This year marks ten years of Illuminate Colorado’s work to strengthen families, organizations, and communities to prevent child maltreatment. Learn more about how we’re celebrating 10 Years of Impact.

Founded in Partnership

Illuminate was founded as a strategic partnership that consolidated four nonprofit organizations: the Colorado Alliance for Drug Endangered Children (Colorado DEC), Prevent Child Abuse Colorado (PCA Colorado), the Colorado Chapter of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS Colorado), and Sexual Abuse Forever Ending (SAFE). 

Even though Illuminate is celebrating its ten year anniversary this year, the collaboration between its organizations started years earlier.

An early collaborative effort was around Circle of Parents, which offers peer support groups for parents and caregivers, led by parents and caregivers. In 2011, through federal funding from the Rural Law Enforcement Methamphetamine Initiative (RLEMI), Colorado DEC and PCA Colorado piloted Circle groups specifically for parents and caregivers impacted by substance use called Circle of Parents in Recovery. Similarly, NOFAS Colorado had support groups for families impacted by FASD, and they too decided to use the Circle of Parents model for these groups.

While less concrete, there were similarities and opportunities for partnership in other areas, too. Education, systems change, advocacy, and public awareness were a focus for all three organizations, and many key stakeholders and constituents were shared between the organizations, including board members and subject matter experts. Most importantly, for all of them, the focus was on making sure children and families had what they needed to thrive.

When Jade Woodard, Executive Director of Colorado DEC, and Kendra Dunn, Executive Director of PCA Colorado, pitched the idea to merge the two organizations in 2014, it was easy to say yes, said Skip Barber, chair of the PCA Colorado Board of Directors at the time. And, when Woodard mentioned the idea to Eileen Bisgard, President of NOFAS Colorado, she wanted to join the conversation, too.

From a financial perspective, the idea of combining resources, staff, and funding made good business sense because it allowed the organizations to consolidate and reduce administrative costs and operating expenses. But, the decision to merge also allowed for expansion — of mission, reach, and impact.

“It just seemed like it made so much sense to merge the agencies. It was just a natural fit,” said Bisgard.

Becoming Illuminate Colorado

When the opportunity arose in 2015 for Colorado DEC to be one of two inaugural investees in a Capacity Building Project through Social Venture Partners Denver and Denver Active 20/30 Children’s Foundation (now the Denver Children’s Foundation), the path forward was clear, and each organization’s Board of Directors voted to move forward with the merger.

“The relationship [between the organizations] was really natural,” Barber said. “All of the organizations were highly invested in building healthy families, supporting kids, and preventing abuse.”

The Denver Active 20/30 Children’s Foundation guided representatives from the three Boards, along with Woodard, who became Illuminate’s Founding Executive Director, to establish the new organization. From the structure and scope to the logo and name, Illuminate Colorado was built strategically and intentionally, all with the commitment to children and families in Colorado at the forefront.

A Mission for Children and Families

When it came to setting the mission for Illuminate Colorado, it was easy to agree that the focus needed to be on children and families. However, the group also made sure that the legacy of the three organizations would continue on in Illuminate’s work. “We didn’t want to operate as three separate organizations, and we wanted to honor the work and contributions of each,” Woodard shared.

PCA Colorado’s mission was the broadest, focused on strengthening families and preventing child abuse and neglect before it ever occurs. Colorado DEC and NOFAS Colorado both emphasized support for families impacted by substance use — parental substance use and prenatal alcohol exposure, respectively.

They asked questions like: Where are the gaps for children and families in Colorado? What are the opportunities we foresee? How does each organization approach this work differently, and how do these things all fit together?

From the beginning, the mission of Illuminate was to meet all families where they are and offer the support they need to thrive, with a special focus on families impacted by substance use. “The mission and vision was always about ensuring families had what they need — when, where, and how they needed it. It was always about strengthening families from where they’re at today,” Woodard said.

Expansion in the Early Years

After consolidation was complete, Illuminate grew rapidly. Circle of Parents groups continued to emerge across the state, with Illuminate Colorado becoming the state chapter of Circle of Parents in 2019. Education and training offerings multiplied, creating opportunities both for family-serving professionals and for community members to learn about strengthening families.

Illuminate continued to prioritize the systems-change work of the founding organizations too, including providing backbone support for the SEN Steering Committee (now SuPPoRT Colorado). And, when the state’s FASD Commission sunset, the SEN Steering Committee continued to prioritize this crucial systems-level work for families impacted by FASD.

“This work grew so quickly and became so much stronger because it was consolidated,” said Dunn. “If any of those nonprofits had stayed on its own, the work would not have had the same reach.”

Ten Years Later

Now, ten years later, the commitment to Illuminate’s mission and vision is steadfast under the leadership of Co-Executive Directors Anne Auld and Jillian Fabricius, and the work of the four original organizations is woven throughout Illuminate’s work today, including:

• • implementing Circle of Parents, including Circle of Parents in Recovery, across Colorado,
  • providing backbone support for SuPPoRT Colorado, which includes an FASD Advisory Group,
  • leading the Child Abuse Prevention Month campaign each April,
  • advocating at the state and federal levels for families impacted by substance use, including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, and
  • leading a statewide initiative to train adults to prevent child sexual abuse and keep kids safe in communities across Colorado.

And that’s not all! Illuminate has grown to embrace countless new opportunities that have emerged over the last ten years — opportunities that were only possible because four organizations came together ten years ago. Stay tuned for more throughout the year as we continue to celebrate the progress we’ve made, always in partnership, toward a Colorado where all children and families thrive.

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