Committed to Colorado
Attitudinal Shifts: The Latina Initiative
Rhonda Solis has lived most of her life in Greeley, Colorado, a fast-growing city with an agriculture-focused economy and a substantial Latino population. A Latina herself, Rhonda is constantly struck by the divisiveness that is caused by adverse attitudes toward Latinos in the region. Whether the subject is education, politics, or society, Latinos are marginalized – largely invisible – except when they are in the spotlight for conversations about immigration, crime, or other controversial subjects.
Capitol Coverage: Reaching All Corners of Colorado with News That Impacts Lives
When Penny Welch moved from Portland, Oregon, to the rural town of Cortez in Colorado’s remote southwest corner 10 years ago, she felt a dramatic difference in the political, cultural, and geographical climate of her new home. Due to a lack of information and news coming from Cortez’s limited media sources, she also felt disconnected from events in the state’s capitol.
Care and Share Food Bank
Care & Share Food Bank is a southern Colorado-based, not-for-profit food bank affiliated with America's Second Harvest, a national network of food banks. In 2003 alone, Care & Share Food Bank distributed 6.1 million pounds of food to 400 human service agencies serving 25,000 people each week.
CASA: Providing a Voice for Children While Supporting Parents
Every mother’s worst nightmare is one in which her child gets hurt and she is the source of the harm. When it happened to Antonia, it wasn’t a dream. A pregnant, single mother of three, Antonia was emotionally and physically drained one night after a long day. Past the tipping point of frustration, Antonia slipped into an incontrollable rage. It was an act that shocked Antonia and that set into motion events that led to having her children taken away. Antonia’s children are reunited with her now. She wants to never repeat the mistake she made that night.
Central City Opera
Opera's roots are in the working class. In the past, opera offered entertainment for everyone, including children. Today, it stays true to its roots while fostering an appreciation not only for art but for history, literature, and politics. Karen Ritz, a music education teacher at Denver's Samuels Elementary School, says that opera has changed her students' knowledge and awareness.
Colorado Business Committee for the Arts
The Leadership Arts Program is an innovative board leadership program offered by the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA). While it trains business people in skills needed to serve on boards of directors of nonprofit cultural organizations, the program's impact comes from fostering the exchange of ideas and information between the business and arts sectors.
Education Enriches Quality of Life
Amber Maldonado had a full-ride college scholarship. Excited to leave her small hometown, she found herself in a new environment where she could escape a history of abuse by extended family members. But the freedom of anonymity caught up with her, and she got lost in the drug and alcohol scene. With the help of the Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation, Amber has found her way - back to school and helping other young people with similar experiences.
El Centro Su Teatro
“Su teatro” translates literally to “your theater” and indeed, it is the Latin community's theater, addressing a rich and diverse cultural experience with events that represent Chicano, Cuban, South American, Spanish and Dominican heritages. Its founding in 1971 was sparked by the nationwide Chicano Civil Rights Movement, which gave rise to a desire among Mexican-Americans for a connection to Chicano history, language and culture.
Growing Home
When Camila Reyes issued a restraining order against her out-of-control, manipulative ex-husband, she had a two-year old and a new baby to take care of. Her job as a teacher's assistant only paid her once a month and money was tight. When her ex-husband's child support payment amounts became varied and Camila could no longer anticipate the next check, Camila borrowed money from friends just to get by.
Hands-On Activities and Teachable Moments Offer Valuable Experiences for Kids
Lowry Elementary School in Denver has a mixed population, with students representing an array of socio-economic backgrounds. While many are fortunate enough to go on weekend excursions and fancy vacations with their families, a group of Lowry’s students who live in nearby homeless transitional housing rarely, if ever, leave their apartment complex. For those students, whose poverty is so high that hot school lunches are unaffordable, activities such as going to the museum or the zoo are mere dreams.
Latin American Education Foundation
When Karla Ramos and her family came to the United States from Mexico three years ago, Karla spoke no English. Encountering cultural, academic, and language differences, she felt isolated in her new high school.
Mi Casa Resource Center for Women: A Clear Path for Women
For most of the past two decades, Tammy Krouse’s life has been filled with wrong turns, obstacles, and setbacks. With felony convictions, prison sentences, correction facilities, halfway houses, two marriages to drug addicts, and four children, her life appeared to be on a dead-end path. Bound by ankle monitors and curfews, and unable to pay child support, Tammy became motivated to make a change. A parole officer referred her to Mi Casa, and now Tammy feels like a functioning person for the first time.
PeaceJam
Founded in 1996, PeaceJam aims to inspire a new generation of peacemakers. Its annual conference provides a venue for Nobel Peace Laureates, such as The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to guide hundreds of youth through grass-roots projects that teach implementation and organizational skills – including project planning, presentation development and results reporting.
Pikes Peak Library District
¿De Donde Eres?: Where are you from? is a Pikes Peak Library District initiative that traces Colorado's Latino and Hispanic families, their histories, and their spirituality.
The Spirituals Project
Growing up, Emily Bates was taught this about African-American history: Free people in Africa were captured by foreign white men, stolen from their homes, and brought on slave ships to America. They would spend the rest of their days in captivity, dreaming of freedom. After enduring generations battling for fair and equal treatment, the slaves would finally become free. Then, Emily had a unique experience that revealed much more about her ancestors.
