Our Story

Founded in the fall of 2012 by a math teacher working in the Mountain Valley School District in Saguache, Colorado

This teacher recognized a majority of students were struggling academically, but were not receiving the support they needed due to both their limited financial backgrounds and insufficient options available for structured and intentional out-of-school activities.

The teacher began providing these services pro-bono during her after-school hours, coordinating with other caring teachers and service providers in the community. She began receiving seed money through local county government grants and envisioned a short-term future when these impromptu efforts would become a coordinated, sustainable, grant-funded program designed to benefit all children and families served by MVSD.

The original vision quickly evolved and grew to include academic interventions offered during the school day and a more formalized after-school program, as well as increased staffing and a wrap-around support focused to reduce the students’ probability of engagement in high-risk activities. Soon thereafter, AAI was awarded an AmeriCorps grant to expand its services to more schools; that funding was re-secured for a second year with continued expansion operating under the auspices of MVSD.

In 2016, AAI was granted nonprofit status and secured enough funding to continue to grow its academic, after-school, and outdoor programs over the following years. This expansion has included services for more communities in the San Luis and Arkansas Valleys, programs for homeschoolers, and increased partnering with local organizations to enhance efforts such as outdoor programming.

Our Mission

Alpine Achievers Initiative (AAI) inspires, connects, and nurtures youth, families, and communities in rural Colorado.

Our Vision

Our vision is to offer relationship-based and clearly defined organizational structure and services that support accessible, transformative experiences for all involved with AAI. We aim to be responsive to partner and community needs through a culture of service quality, expertise, and inclusivity.

Equality Statement

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Alpine Achievers Initiative is committed to ensuring the presence of justice and fairness within our organization. Our ongoing equity journey will require us to take an honest look at our procedures, processes, and distribution of resources. We strive to cultivate a culture of acceptance and accessibility in our organization, and branch out those practices to the communities we serve. As an organization, we respect and value diverse life challenges, resulting in a structure that amplifies the voices of marginalized identities.

Organization-wide goals

AAI will continually assess how to promote anti-oppression work by offering relevant training to the AAI leadership team, the general community, and partners.
AAI will promote intentional, strengths-based language that validates the identities and experiences of those who serve and are served through our organization.
AAI will strive to increase equity within our communities by calling others into anti-oppression work.
AAI staff will have formal and informal meetings which offer time to ask questions, opportunities for collaboration, group reflections, and team-building exercises.
Governance of AAI by the Board of Directors (BOD)—including all programming, policies, and community interactions—will be in alignment with AAI’s equity statement.
The AAI Leadership Team will recruit new Board Members using guidance from the Board Recruitment Matrix to ensure there is diverse representation of skills and lived experiences on the BOD.
AAI will have a process for financially rewarding staff that is based on their time with the organization.
AAI will set an annual budget that will include equity work as a line-item expense.
AAI’s website will reflect our commitment to equity through our overarching statement, strategic goals, and concise action items.

Program-Specific goals

AmeriCorps members will be intentionally recruited to provide youth with a diverse group of role models that reflect the varied lived experiences of the world at large.
Valley to Valley Homeschool programs will actively work to meet individual needs of all homeschool students.
Backyard to Backcountry will develop experiences designed to break down barriers to the outdoors.
Backyard to Backcountry Programs will increase the self-confidence and technical skills of marginalized groups by providing specialized programming with the intent of building more leaders for future activities.