Vocational Training & Development
Five years ago, COMPA Ministries looked in the mirror and asked: Does the Denver metro area need another food bank?
COMPA had been operating as such since 1981 when six pastors loaded food in the trunks of their cars and drove around the inner city distributing it for free to those in need.
The answer, by the way, was no, and, today, we are underway with an innovative program unique to this city and to serving the homeless and low-income population.
As a result of our cannery, we are going beyond serving those less fortunate with a hand out to providing a hand up through our vocational training program, which includes both on-the-job training and educational life skills classroom sessions. Our program takes a "head, heart, hands" approach to serving the needs of our community by linking concepts, values and practice in an interpersonal setting that points those enrolled toward a life of self-sufficiency.
And, the by-product of our vocational training program directly addresses the growing hunger issue in our community by providing a steady, increased supply of healthy, nutritious meals to feed those in need.
Developing marketable job skills among these individuals is the first step in enabling them to secure a meaningful job that provides a living wage and starts them on the path to self-sufficiency. And, by providing healthy food to low-income individuals through our Farm Market program, we can help prevent homelessness by saving them money at the grocery store, which can then be applied to rent and utilities and keeps them on the path to self-sufficiency.
The return on your financial partnership with us is taking people who are currently drawing on the social services system and giving them the skills and training necessary to help them be more productive members of the workforce.
Once those individuals find full-time employment, they then contribute to bettering our society by paying taxes and decreasing the number of individuals our social services program has to support.