Campus Connections

Program Overview

Campus Connections is a therapeutic mentoring program at CSU Pueblo, where undergraduate students serve as mentors to at-risk youth. This life-changing program provides students with an enriching experience where they develop leadership and problem-solving skills to become future leaders in every professional sphere.

Youth are referred through the Pueblo County Department of Human Services. Our Campus Connections Coordinator pairs CSU Pueblo students with youths based on interests and abilities to facilitate the best match.

CSU Pueblo students provide one-on-one mentoring throughout the 12 weeks program. Mentors will help youth with creating goals while providing a nurturing environment. The program takes place on CSU Pueblo campus, ultimately exposing mentees to university life and allowing youths to explore educational possibilities to shape their future.

CSU Pueblo students spend four hours a week with their mentees on campus. Mentees will receive schoolwork assistance, have a family dinner with Mentors, explore the university campus, learn positive social skills, and develop a career/college plan with their Mentors.

Students who are interested should enroll in this 3-credit hour course as early as possible. A background check is required at no cost to the student.

Community members interested in having their youth enroll in the program can contact the Campus Connections Coordinator to refer them to the appropriate referring organization. We do not take referrals from the public at this time, but we hope to do so in the future.

Referring Organization Referral Form: Click here to refer a youth to the program

Distinctive Aspects of the Program

The most unique characteristic of the Campus Connections program at CSU Pueblo is that we offer "just in time" therapy. Our licensed clinician staff offers counseling for youth that require psychiatric and/or behavioral services that cannot be addressed during normal mentoring sessions. 

Youth mentees can meet with our licensed clinician staff throughout the program to get additional support, work on accomplishing goals, and address other therapeutic needs. Youth are empowered to select their mentor, choose the activities they participate in, set goals for themselves, and seek support through family therapists.

We have lead mentors from our social work program who have completed their fieldwork with the program, and students who have already been through the course at least once. The students can act as case managers with supervision from the clinician or course instructor and offer families services such as food or financial assistance.

Our partners originally developed campus connections at Colorado State University Fort Collins and have generously collaborated to bring Campus Connections to CSU Pueblo and serve youth in the Pueblo and surrounding area.