Opening Doors. Unlocking Potential.

The Challenge Foundation helps smart, ambitious, and hard-working students break the cycle of poverty through educational opportunities. Challenge takes a whole-student approach, awarding tuition scholarships and individualized support services to students from underserved communities. From middle school, at a college preparatory school, and continuing through college, we see the big picture: the potential in our scholars and their dreams of higher education, the impact they will make in their communities, and the way that giving back to the world is a privilege we should all strive to earn.

Don McFall, a successful Colorado businessman who had worked with homeless and underserved populations, wanted to create a unique program for youth in these communities to provide a bona-fide chance of escaping the cycle of poverty. In the mid-1990s, Don gathered a like-minded group of citizens and formed The Challenge Foundation, Inc., a Colorado non-profit to support students through academic opportunities, including a dynamic summer program for middle school students and scholarships to independent college prep high schools.

In 2001, Challenge expanded to provide scholarships beginning in middle school. With the understanding that an early start provides greater opportunity to overcome inequities, Challenge enrolled scholars in a purposeful, multi-year program of academic preparation to ensure high school achievement and college admission. The results were both inspiring and measurable. The Challenge Foundation has since expanded to focus on a whole-student approach with services such as mentoring, case management, counseling, tutoring, college preparedness, and service learning.

Through hard work, perseverance, and determination, combined with support from our donors and volunteers, our scholars create a new path for themselves. Ultimately, scholars strive to make a difference in our community as leaders and role models. After remarkable success in the Denver program, Challenge expanded to offer programs in El Paso, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, and now supports more than 200 students each year.