Pursuing Meaningful Personal Growth

Our inspiration for opening the doors of HighPointe in 2003, was our son Austin Ziel.

After his birth, Kim and I had a strong desire to provide real-life, long-term solutions to the challenges facing families living with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). We wanted to establish a series of programs to support men and women with IDDs at the various stages of their lives – always Pursuing Meaningful Personal Growth.

Sadly, Austin left this world much too soon at the age of 24 in 2014. We are comforted by the fact that he is truly resting at the ultimate HighPointe – beside his Lord and Savior. And, as we continue our mission, we embrace and practice these lessons Austin taught us:

• Greet everyone you meet with a warm and welcoming smile.
• Accept and embrace everyone where they are and for who they are.

With these lessons as the foundation of our services, we continue to shine Austin’s light and love on the world, and provide meaningful opportunities for growth for everyone in our IDD Community.

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2019

2019 is going to be an EXCITING year for HighPointe! Why? Because in 2018 we invested our time, energy and passion into identifying next steps for our organization. We’ve got an incredible new website, addressing the real life challenges that families living with IDDs face, providing much-needed data, education and resources, opening the lines of communication for an honest dialogue, and letting the world know – We Exist!

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2018

2018 was a year of growth for us at HighPointe, and in many ways we feel like we’re just getting started. We focused our efforts in these areas:

• Programming: Narrowed the scope of programs to include only those that provide the BEST opportunity for clients and families to Pursue Meaningful Personal Growth.
• Staffing: Created and implemented new hiring, evaluation and retention methods, to ensure HighPointe has the most compassionate, motivated and respectful staff members.
• Software: Employed a new platform for Financial Administration, guaranteeing our time is spent on the most important part of our business – our clients and their families.
• Marketing: Refreshed our brand, message and online presence.

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2017

In 2017, we celebrated the holidays in style at HighPointe, hosting two amazing events, to help our community members living with IDDs enjoy the holidays in a very special way. The Secret Shopping Party and New Year’s Eve Celebration were filled with arts and crafts, music and the opportunity to make new and lasting friendships.

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2016

In 2016, we opened our second campus in Fort Collins. It’s a beautiful, freestanding building that allows us to provide the same high-quality programming and services to our IDD Community in Northern Colorado.

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2012

Our Exceptional Expeditions

Our sense of outdoor adventure spilled over into our programming model. The beauty and challenge of the Rocky Mountains beckoned and we launched a new outdoor leadership program called Exceptional Expeditions. This program is designed to help our clients gain teamwork and leadership skills that are necessary when tackling the outdoors and life. We take extended camping trips and epic hiking expeditions to learn how to plan and execute a safe trip, while supporting and encouraging one another.

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2011

Our New Focus

In 2011, HighPointe turned its focus to the adult population of men and women living with IDDs, and launched its flagship campus in Centennial, Colorado. Our programming and services were designed to provide high-quality, innovative programming, by a team of talented and committed individuals. In just two years, our program grew to serving more than 150 adults every year.

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2003

Our First Program

In 2013, we launched a weekend club called Exceptional Kids, which provided social and recreational activities for elementary age children with special needs. The program ran from 2003 to 2011 and expanded to three locations, including: Aurora, Colorado Springs and Englewood. During our 8-year span, we served more than 350 children with special needs.

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