Colorado poverty and homelessness have a new face.

​

Following in-step with a rising national trend, Colorado has seen a disproportionate increase of low-wage jobs simultaneous to a decline of service-sector jobs.  The results have a disenfranchising effect on the lives of more than 45,000 families in Douglas, Elbert, and Arapahoe counties.

​

Although most of Denver’s areas of highest poverty continue to be in high-density areas, the number of suburban high-poverty areas has exponentially outpaced numbers in urban areas within the last fifteen years.

​

This is where Manna Connect is at work, developing methods to address the rising needs of suburban poverty right here in our backyard of Douglas County and the surrounding area.  Our unique career and community development model aims to rebuild the societal base surrounding our neighbors, creating more integrated communities and developing pathways out of poverty through meaningful careers.

​

Where most work focuses on the problems that accompany poverty, we are person-centered, employing an integrated approach to unleash each individual's inherent strengths and break the barriers that stand between them and the self-sufficiency they desire. Rather than provide temporary aid, our development model creates sustainable independence.

​

Manna Connect is the core program of the Manna Resource Center, a 501(c)(3) organization serving individuals and families in south Denver.