Organizational History
The neighborhoods surrounding Lowry Air Force Base took an economic downturn after the base closed in 1993. In response, the Lowry Family Center, as part of the Community College of Aurora, opened in March 1994 to support families in those neighborhoods with case management, family advocacy, counseling services, parenting, GED classes, and women's support groups. LFC is one of 24 member agencies of the Family Resource Center Association (FRCA) in Colorado.
While the original mission of the LFC has remained constant, the services provided have grown and adapted to meet the changing needs of the families being served. Based on feedback from the community and families, LFC has expanded to include a Summer Enrichment Camp, after-school tutoring, kinship training classes to assist families caring for non-biological children, foster parent training, promoting responsible fatherhood, and increasing access to health care. LFC also has expanded geographically to include parts of Aurora after the South Aurora Family Resource Center closed in 2000 and Montbello and Green Valley Ranch in 2002 with support from Denver Human Services.
In 2005, LFC became the lead agency of the Northeast Denver Family to Family collaborative, which has allowed for many new services to be provided to Montbello and other northeast Denver neighborhoods. These services include GED, ESL, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, fatherhood advocacy, couples communication classes, mentoring, and a host of others.
For a variety of reasons, including a need to become financially stable and independent, LFC left the community college and became a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center (The Center) effective October 1, 2005.
