the shadow of the old Stapleton Airport weather station is a working farm where teens trade their troubles for a shovel, their bad deeds for seeds.
Under a Denver Public Safety program called Helping Youth Pursue Excellence, children who might have expected a lifetime behind bars are shown that life doesn’t have to be that way.
At The Urban Farm, youth who are going through the juvenile justice system work for an hourly wage. They grow garden vegetables in a greenhouse and then distribute them to needy families. They mend fences to keep livestock from escaping and dig a whole bunch — because that’s what people do on a farm.
HYPE is a boots-on-the-ground experiment to help find a solution to Denver’s youth violence crisis.
After two years, the program appears to be working. Seventy percent of the youth who entered HYPE in 2022 completed their 10-week vocational program.
This is not an easy task.
According to Pat Hedrick, director of Youth Programs for the Office of Public Safety, all but around 10% of the teens working on the farm are either gang members or have some connection to gangs through friends and even family.
The 30% who don’t succeed are going home to a world that can be harsh.
HYPE kids sign up for a 10-week stint making $17.29 per hour Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. What happens outside of the farm can affect anyone, and HYPE staffers are trained to recognize that.
“You never know what’s happened to these kids from 3:30-9 a.m. Maybe someone didn’t show because his brother was killed,” Hedrick said.
Through HYPE, he set out to discover the root of the problem.
“Why are kids making these choices? Some are runaways, and some are crime survivors,” Hedrick said. “We take a holistic approach. We actually work with parents who we know are doing the best that they can.”
Each youth is recommended through referring agencies to the supervisory staffers who oversee The Urban Farm.
Some are going through the court system, but others have already done their time or service and have been flagged for diversion. Others are on probation after being found guilty of a crime and are now under supervision. The crimes range from low-level shoplifting to aggravated assault to attempted murder — but crimes involving sex offenses are not accepted.
From left, Santo Parras, a team member who preferred to remain unnamed, and Mable Gonzalez start walking back to the main building after completing the day’s tasks on The Urban Farm on July 11, 2023.
“These kids come with trauma and anger. They’re carrying it with them and they’ve got nowhere to put it,” said Ernest Daniels II, one of two diversion officers on staff.
Daniels is a success story. He had a gang-involved father, but he gives his mother, who raised him, the credit for getting him involved in karate, mentoring, chess and track and field.
In high school, he was on the Public Safety Youth Leadership team, where Theresa Kimmet-Riley was his supervisor.
She never forgot his inspirational spirit, and once he got his bachelor’s degree, Daniels returned to work for Kimmet-Riley with the Denver Public Safety Youth Programs.
‘We call them by their names’
For Daniels and the HYPE staff, respect is paramount. Youth are never referred to as criminals.
“We call them by their names,” said Daniels.
It’s crucial that the HYPE staffers are relatable to teens who have been taught to be suspicious of city programs, no matter how well-meaning.
“Yesterday, we were telling them, ‘We’re not the police, guys!’ ” said Marcus Hart, HYPE’s other diversion officer who grew up surrounded by gang influence. “I tell them it doesn’t matter what they did on the outside. This is a safe place. I tell them, ‘I used to be you,’ ” Hart said.
“School isn’t working out for many of our youth. They’re in-and-out of the system and in detention,” said Kimmet-Riley, the program manager for Public Youth Safety programs. “We are a place where they can come to land.”
A teen grooms a horse at The Urban Farm on July 11.
Most of the teens who work under HYPE’s juvenile justice umbrella have never balanced a checkbook, held down a consistent job, grown a vegetable or touched a horse.
Their interests range from the musician looking for her big break to a former gang member, who is now a welder in Wyoming. Yet another former gang member won the blue ribbon for the best sheep at this year’s National Western Stock Show with an animal he helped raise himself at The Urban Farm.
For safety reasons, The Denver Gazette was not able to take photos of some of the teens as they worked on The Urban Farm. It’s often that rival gang members who do not get along on the outside become friends through HYPE, but it happens within the confines of the fenced acreage.
Nevaeh’s story
All but one of the youth that The Denver Gazette spoke with specifically requested to have their identities kept secret for fear of retaliation. Some agreed to an interview, then pulled out for the same reason. For many, photos were off of the table.
But Nevaeh Cassanova was not afraid, even though she grew up entrenched in the gang culture. Today, she’s worked her way up from being a 12-year-old with a criminal record to a HYPE administrative intern with hopes of a future working with animals.
She is out of breath after a failed attempt to catch a wayward rooster.
“The people I trust most are here. They gave me my voice. This is the program that saved me,” said Cassanova, who wants to go to veterinary school one day.
The responsibility that comes with caring for goats, sheep, ducks and chickens is a feeling these youth have never had before.
“HYPE teaches these kids that these animals could possibly die today if they don’t feed them. A lot of them grow bonds with the animals,” Cassanova explained.
Cassanova’s story could have had a sad or happy ending.
She was born into a family so entrenched in criminal activity everyone but her mother was in a gang. As a child, she was so terrified to speak her mind that she was afraid to order from a restaurant menu. Gang members sensed that she was easily intimidated, and, at 12, she was caught stealing food from a convenience store for them. She ended up in a youth diversion program.
It was the diversion program that turned her life around.
After that experience, she applied to be a part of a youth leadership team. She graduated from high school in 2020 and is now studying at Colorado Community College.
Cassanova loves the horse most of all, but many of the HYPE teens have fallen for a goat named Jay-Z.
One hot July afternoon, Daniels, the diversion officer, surveyed the dusty goat pen like a dad introducing his children.
“That boy in the back there, that’s Jay-Z. We named him after two of the kids here whose names started with ‘J’ and ‘Z.’ This one is Puddin’. Violet broke her horn off, but it’ll come back twice as strong,” he said.
Who is eligible for HYPE?
The program has gotten so popular, there’s a waiting list to be accepted. From among the 1,000 offenders who enter the system each year, only 18 kids at a time can work on the farm.
Once they’re on board, they find themselves in a place they never imagined, shoveling pig stalls, tilling soil and breaking up the animals’ water when the freeze sets in.
They’re also making friends, learning how to budget their paychecks, and, for some, providing vegetables for their families.
It may seem unlikely that the ground where Stapleton International Airport saw its last jet would be converted to a farm, where at-risk youth discover a flight of their own. But The Urban Farm and HYPE staffers have big ideas for a farm-to-table food truck, which the teens will manage, fill with home-grown food and distribute in communities where fresh, affordable food is scarce.
The director of The Urban Farm, Michelle Graham Rodriguez, recalls a teen who was transplanting peppers using a direct seeder. He accidentally damaged the root of a plant during the transaction but she told him not to worry. It happens. Plants are resilient.
When the boy asked what resilience means, Graham Rodriguez told him that it means to overcome obstacles and challenges. The boy mulled that over for a moment.
“Well, then, I’m resilient for sure,” he said.
Who is eligible for HYPE
The Helping Youth Pursue Excellence (HYPE) program has gotten so popular, there’s a waiting list to be accepted. From among the thousands of offenders in the city of Denver, only 18 teenagers at a time can work on the farm.
Once they’re on board, they find themselves in a place they never imagined, shoveling pig stalls, tilling soil and breaking up the animals’ water when the freeze sets in.
It may seem unlikely that the ground where Stapleton International Airport saw its last flight would be converted to a farm. The old weather station stands empty today, but HYPE staff has big ideas for the place that used to launch balloons to test the air. It may be a garage for a farm-to-table food truck which the teens will staff, fill with home-grown food, and park in food deserts where lettuce, white eggplant and carrots are scarce.
Hart and Daniels remember a teen who was learning how to use a direct feeder, and accidentally injured the root of a plant. They told him not to worry. It happens. Plants are resilient. When the boy asked what resilience means, they told him that it means to overcome obstacles and challenges. The boy mulled that over for a moment.
“Well then I’m resilient for sure,” he said.
Two teens work with horses at The Urban Farm on July 11.
Monica Briggs is the assistant equine manager at The Urban Farm, where she helps youth program members connect with the animals.
The Urban Farm is built upon the old Stapleton Airport grounds and still has a few remnants today. This is a photo of the weather station that overlooks the 23-acre farm.