DBSA Colorado Springs and RiseUP: A Community Connection Worth Supporting
You do not have to have the same experience as someone else to value a community where they feel understood. That is part of the purpose behind our partnership with Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance Colorado Springs, or DBSA Colorado Springs, for the RiseUP Elevation Challenge.
The September campaign brings together organizations with different missions and supporters with different reasons for participating. Here, the connection is an opportunity to introduce more people to peer support, raise awareness, and make a practical contribution through fundraising.
Meet DBSA Colorado Springs
DBSA Colorado Springs describes its work around peer support, education, and community connection for people living with mood disorders and the people who support them. Its peer-based approach creates opportunities to learn from shared experience.
Visit the organization directly for current group information and participation guidance. Peer support and professional mental health care have different roles; participating in this fundraiser does not replace either.
The value of this introduction is simple: a reader who has not heard of DBSA Colorado Springs can find the organization and decide whether to learn more.
Different missions, a shared commitment to belonging
RiseUP supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and neurodiversity through residential, academic, and community programs. DBSA Colorado Springs focuses on mood-disorder peer support. These are distinct areas of work, and the partnership does not suggest that mood disorders and intellectual disabilities are the same.
What connects us is the importance we place on participation, understanding, and a community that has room for different experiences. Our Adult Day Programs provide one example of RiseUP’s community-focused work in Denver and Colorado Springs.
A shared fundraiser can introduce both organizations to people beyond their usual audiences. It gives supporters a way to learn about another mission without requiring either organization to change or combine its services.
Move with purpose throughout September
The RiseUP Elevation Challenge runs September 1-30, 2026. The campaign invites participants to work toward 5,000 feet of elevation or 15 miles of distance, with walking, hiking, running, climbing, strolling, or rolling options guided by individual circumstances and campaign rules.
When registering, select DBSA Colorado Springs from the participating nonprofit options. Half of the proceeds raised through your personal fundraising page support the nonprofit you choose.
Your movement goal is a fundraising framework, not a prescription or a promise about mental health outcomes. People can support the mission without completing any physical activity at all.
Share a reason without sharing private information
You might participate because you value peer connection, because you want more people to know about local resources, or because you appreciate an organization in your community. Those are complete reasons on their own.
No one needs to disclose a diagnosis or personal history to make a meaningful fundraising appeal. Tell the story you are comfortable sharing, explain your goal, and give people an easy way to donate or pass the page along.
Our fundraising and outreach tips can help you plan a first invitation and a later update. Thank people for their support without pressuring them to give or explain why they cannot.
Support connection from wherever you are
A Colorado Springs participant can receive encouragement from a friend in Denver or elsewhere in Colorado. That statewide support does not change DBSA Colorado Springs’ local identity; it gives more people a chance to contribute to its mission.
Explore DBSA Colorado Springs or visit the Elevation Challenge to participate, donate, or find a fundraiser. Families seeking RiseUP disability-service information can talk to a guide. Learning where to turn, and helping someone else find that information, are worthwhile contributions too.
