Gold Crown Clubhouse

The Gold Crown Foundation has built a reputation in the Denver community as a youth development leader.  Over the past 31 years we have answered the call of many program voids.  We’ve been guided by the simple question: “What’s best for kids?”  Our co-founders ventured down this road because they couldn’t find summer basketball camps for their daughters. Over the years, we answered the call for volleyball, junior golf, clinics for our coaches, new facilities, special needs programming and even teams for the high school students who didn’t make their school teams. Back in 1996, we partnered with Jefferson County schools and bought land previously occupied by an abandoned school. The move to the neighborhood was a conscious one, as GCF knew there were no youth technology programs there at the time. After careful research into enrichment programs producing results, Gold Crown Enrichment applied for licensing to join the Clubhouse Network, which was founded by The Museum of Science, Boston in collaboration with the MIT Media Laboratory 25 years ago.  The Clubhouse Network has grown to 100 locations in 20 countries. We were accepted and the Gold Crown Enrichment (GCE) programs were born! Gold Crown's Clubhouse is a free-of-charge, award-winning program that leverages cutting-edge technologies to engage underrepresented youth in meaningful learning experiences. The Clubhouse is an energetic, digital invention workshop where experimentation, exploration and discovery lead to growth and innovation. By learning creative problem-solving and the confidence to fail forward, our youth arm themselves with the tools necessary to break the cycle of poverty. Through our after-school Clubhouse program, Daytime partnership with Jefferson County Schools, hosting of tech days and Best Buy Geek Squad Academy, we reach over 600 youth each year with an average of 30 hours of youth programming and 100 individual Clubhouse members attending each week.

 All of our programming focuses on enriching the lives of our youth, building confidence and self-efficacy through creative expression, technology and exploration of STEAM; breaking the cycle of poverty. Our programs are led by our executive director and four full-time staff, all of whom are talented artists, teachers, and curious learners themselves. Our network of volunteer mentors offer expertise from industry, help with technical skills, and a listening ear. Youth are drawn to the Clubhouse for the non-judgmental, welcoming atmosphere we cultivate and they take ownership of the space, programs and experience.