Modest & Mighty Pt. 5: Kris Rollerson Stands in the Gap

Modest & Mighty Pt. 5: Kris Rollerson Stands in the Gap

ALUMNI: Kris Rollerson (Denver 2003)

ORGANIZATION: Sun Valley Community Center | Denver, Colorado

POSITION: Executive Director

By Sheldon Freeman, Staff

 

Tell us about your ministry and how you fulfill its mission.

The Sun Valley Youth Center (SVYC) exists to empower youth, families, and community in the Sun Valley neighborhood in West Denver to reach their God-given potential.

We have a staff of six full-time staff and 6 part-time staff and serve 65 youth daily ages five and up, Monday through Friday via after-school programming. We also try to expand their horizons through experiences they otherwise would never have, such as camping or bike riding for fun. Older youth receive summer employment and internship opportunities, although those opportunities have decreased due to funding limitations.

We live out our mission by getting to know youth and their families on an individual basis, standing in the gap for kids and families in the Sun Valley community every day, even when it’s hard. It really is a team effort. We strive to give youth and their families little moments or little wins along the way to help them have joy and get to the place they’re called to be.

 

What are examples of how you show up for your youth and their families? 

Recently, Denver Pubic Schools closed the local elementary school in our neighborhood, and now the youth go to a school in a different neighborhood. There are parents who didn’t complete their waiver with the city to get their kids on the district school bus and don’t have the means to transport them. We’ve stepped in and are busing kids to and from school on our Sun Valley bus.

We’ve also invited parents to join our bike bus to the school on Mondays to support their kids and connect with the school community.

We’ve yet to have a parent ride with us, but several now show up in the morning and encourage us as we bike out of the parking lot, which is huge!

 

Why do you think God has called you to this work?

I started out as a nursing student at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ultimately earning a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation. I never imagined I’d be running programming for over 28 years in one of the poorest neighborhoods in metro Denver, Colorado, serving kids who have a lot of hard things going on.

I moved to Denver after college, and I initially resisted a church member’s encouragement to help in Sun Valley. However, I visited the community and pitched in. I quickly fell in love with everybody. It was just an amazing space and place, and I felt at home and then it just kind of never stopped.

I get energized instead of depleted most days by doing the work. Don’t get me wrong, some days it’s exhausting, especially when it’s 95 degrees outside, but for the most part, I still feel very energized by the work after 28 years, and I think that is a true testament to the calling on my life.

 

What do you hope to accomplish by serving in this role?

I’d love to leave behind an amazing building in the community that can last forever, as our current space has many issues. Additionally, some of my top leaders on staff are former youth who grew up in the program and are alumni, so being able to hand the program and space over to the community once my time passes would be fantastic.

I envision saying to these leaders, “This is your youth center, and this is your space,” and have them make it into whatever they want it to be based on the community’s needs. I’d love for the program to be well sustained in their hands for a very long time, so they don’t have to scrap financially to keep it running.

 

What challenges does your organization face in overcoming?

Maintaining adequate funding is always a big challenge. We’ve lost a large amount of state funding and have had to cut over $350,000 in staff salaries over the past two years.

Also, the Sun Valley community has undergone major housing redevelopments in the last five years. As a result, 100 percent of the residents living within the local housing authorities (under several voucher credits) were displaced. Some returned to the community, but others built lives elsewhere.

The redevelopment replaced townhouses and yards with secured multistory apartment buildings, changing how neighbors interact and dashing much of the pre-established trust between people and our organization.

In addition to losing our local elementary school, every early child care daycare in the community closed. It feels like a do-over from 1999. There are new families, and we have to rebuild our name in the community.

 

How can your DVULI family be praying for you as you move forward?

Please pray for sustainable funding, especially for staff, transportation, and operations. Pray for a new or improved facility that can serve the neighborhood for generations. Pray for trust with new families and wisdom in developing lower-barrier programs, and that the Lord brings restoration of community relationships after displacement, school closure, lost childcare, and housing changes.

 

Kris’s story is the fifth in a six-part series highlighting alumni whose modest-sized ministries are making a mighty impact on youth.