On Thursday, Cohen will open the doors of 2 Hearts: The Lacy Jo Miller Foundation and begin taking applications for the 2 Hearts Academy, a drop-out retrieval program Cohen designed which will be housed out of the 2 Hearts office at 3600 Mitchell Drive.
Miller, who was abducted and killed three years ago by Jason Clausen, who posed as a police officer, wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
Cohen, a certified teacher with 25 years of experience, worked with at-risk students in PSD for many years. The program has room for 25 to 30 students and Cohen said she doesn't expect it to take long for it to fill up.
"As soon as I fill up, we'll get going," she said.
In addition to a standard curriculum including math, English, health, history, civics and more, the curriculum will involve guest speakers from throughout the community and stress hands-on learning through interaction with the business that surround the office.
Students will be able to earn college credit through Front Range Community College and study for and take the GED test in partnership with Front Range.
People wanting to register for Cohen's upcoming Amazing Women's Safety Awareness Conference, scheduled for Feb. 1 and 2 at the Marriott, may also do so at the open house.
The conference will feature sessions on personal safety, fraud and identity theft, sexual assault prevention, grief and loss and surviving a violent crime. The conference will also offer a session on alcohol safety given by Samantha Spady's mother, Patty Spady, and a talk by Cohen and James Clausen, Jason Clausen's brother.
Samantha Spady,a 19-year-old CSU student, died of alcohol poisoning on September 5, 2004.
Cohen wants to eventually expand services at the foundation to include counseling for those on both sides of crime and restorative justice.
"I will certainly talk to them, but I can't give them counseling," she said.
