Case Study: Denver Public Schools achieves streamlined parent engagement and measurable CareerConnect impact with Salesforce for Nonprofits

Denver Public Schools improves communication with parents

Denver Public Schools (DPS), a fast‑growing urban district serving over 92,000 students—69% of whom qualify for free and reduced‑price lunch—faced significant communication and data challenges. The district’s Parent Portal team struggled with multiple disjointed systems that produced inconsistent newsletters, couldn’t store or segment contacts effectively, or track parent engagement. At the same time, CareerConnect—DPS’s work‑based learning program serving 14,000 students, 250 community partners, and 38 schools—relied on spreadsheets and manual processes that obscured which students and partners were being served and where equity gaps existed.

DPS implemented Salesforce with Pardot to centralize communications and program data. Pardot enabled professional, targeted, multilingual newsletters, contact segmentation, and engagement tracking, saving time and improving outreach. Extending Salesforce to CareerConnect created a single 360° view of students, partners, and schools, supported reporting and partner recruitment, and revealed gaps in access so the district can pursue more equitable college‑ and career‑ready opportunities (students with five or more CareerConnect courses are 90% more likely to graduate).

Denver Public Schools

Samantha Kessel

Parent/Student Portal Outreach Coordinator