Denver, Colorado is a hub of community organizations that have achieved remarkable success in the area. From health initiatives to environmental education, these organizations have made a positive impact on the city and its residents. Kaiser Permanente has been collaborating with the Colorado Community Well-Being (CCWB) for several years to improve health in the Denver metropolitan area. Colorado Reading Corps, a program of Colorado Youth for a Change, focuses on boosting K-3 students' literacy proficiency in schools in Denver and Northern Colorado.
This program assigns AmeriCorps members to provide individual reading interventions to students who read below their grade level during the school day and additional support for enrichment programs before and after school. Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) and CSU Extension have partnered to create DUG Corps, which places members to lead workdays, assist at events, represent DUG in gardens and in the community, help with education programs for youth in school gardens, and provide an additional line of communication to gardeners. The Environmental Education Corps (EEcorps), a program of the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE), places AmeriCorps members in organizations across Colorado to focus on increasing the environmental literacy of students from pre-K to 12 years old and implementing the goals outlined in the Colorado Environmental Education Plan. The City and County of Denver and AECOM are working together to design a storm drainage system that will improve flood protection with as little disruption to the community as possible.
The northeast corner area of the city of Denver includes the neighborhoods of Montbello, Gateway-Green Valley Ranch and Denver International Airport. City Year Denver partners with Denver public schools and district teachers to place young adults in schools to provide individual support to students who need additional care and attention. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure of the City and County of Denver is in the design phase of a project that will beautify and provide additional mobility for bicycles and pedestrians along this 2-mile corridor in east Denver. The Rural Alliance for Dignity, a program of La Puente Home, is a consortium of community organizations that provide services to rural communities with great geographical diversity and with very few resources.
Yessica Holguín, executive director of this organization, was hired as an “intern” to develop a strategy to create and preserve opportunities in low-income neighborhoods. The city and county of Denver are working with communities to create complete transportation networks, implementing a new strategy for planning multimodal networks and rapidly developing low-stress bicycle projects through this program. Along with the Trailhead Institute, the Mountain Roots Food Project has AmeriCorps members providing education and outreach to underserved audiences to address capacity issues related to food insecurity in southwestern Colorado. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) of the city and county of Denver is moving forward with a design and engineering project to eliminate sidewalk gaps, improve drainage and improve road infrastructure in the Mar Lee neighborhood. Over the next decade, billions of dollars of public and private sector funding will drive new investments in transportation infrastructure in the Denver region.
The 48th Avenue outflow, when completed, will alleviate some of the drainage problems in the Globeville neighborhood with the potential to create a community connection to the South Platte River, expand access to green space, and promote the community's goal of a more walkable neighborhood.
