SAVIO :: Where outcomes count!

Savio was founded in 1966, and operates as a community service project of the Lions Club of Denver. Savio House began as a residential program, which steadily gained momentum as a high-quality effective service for adolescent boys. Staff were hired who, together with the Trustees, established a vision to build an organization that would be leading-edge with services founded in sound research practice. These values guide the organization today.

Savio has developed comprehensive care programs for children, youth, and families. A school was built on the Denver campus, adding accredited education and day treatment programming. Outreach and transition programs were formalized under Community Based Services. This program area provides home-based services for youth who will remain with their families and independent living support for those who require emancipation assistance.

Community Based Services has branched into several distinct programs and now serves younger children and their families in addition to families with adolescents. In collaboration with county departments of human services, specialized Child Protection services were initiated for families experiencing child abuse and neglect and drug and alcohol addiction. In 1999, Community Based Services expanded to a Colorado Springs office, and a Longmont office opened in 2007.

Savio has maintained accountability and outcome systems to evaluate its impact in all service areas. Early in the national movement towards evidence-based programming, Savio became a certified provider of Multisystemic Therapy. In recent years Functional Family Therapy, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, Multisystemic Therapy for Problem Sexual Behaviors, and Multisystemic Therapy / Child Abuse and Neglect have been launched under joint sponsorship by Savio and these national program organizations.

Savio is licensed and supervised by several state entities. The Colorado Department of Human Services licenses and supervises programs through the Divisions of Child Care, Child Welfare and Mental Health. Savio is also licensed by the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Human Services to provide outpatient alcohol and drug services. All Savio programs are nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children, Inc.

The original Savio House program was located in Denver's historic Bowman mansion, a unique building that is still the center of Savio's main campus at 325 King Street. Savio House was named in reference to Dominic Savio, an Italian boy with inspirational vision and leadership who died in 1856. He was canonized in the Catholic church, and is known as a patron saint of children and teenagers. Dominic Savio's family home in Italy has been preserved as a youth retreat. In Colorado, the Savio name has come to mean excellence in youth and family services.