Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Street Fraternity

Street Fraternity
Mission: a place of brotherhood and personal growth for urban young men.
*see hours and location details below


Inclusiveness & Diversity Statement
The Street Fraternity is a brotherhood of men who welcome and are committed to a diversity of experiences, ages, ethnicities, histories, national origins, citizenship statuses, opinions, marital statuses, sexual orientations, disabilities, arrest records, religions, political affiliations, and other protected classes as required by law.  All participants, employees, and volunteers will actively support this Inclusiveness & Diversity Statement.  We have chosen to include only males as participants in order to focus our learning, resources and achievements on the unique needs and attributes of young men.  We welcome women’s involvement as parents, on our Advisory Team and Board, and within our partner agencies.

Goals
  • Attract urban young men’s consistent voluntary participation.
  • Gain an understanding of our participants and their backgrounds.
  • Help participants identify their opportunities, challenges, and goals.
  • Build our brotherhood & leadership.
  • Develop positive warriors who understand how to balance aggression with respect, integrity, and ethics.
Our Current Participants
  • Over 90% of our participants are former refugees from Bhutan/Nepal, Burma/Thailand, and countries of East, Central and West Africa.  Many languages are spoken here.
  • Participation averages 30 – 50 young men each night.
  • Our young men live in the East Colfax Avenue area near the Aurora/Denver border.
  • Many are high school aged and mostly attend either Aurora Central HS or the New America School in the Aurora Public Schools, or George Washington HS or South HS in the Denver Public Schools.  Others have either completed or dropped out of high school.
Activities
  • Food: with the assistance of some of our young men we prepare and serve food each night thanks to our partnership with “We Don’t Waste” (www.wedontwaste.org) and Food Bank of the Rockies (www.foodbankrockies.org).  Rice is a major food here.
  • Sigma Chi Music Studio: a computer based music recording studio and vocal booth funded by 3 Sigma Chi donors, and designed and assembled by Chris Guillot (www.cherrysoundstudios.com).
  • Active/Aggressive Room: nightly our young men release aggressive energy and workout on our 2 large heavy punching bags and other boxing and workout equipment. We will grow the intentional instruction of self-defense and physical conditioning as we find the appropriate partners.
  • Computer Lab: our 3 donated desktop computers and 1 donated Google Chromebook are used primarily for social media like Facebook and YouTube, and homework and job searches & applications.
  • Library: a quieter room, the library has 4 bookcases of fiction and nonfiction books, a popular chess board, and chairs & a couch that invites dialogue.
  • Meditative / Prayerful Room: our quietest room, which features yoga mats, Zuffa meditative cushions, waterfall, music, and bookcases honoring the religious backgrounds of our young men (Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, as well as unaffiliated).
  • Ping Pong: this is the most popular activity.  Non-stop ping pong.
General Information
  • Open Mondays – Thursdays, 4 pm – 9 pm (winter), and 5 pm – 10 pm Spring, Summer, & Fall.
  • Located in the 3,000 s.f. refurbished basement of the Disabled American Veterans’ building, 1 ½ blocks west of Yosemite St. (Aurora / Denver border) on E. Colfax Ave.  Our entrance and parking is in the rear of the DAV building.
  • Opened for business on April 1, 2013.
  • Our “drop-in” environment allows participants to freely enter and leave as they wish, and choose to move from one activity area to the other as they wish.  Over time we build our relationships and our brotherhood.

Contact Info:
Street Fraternity
8720 E. Colfax Ave., #100
Denver, CO 80220
Office:  720-389-6381
(Located 1 ½ blocks west of Yosemite Street, the Aurora/Denver border; our entrance & parking is in rear of Disabled American Vet’s building)
http://streetfraternity.org/24/

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