American Pathways Univeristy

Strategic Alliance

APUSA or APU Strategic Alliance (aka, APU Alliance): A major endowing body of American Pathways University, consisting of 18 urban Denver service organizations, with combined assets of $52 million. The APU Alliance organizations provide contractually endowed educational facilities, services, and personnel for APU academic programs and operations. The Alliance members are:

  • Agape Christian Church (ACC). Established in 1968, ACC is an inner-city ministry that provides spiritual guidance and help for the physical needs of the people in the surrounding area. ACC operates a multitude of ministries, including a food bank, human services needs, male resident aftercare, summer youth day camp, weekly hot meals, youth moral and values training, unemployment training, referral, placement service, leadership training, pre-school and elementary age education, Bible classes––crafts, field trips, and self-esteem building, elementary through high school and GED tutoring, prayer fellowship including Anglos, African Americans, and Hispanics. ACC provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Anchor of Hope Church (AOH) is an inner city nondenominational church located in Denver, Colorado, with special emphasis on faith-based outreach, educational, and social service ministries to the Historic Five-Points and Northeast Denver communities. AOH provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  •  Aspen Center for Christian Studies (ACCS), based in Aspen, Colorado, engages classic and current issues and solutions from a Christian worldview and supports Christian education, philosophical, and political “think-tank” colloquiums, symposiums, and engagements with other cultures. ACCS provides executive leadership for APU.
  • Center for Community Excellence and Social Justice (CCESJ) fosters theory, practice and empowerment for individuals, groups and organizations. The CCESJ mission of behavioral and community services and public policy provides training and opportunities for personal and social development. CCESJ provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Colorado UpLIFT (CUL) of Denver works with hundreds of Denver’s inner city at risk youth to liberate urban youth held captive by the destructive forces of the inner city. The UpLIFT mission is to empower urban students to succeed in life through emphasis on character, college, and career. CUL staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Community Re-entry Place: Inside/Out (CRP) helps the homeless, addicted and institutionalized seeking a pathway back to normal life by the rebuilding of their lives based on safe housing, spiritual and peer group support, and cognitive, coping and conflict resolution skills. Healing, restoration, and community re-entry are delineated outcomes of the program. CRP staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Denver Rescue Mission (DRM), founded in 1892, is one of the five largest rescue missions in the United States with over 2000 clients annually. Denver Rescue Mission programs meet spiritual and physical needs by providing shelter, food, clothing, Christian teaching, education, & work opportunities. The DRM mission is to return the poor, needy, & homeless to society as self-sufficient, productive citizens. DRM provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Denver Street School (DSS) is an alternative high school, founded in 1985 as one of the first private high schools for at-risk students in Denver, currently enrolling nearly 100 students annually. The Gates Foundation strongly endorsed the DSS model of individualized, personalized education in a small school setting by its inclusion in the Foundation’s Alternative High School Initiative grant program, awarding $1.134 million to establish a national network of similar street schools and help replicate the model by opening ten new street schools nationally. DSS provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Denver Urban Academy (DUA) is a Denver inner city spiritual formation and leadership development program that assists community-based organizations in their spiritual and service development endeavors. Otherwise known as URBACAD, the DUA curriculum trains lay and ministerial students in the foundations and practical tools of personal faith and community service. DUA provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Justice High School (JHS) is a college preparatory program that serves at-risk minority populations in the Boulder Valley and north Denver. JHS provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Missions Door (MD) is headquartered in Denver’s historic inner city Five Points, the traditional cultural center of the African-American community. MD is a Christian mission agency with 300 staff in North America, major US urban centers and college campuses, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. MD provides educational facilities and executive leadership; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • New Life in Christ Church (NLC) is an inner city nondenominational church located in Lakewood, Colorado, with special emphasis on faith-based outreach, educational, and social service ministries to the Hispanic community. NLC provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Open Door Fellowship (ODF), established in 1984, has a particular passion for the vulnerable, the poor, and the disregarded of the city––from the economically depressed to the socially disgraced. ODF is a multi-denominational church that values ethnic and racial diversity and desires to foster a multi-cultural environment.  It believes learning is a lifelong process and seeks to bring God’s grace to people’s deepest needs in tangible ways. ODF works very closely with two large non-profit inner-city ministries: Providence Network and Open Door Ministries, which provide services to various segments of Denver’s urban poor. ODF provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Second Chances Inc. (SCI) is an urban Denver faith-based nurturing program of on-the-job training for women rebuilding their lives from addictions, homelessness, or prison. The program includes a thrift store, a janitorial service called Freedom Cleaning, and an employment and life skills training program for single mothers and disadvantage women, including opportunities for higher education. SCI staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Solomon Temple Baptist Church (STBC) of Denver is committed to the fulfilling of the “Great Commission” by living lives as disciples of Jesus Christ according to the Word of God, which includes caring for the poor, visiting the sick, and providing educational ministries for a variety of audiences. STBC provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • Street School Network (SSN) is a national association of street schools for at-risk youth modeled on the Denver Street School. Membership is over 40 schools throughout the nation enrolling approximately 3,500 students annually. SSN was the beneficiary of a Gates Foundation grant in 2003 in the amount of $1.134 million to help replicate the street school model by opening ten new schools nationally. SSN provides educational facilities; staff and clientele matriculate at APU.
  • 21stCentury Associates (TCA) provides political and educational consulting, continuing education curricula in leadership, and strategic management and accreditation consultation to institutions of higher education. Its Life Learning Assessment And Professional Studies program mentors learners through the process of demonstrating college-equivalent life-learning credit. TCA provides academic consultation and executive leadership for APU.
  • Urban Pathways Inc. (UPI) of Denver builds pathways to wholesome adulthood and community leadership through resolution of the issues of inner-city adolescent trauma, computer technology skills, and entrepreneurial mindsets. In 2000 the UPI Board of Directors commissioned the formation of an exploratory committee to assess the feasibility of establishing an accredited, accessible, and affordable university of the city, for the city, and by the city, which became American Pathways University. UPI is a source of student recruitment for APU.


American Pathways Univeristy