While parents and caretakers shop at the Resource Center during a scheduled visit, children have access to the Inspiring Minds Center, a designated space connected to our Resource Center that provides access to STEAM-based activities, software, and games.

Inspiring Minds Center includes a computer lab, reading corner, and STEAM-based educational games focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. The Center is a safe and comforting environment – our goal is to assist in closing the academic achievement gap for Colorado’s most vulnerable children.

All youth should be prepared to think deeply and to think well so that they have the chance to become the innovators, educators, researchers, and leaders who can solve the most pressing challenges facing our nation and our world, both today and tomorrow. But, right now, not enough of our youth have access to quality STEAM-based learning opportunities.

Enrichment experiences matter because they help children acquire the vocabulary and background knowledge critical to achieving the high levels of literacy needed for many kinds of well-paying work.

In the US, we know that low-income children who do not participate in enrichment activities during the summer lose reading and math skills at a faster rate than their peers, and they never catch-up.