Our Story

Valley Settlement began as a project of the Manaus Fund, a social justice organization serving the Roaring Fork Valley, in 2011. The project was started in response to a challenge to identify and address the needs of the fast-growing, low-wage immigrant community in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Funded by an initial planning grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, bilingual and bicultural community organizers spent nine months conducting 300 one-on-one conversations with the valley’s most vulnerable families. Often over coffee at the kitchen table, they learned about the needs, hopes, fears, and dreams of what many called a “hard to reach population.” Through these conversations, Valley Settlement learned that only 1% of these families’ preschool-age children were enrolled in preschool. Latinx families reported being unconnected to schools, services, and jobs.

In response, Valley Settlement created a pipeline of early childhood and parent engagement programs designed to eliminate barriers to participation. As trust grew, staff continued to listen, learning about additional unmet needs. Today, Valley Settlement serves hundreds of families annually with 2Gen programs that are consistently evaluated and evolving to respond to the community’s needs.