When I think about children, I'm reminded of the lyrics sung by Marvin Gaye many years ago. "Who really cares?" he asked in a song expressing sorrow over all the terrible things taking place in the world.

I think I now understand the question. As I try to reach out to families and children throughout the state and country, I find so many of our children struggling to survive. Yet those who have the power and resources to make a difference in the lives of these children have not taken the necessary steps. They have not conveyed the message to these children that we do indeed care.

Of course, there are some people trying to establish contact and develop ways to relieve the pain in our neighborhoods. This is being done on a block-by-block, community-by-community, day-by-day basis. But it's clearly not enough.

I realize that when I talk to young men like Antonio Adams, who tells me that Little League programs that exist in other parts of the metro area do not exist in communities like Montebello or northwest Aurora. It appears that the associations responsible for licensing these activities fear bringing them to predominantly African-American neighborhoods. As Marvin Gaye put it: "Who really cares?"

We have an opportunity in the Denver area to reach out to disenfranchised communities and to do it in a way we have never done before. How? By redirecting some of the resources that will soon become available to us, such as Lowry Air Force Base and, eventually. Stapleton Airport, and possibly Fitzsimmons Medical Facility. These spaces could be reconfigured to provide not only recreational facilities but an academic environment, using the latest technology available. These resources could be made accessible to all the people throughout the metro community.

I know there are many people in this state and nation which do, in fact, really care. But in my view, caring must go beyond our own doorsteps, our own immediate families, even far beyond our own communities, states and countries. I'm not saying that here in Colorado we can take on the challenges of the world, but we can respect one another. We can have a well-organized effort by business and government leaders to create programs, activities and especially educational opportunities that would give hope to more of our youth.

Each adult who is able to reach out to a child. Spend some time with a pre-schooler or an older student, take 10 minutes and read to a youngster. Take a neighborhood child to a sporting or cultural event - just reach out in some small way. There are so many children today who are from broken homes, and the chance to accompany a caring adult to work for a day, two or three times a year, might be just the ray of hope that young person needs.

School-to-Work is a concept initiated by the federal government and supported by many millions of dollars. But we don't have to wait for government to give our children a mentoring opportunity. That's not a new concept; it's something parents have been doing for years, parents with the means and the time. Now we must find a way to stretch those resources to cross all of our communities so that every child has that mentoring opportunity. It doesn't have to be a big deal; it could also mean just spending time in the neighborhood, doing a neighborhood activity.

This is a form of caring I have practiced for a number of years. It is amazing to me what just a little reaching out can do for a child's self-esteem. It's incredible how young people will share things with you because they know instinctively and intuitively that you are there for them and care about their lives.

We ask ourselves who really cares? But then we look around find that there are caring people who are taking action, step-by-step, one child at a time. Maybe that's the answer: one child at a time. Experience has shown that sometimes it takes someone outside of the family to reach out to a child and to give hope so that the child will know we care and, collectively, that we can make a difference.

If we put aside our fears - fears of those who are different from us - we can make a difference. Just maybe we will be able to save our children from the desperate situation so many of them find themselves in as they wander the streets and the back alleys of life looking for peace and happiness.

There must be a way, as a community, to stop blaming one another and start looking for ways we can help each other. That's the challenge we have as a community because I do believe it takes a whole village to raise a child. The questions is, is the village of Colorado up to the challenge?