PROJECTS
History Colorado's Museum of Memory is a public history initiative that works together with Colorado residents to co-author a shared history. The initiative works to reanimate, center, and amplify the histories that have long existed only in the margins and create the opportunity for the community to decide how to remember its collective past. As of July 2022, History Colorado has initiated a Museum of Memory project for Denver's Sun Valley neighborhood.
Affordable housing stock that is comprised of unsubsidized affordable rental units is referred to as “Currently Unsubsidized but Affordable” (CUBA). It has also been referred to as “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing” (NOAH). Older CUBA rental housing is more likely to have quality, safety, and physical accessibility issues that jeopardize the health of occupants. Many of these aging properties are in need of major repairs and financial investment that their reserves are often insufficient to cover. The key action needed to address these issues is to find ways to keep these units affordable through owner education and where appropriate, acquisition.
The West Denver Rising Initiative brings together the Little Saigon, Sun Valley, and BuCu West communities to collaboratively plan and carry out a series of international marketplaces featuring local entrepreneurs and businesses, paired with culturally appropriate placemaking and public art, with the goal of developing a sustainable, long-term business model for continuing to host marketplaces in each of the three communities for years to come.
The Sun Valley neighborhood in Denver, Colorado is undergoing the redevelopment of 300+ public housing units and plans to replace them with mixed-income housing units. Sun Valley Kitchen + Community Center has been a critical organization during this process for the residents that have been or are being displaced by providing the community with services and a place for community members to feel safe, heard, and welcome. Current programs include the No-Cost Grocery Program; a restaurant that offers employment, training, professional development, and firsthand experience of running a food-based business for local residents; and youth employment and professional development programs.
The Metropolitan Football Stadium District and the Denver Broncos are pursuing the redevelopment of their parking lots to the south of Empower Field at Mile High. The Westside Stadium Community Coalition (WSCC) was formed to develop and negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the master developer of the redevelopment.
STEAM on the Platte is a mixed-use project in Denver's Sun Valley neighborhood that includes a 65,000 square foot former industrial warehouse that is now office space; Raices Brewery, Denver's first Latino-owned brewery; and Bold Beans Cafe, a social enterprise of Girls Inc. of Metro Denver that serves exclusively women-produced coffee and provides employment and entrepreneurial training to young women and girls.
Aria Denver is a 17.5-acre master planned mixed-income, mixed-use community that includes townhomes, row homes, and apartments as well as commercial components. Aria Denver promotes healthy living with community gardens, production gardens, pocket parks, and pathways integrated into the site. Of the 526 residential units, 201 are affordable units, including LIHTC apartments, Habitat for Humanity for-sale townhomes, and transitional housing for young women and children exiting homelessness.
NextFifty Initiative awarded the National Civic League funding for the program “Enhancing the Equity and Inclusiveness of Age-friendly Initiatives” in 2021. The project helps communities in Colorado add a racial equity dimension to their work on behalf of older adults, particularly as it relates to AARP's "Age-friendly Communities" initiative.
Gentrification is a political topic that is deeply emotional and personal to many. It is a topic that, like so many others, integrates political ideology, economics, and legacies of systemic, de jure, and de facto racism. To address this challenge will require a better understanding of the context of this complicated process so that we can be thoughtful and realistic with our local, national, and even global solutions.
DCI's Colorado Challenge Accelerator Program is a team building accelerator focused on establishing a proposal that engages public, private, and non-profit partners to address a significant community challenge over the course of twelve months. The program includes five phases of planning and development that help Colorado communities establish a plan for community-wide initiatives to foster sustainable community and economic development.
For most of Center's history, it was fueled by a strong agricultural industry and a vibrant Main Street. However, largely due to automation, the town has struggled to stay afloat, retain its citizens, and maintain a sustainable economy. With 31% of Center's residents living below the poverty line and a median household income of $27,216, Center needed to find a way to identify and capitalize on its existing assets and opportunities to stimulate its sleeping economy.
In response to numerous inquires regarding Greek Life at the University of Colorado Denver, the Office of Student Life commissioned a feasibility study to explore the potential for establishing a Greek Life community on campus. The resulting research, recommendations, and Diversity and Inclusion Plan served as the foundation for the university's subsequent initiative to institute an intentionally-inclusive and multicultural Greek Life system at CU Denver.