At-Risk Youth and Family-Care Provider Excelsior to Close

At-Risk Youth and Family-Care Provider Excelsior to Close

Ana Campbell | October 2, 2017 | 1:41pm

Donors, funders and volunteers of Excelsior, a 45-year-old health-services provider for at-risk youth and families, were notified last Friday, September 29, that the program will end its clinics and services by November and dissolve entirely by July 2018.

"For 45 years, Excelsior has served the highest-risk youth in Colorado and across the country," read the email. "Keeping pace with clinical best practice and changes in market demand for residential services for youth, the organization evolved over the past three years from a residential treatment facility to an integrated network of responsive, community-based services for youth and their families where they live.

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"Unfortunately, the costs of operating our programs are not adequately covered by Medicaid 'fee-for-service' reimbursement, and other more sustainable payer models could not be developed quickly enough to sustain our organization going forward," it continued.

Excelsior offers a range of programs for at-risk youth and their families, including a ninety-day intensive-therapy service for youth at "imminent risk of out-of-home placement"; a program aimed at preventing child abuse, neglect and family violence; and a program that helps families and youth with complex emotional needs.

Excelsior staff will work with existing clients to find assistance after it closes. The nonprofit will decide by the end of the year what to do with its 33-acre campus in Aurora and any funds or contributions.

We have contacted Excelsior and will update this post when we get more details.

Ana Campbell has been Westword's managing editor since 2016; before that she worked at magazines and newspapers around the country, picking up a few awards for her writing and editing. She's written about drug cartels ravaging a Mexican border town, a rising political star turned felon, a high school shooting, and an Internet-famous cat. She grew up in south Texas.

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