Since 1988, the primary mission of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives has been to help curb gang-related violence and gang recruitment activities in the Denver-Metro area. This mission is carried out by the executive director, Reverend Leon Kelly, his staff, and volunteers through education, prevention programs, crisis intervention and liaisons with many community organizations serving urban youth. Open door is a not-for-profit, community-based, non-law enforcement organization.

Denver area's gang membership has increased from 286 in 1986, to more than 15,000 police contacted youth. (The number of youth not contacted by police could exceed this figure by 50%.) Youth gang involvement affects not only the member, but also his/her family, friends, schoolmates, faculty, and correctional personnel. Since 1986, there have been 554 deaths associated with youth violence in the Metro Denver area, and thousands of assaults. Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives is one of the major agencies in the metro area working with active gang members and violent youths, and plays an important role in educating the community and reducing tensions and incidents of violence.

Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives provided 43,520 units of service involving 680 unduplicated clients during 2002. These clients represent active gang members, other at-risk youth and family members, and do not include community education programs. We estimate that community education programs contacted more than 28,151 through in-person presentations. (An additional 3,810,000 were reached through local and national radio and television interviews).

Open Door is a major agency in Denver that works with currently active gang members and high-risk youths and their families, and intervenes in crisis situations. Since we do not duplicate services available from other resources, Open Door has a number of agencies that refer youth to us and to whom we refer our youth for job counseling, alternatives activities, substance abuse services, and consumer information, among others.

To contact Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives, please contact Rev. Leon Kelly at 303-893-4264, or visit their website at www.therev.org.