Struggle of Love Foundation opens second location in Aurora

As Aurora mourns another teen killed by gunfire, a local nonprofit prepares to open a second location in an area plagued with crime.

The Struggle of Love Foundation has provided community outreach and support to kids and teens in northeast Denver since 2020. Their boots-on-the-ground approach has touched families through everything from school supply drives to midnight visits in neighborhoods struck by violence.  

Jason McBride, violence intervention specialist at the Struggle of Love Foundation, says the impact of violence easily echoes through the young community.  

"All these kids are connected through social media. Everyone knows everybody. So when we lose a kid, there's a kid that comes in and knows that kid or knows that kid's family, or know something about the incident," said McBride. "The city is diverse and growing bigger, but you know, it's still small."

The work done by the Struggle of Love Foundation is needed more than ever. The nonprofit is excited to expand its outreach to Aurora with a new location at 9715 East Colfax, one of the most underserved areas of the city. 

"Aurora is where most of the violence is and especially where we're going on East Colfax. It's going to give us an opportunity to really impact some of those things and make a change, especially when it comes to youth violence," said McBride. "A lot of people over on Colfax are affected by it. With that being such a central location, we can really start to make a mark in Aurora." 

McBride says his support teams have responded to over 60 shootings between June 2022 and June 2023, providing grief counseling and resources and even stopping retaliation. He says the organization is ready to make its services more accessible to youth and families in Aurora.

"Coming here sometimes is a strain on people if they don't have a car or they can't make it over here through public transportation," said McBride. "They'll be able to get the same resources that they get here. Same great service and some of the great, same people."

Struggle of Love Foundation volunteers spent Tuesday afternoon preparing their new location. Among them was Enrique Salas-Carrasco, a peer navigator. 

He spent the last four years in prison. He was 19 when he went in. The Struggle of Love Foundation helped guide him to the right path. 

Now he's guiding others.  

"It's like a follow the leader. I really just had to show them what I'm doing versus telling them what you shouldn't be doing," said Salas-Carrasco. "There's only two routes in that life, either you're going to end up locked up or you're going to end up dead." 

He says the last four years would've looked different if he had this support.  

The best thing he can do now is offer it to others.  

"I got a little brother and I got a little sister. So I feel like I have them looking up to me. If they look up to me, how do I know somebody else ain't looking up to me either?" said Salas-Carrasco. 

The Struggle of Love Foundation hopes to open its doors in early October. McBride says they haven't let the violence happening today dull the impact they've had on countless kids. 

"It makes you want to work harder because no kid should have to go through that. No family should have to go through that," said McBride. "We need to work harder and be there. I think being in Aurora is going to help us to combat some of those things."

For more information, visit www.struggleoflovefoundation.org