Every Colorado Kid Deserves to Grow Up.
Aurora. Denver. Colorado Springs. Pueblo. We have buried too many children. As a father, I refuse to accept this as normal.
Youth violence is not solved by one tool. It requires intervention before the trigger is pulled, support after trauma, and accountability for the adults and systems that failed.
My plan:
(A) PREVENTION — Reaching Kids Before the Streets Do
- Fund evidence-based youth mentorship at scale: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs, faith-based programs, and culturally specific organizations serving Black, Latino, Indigenous, and immigrant youth.
- Guarantee after-school and summer programming in every Title I school district — because an idle 14-year-old in July is the recipe we keep cooking.
- Expand mental-health professionals in schools to a 1:250 student-to-counselor ratio.
(B) INTERVENTION — Credible Messengers
- Fund violence interruption programs modeled on Cure Violence and Advance Peace, embedded in the highest-need ZIP codes.
- Create a Colorado Violence Interrupter Corps — paid jobs for credible messengers, many of whom are formerly incarcerated and can reach kids no police officer ever will.
(C) ACCOUNTABILITY
- Strengthen safe-storage laws for firearms — most guns used in juvenile shootings in Colorado were stolen from a parent, relative, or unsecured vehicle.
- Hold straw-purchasers accountable, fully fund ATF coordination, and crack down on ghost guns.
- Expand juvenile diversion and restorative justice — kids who do harm need accountability and a path out, not a pipeline into adult prison.
(D) HEALING
- Fund trauma-informed care in every public school, every juvenile justice facility, and every children’s hospital.
- Recognize that the siblings, classmates, and parents of victims need long-term support, not a press conference.
This is not a problem we can arrest our way out of. It is also not a problem we can hug our way out of. It requires both — and I will deliver both.
