RTD has one worker who visits light-rail and bus stations in eight counties, offering housing and other services to those in need.
Jennifer Brown
Jen is a co-founder and reporter at The Sun, where she writes about mental health, child welfare and social justice issues.
Her first journalism job was at The Hungry Horse News in her home state of Montana, before moving on to reporting jobs in Texas and Oklahoma. She worked for 13 years at The Denver Post, including several years on the investigative projects team, before helping create The Sun in 2018.
Jen is a graduate of the University of Montana and loves hiking, skiing and watching her kids' sports.
Email: jennifer@coloradosun.com Twitter: @jenbrowncolo
Posted inHousing
Old motels are putting a dent in Colorado’s homelessness crisis after serving as emergency shelters during the pandemic
Already this fall, the city of Denver has helped nonprofits buy three motels that eventually will provide hundreds of housing units for those living on the streets
Posted inSocial Services
Many Colorado foster kids don’t get behavioral health screenings as fast as they should
Data recently reviewed by state lawmakers reinforces findings from a Colorado Sun investigation that found 13% of adoptions of foster children have failed in the last decade — mainly due to behavioral issues
Posted inCrime and Courts
Clear Creek County deputies involved in fatal shooting are indicted, fired after grand jury investigation
Christian Glass, 22, was fatally shot through the windshield of his car after he ran off the road near Silver Plume and called 911 for help.
Posted inClub Q Shooting
How the deadly shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs unfolded, told through the eyes of survivors
The attack on the LGBTQ safe haven lasted fewer than 10 minutes but left five dead, 18 injured and a community shaken but resilient
Posted inSun Investigation
Colorado’s mental health system ill-equipped to handle adopted children with severe trauma
The primary reason adoptions of foster kids in Colorado fail is “child’s behavior problem.” How do you fix reactive attachment disorder or adoption-related loss?
Posted inSun Investigation
Colorado funds only one agency to help families and adopted kids with their trauma-filled past. And its budget just got slashed.
No family who has received trauma-informed coaching by Raise the Future has reported a disrupted adoption, according to the agency and the state.
Posted inSun Investigation
The same adopted child in Colorado could get $1,000 of monthly subsidies, or none. The deciding factor? Where they live.
Colorado is among just a handful of states where adoption assistance rates are set entirely by counties. The state is making reforms.
Posted inSun Investigation
Failed twice: Colorado foster kids who are adopted often end up back in the child welfare system
More than 1,000 children who were adopted from foster care in Colorado in the past decade ended up back in the system.
Posted inElection 2022
Colorado becomes second state to legalize “magic mushrooms”
Proposition 122, which passed by an extremely thin margin, would allow healing centers where people could consume psilocybin mushrooms