Mile High United Way celebrates new digs

Mile High United Way recently announced the grand opening of its new headquarters, the Morgridge Center for Community Change in Denver’s historic Curtis Park neighborhood.

The 63,000-square-foot facility was made possible in part by a $4 million lead gift from the Morgridge Family Foundation.

“Our new headquarters is more than just a building,” said Christine Benero, president and CEO of Mile High United Way. “It is mission-based community hub where we will collectively identify and solve community-wide problems.”

Governor John Hickenlooper was a featured speaker during the grand opening. “As the new gateway to Curtis Park, the Mile High United Way Morgridge Center for Community Change will be uniquely positioned to expand opportunities for Metro Denver as the United Way network continues to improve the lives of families and individuals across the state,” he said.

“For three decades, Mile High United Way was housed in Denver’s lower highlands, or LoHi. Their new home was financed entirely by proceeds from the sale of that building ($10 million), along with a capital campaign ($9 million) and new-markets tax credits ($4.5 million), for a total budget of $23.5 million.

“Mile High United Way’s new headquarters will yield a tangible return on investment (which is) catalytic in revitalizing our diverse community from grassroots to grass tops,” said City Councilman Albus Brooks of District 8.

Originally founded in Denver in 1887, the first United Way in the country, the organization works to create a positive change in the areas of school readiness, youth success and adult self-sufficiency. Their new facility aims to enhance this vision and includes space for:

• Mile High United Way’s 2-1-1, a free and confidential community referral service that connects callers with resources which provide food, shelter, rent assistance, clothing, child care options, legal assistance and other services to meet basic needs.
• Bridging the Gap, Mile High United Way’s program helping young adults formerly in foster care address their needs related to education, employment, financial literacy, health and leadership development.
• CoBank Leadership Center, 6,300 square feet of conference space for community collaboration, available for free for nonprofit use.
• Comcast/NBCUniversal Digital Literacy Center, giving local citizens and nonprofit organizations access to state-of-the-art technology and free training opportunities.
• Café United, a full service café operated by Work Options for Women.
• Offices for Goodwill Industries and the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative.

“This is the type of sustainable development that is imagined in the Downtown Area Plan,” said Tami Door, president and CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership.

The design team of PCL Construction and Davis Partnership Architects worked closely with Mile High United Way and community stakeholders – including the Landmark Preservation Commission, Arapahoe Square and Curtis Park Neighbors – to arrive at a design that feels aesthetically and historically connected to the neighborhood.

“We’re thrilled to have Mile High United Way’s new headquarters as the gateway to our neighborhood,” said Joel Noble, president of Curtis Park Neighbors. It’s a sentiment echoed by Benero: “The Morgridge Center represents a long-term investment in the redevelopment of this unique area and in Mile High United Way’s role in partnering with the Metro Denver community to improve the lives of children, families and individuals.”