Denver, CO -- Assets for Colorado Youth and the Veterans of Hope Project will host a premier screening of EXPECT GREAT THINGS: SHAPING THE LIVES OF YOUTH, a 28-minute video program that illustrates the power of caring adults in young peoples' lives through interviews with some of our country's most instrumental leaders for freedom and equality.

The sneak preview will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, September 14, in the Bartlett Lounge (2nd floor) at the Iliff School of Theology located on the University of Denver campus, 2201 S. University Blvd. The screening will be followed by a community discussion facilitated by Dr. María Guajardo Lucero, executive director of Assets for Colorado Youth, and Dr. Vincent Harding, resident professor at the Iliff School of Theology and founder of the Veterans of Hope Project.

EXPECT GREAT THINGS: SHAPING THE LIVES OF YOUTH captures renowned elders in the African American, Latino and Asian communities expressing their views on the importance of family, teachers and community in one's life. Leaders such as Dolores Huerta, who, with Cesar Chavez, formed the United Farm Workers, and Dorothy Cotton, education director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of which Martin Luther King, Jr. was president, describe the significant impact that adult role models and caring individuals played in shaping their lives.

The program is a collaboration of Assets for Colorado Youth, The Veterans of Hope Project and The Colorado Trust.

Dr. Vincent Harding of the Veterans of Hope Project comments, "The significance of positive adult relationships in a young person's life is not a new concept. But in today's world, we're having to re-acquaint ourselves with this important principle." Harding is one of twelve elders featured in EXPECT GREAT THINGS: SHAPING THE LIVES OF YOUTH.

María Guajardo Lucero of Assets for Colorado Youth says, "As adults, it is our obligation to ensure that young people understand their past, become comfortable with their personal cultural identity and recognize the importance and practice of positive values. This program, when used to promote discussions of the asset framework, begins to shape a brighter future for youth." The asset framework is a way of understanding the positive support, opportunities and values - or "developmental assets" - that young people need in their lives to grow up healthy and responsible.

A television broadcast of EXPECT GREAT THINGS: SHAPING THE LIVES OF YOUTH will air on Saturday, September 22, at 4:30 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS affiliate stations KRMA-TV Channel Six in metro Denver; KTSC-TV Channel 8 in Pueblo; and KRMJ-TV Channel 18 in Grand Junction.

Assets for Colorado Youth is a statewide initiative supporting community efforts to build developmental assets in youth. The Veterans of Hope Project sponsors courses, lectures and other programs addressing the connections between religion and social transformation.

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