By SPARCC, October 2019 In the nonprofit world, it can take up to a year or more to get the money together to fund a program or development. So, when Jose Esparza, executive director of BuCu West Denver, a local economic development nonprofit, saw an opportunity to help a startup company expand in the predominantly blue-collar, Latino neighborhood of Westwood, he knew what he was up against. A building had just become available that would be perfect for the growing bottling company, but he...

Educators and parents don’t all support the move. The school board’s decision was unanimous. Jun. 11, 2020, 9:32 p.m. Denver’s public school system will part ways with in-school police officers who have monitored students and campuses for 22 years. After four hours of heated comment from the public Thursday evening, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to order Denver Police Department officers out of school hallways and classrooms. The resolution , sponsored by...

As the COVID-19 pandemic blurred from days into months, the leadership team of LAUNCH Together Southwest Denver began hearing about the sense of anguish and confusion felt by directors of early-childhood learning centers: Should I re-open? Is that financially feasible? Is it ethical? And how do I decide, in a sea of fast-changing information about a virus scientists are still struggling to understand? LAUNCH Together SW Denver, a collaborative formed in 2016 to boost community capacity to...