Urban Dweller

Volume 40, Edition 2

2/6/2022

Message from the President

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope this monthly update finds you well. Welcome to the Urban Dweller... the Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods monthly e-newsletter. Here is the latest from Denver’s largest, oldest registered neighborhood organization and community advocate:

From the historic Alamo Placita Neighborhood to North Capitol Hill, CHUN is committed to investing in neighborhood projects that advance our shared urban planning, enrichment, sustainability, and diversity goals. Congratulations to the eight fantastic groups who received $1000 SEED Awards last month. Since the program's inception three years ago, funding through the SEED Awards has now surpassed $20,000.

The Colfax Bus Rapid Transit initiative continues to move forward. A number of community meetings and focus groups have been held in recent months to review station design, service and route details, and a number of other topics. As a member of the Task Force, CHUN continues to participate in these focused discussions, and we are monitoring the project management team's progress. As Denver continues to grow, especially along the Colfax Avenue corridor, access to mass transit is essential.

CHUN held an Urban Planning meeting on February 3rd. We heard from Chris Chiari, owner of the Patterson Inn at 420 E. 11th Avenue, concerning a cannabis hospitality license. As the Denver Post reports, the Patterson Inn is one of three businesses in Denver currently seeking such a license. We want to know what you think, so please take our flash poll here.

Denver City Council is considering a $3.9 million budget allocation to the Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC). These funds are made possible by previous COVID19 relief funding. If Council approves this contract and funding, it will extend CVC's existing contract with the City and enhance the organization's capacity to provide temporary safe outdoor spaces to the unhoused in Denver. You can learn more about the scope and intended outcomes here.

Central Presbyterian Church recently applied for financial support from the Colorado State Historical Fund to make much needed improvements to its existing space. Doing so will also allow the church to offer additional services to the community. CHUN issued a letter of support for their grant application, and we are thrilled to see historic spaces leverage both public and private funding to further the City's preservation and adaptive reuse goals.

January wrapped on a joyful note. We announced the recipients of the 2022 Good Neighbor Awards. The Awards are an annual recognition of nonprofits, individuals, and/or businesses for their respective contributions to the greater Capitol Hill community and Mile High City

February is Black History Month. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Barney Lancelot Ford. Born a slave in Virginia, Ford would go on to support the Underground Railroad, fought tirelessly for civil rights throughout his life, founded a number of businesses across the globe, and became one of Colorado's most influential citizens. Much of his extraordinary, inspirational life was spent in Denver and even the Greater Capitol Hill community. His last home was on High Street between 16th Avenue and Colfax Ave. CHUN supporter Bob Janowski nominated the Denver home for Historic Denver's 50 Actions for 50 Places. The Colorado Virtual Library has more details about his life. More information about his life in Breckenridge can be found here.

Last month, members of the CHUN community marched with other Coloradans to honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In his Letter from the Birmingham Jail Dr. King writes, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." CHUN remains unequivocal in our commitment to fairness, justice, equity, and inclusivity in our neighborhoods and throughout Denver.

Onward...

Travis Leiker, MPA
President and Executive Director

Member of the Month

Colfax Avenue Business Improvement District

A valued CHUN business member for 5 years now, the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District (BID) works to build a dynamic and inclusive community along the Colfax corridor.

Through increased marketing and visibility, cleaner and safer streets, streetscape improvements, and partnerships with various City agencies and community groups, the BID works to maintain Colfax’s unique character while attending to the evolving needs of the commercial district.

Colfax Works is one of their key initiatives. It provides employment opportunities, support services, and transitional housing for those experiencing homelessness within the BID.

The Colfax Ave Streetscape Design Master Plan provides for a strategic plan for Colfax improvements, and the Safety plan works closely with the police and community to improve safety on Colfax.

Explore the 115 diverse businesses that make up the BID to help support these and other initiatives . . . .and find a new way to shop local!

CHUN News and Events

Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods’ 2022 S.E.E.D. awards help fund eight community projects

Eight deserving groups in the Greater Capitol Hill neighborhood received community funds from the CHUN S.E.E.D. Awards program for Smart development, Enrichment, Environmental sustainability, and Diversity that encourage civic entrepreneurship and to promote neighborhood engagement in these funding areas. The 2022 S.E.E.D. award recipients are:

Open Collective Fund to purchase a refrigerator to establish an outdoor pantry aimed at combatting food insecurity [top photo]
Denver Park Trust to organize an Alamo Placita Park clean-up providing work opportunities for recently homeless.
Senior Housing Options to procure outdoor heaters for the Olin Hotel Apartments, an affordable housing for seniors. [bottom photo]
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church to buy much needed items for those living in shelters.
Recreative Denver to host music sessions music featuring BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists at locations around Capitol Hill.
Denver Urban Gardens to transform the community garden at Morey Middle School into an outdoor classroom. [middle photo]
Dora Moore PTSA to purchase books for its Little Free Library that depict diverse main characters to help students to develop a healthy self-image.
B-Connected to support housing access and stability by increasing retention rates of marginalized renters.

CHUN Good Neighbor Awards Recognize Contributions to Improving Denver Neighborhoods

In January, CHUN also announced the recipients of its 2022 Good Neighbor Awards, an annual recognition of nonprofit organizations, individuals, or businesses for outstanding contributions to the greater Capitol Hill community and Mile High City. The awards recognize outstanding volunteerism, community development, historic preservation, and neighborhood safety. The 2022 Good Neighborhood Award Recipients are:

Barbara DeJong - Roger Armstrong Volunteer of the Year Award, for outstanding volunteerism and contributing to CHUN’s efforts to support environmental sustainability and address climate change at the neighborhood level.
Castle Lion Development - Neighborhood Character Award for developing neighborhood character through smart land use, effective zoning, community beautification, promoting affordable housing, and architectural preservation.
Charles Nusbaum - Tom Knorr Community Leadership Award for his years as president of the board of CHUN and helping CHUN realize its potential as Denver’s largest, oldest registered neighborhood organization.
City Street Investors - Historic Preservation Award for the adaptive reuse and preservation of historic, architecturally significant treasures like Union Station, Larimer Square, the Evans School, the Lowry Hanger, and the Tears-McFarlane House for the benefit of neighborhood character and future generations of Denverites.
Colorado Village Collaborative - Affordable & Accessible Housing Award for creating and operating transformational housing communities in partnership with neighborhoods and those experiencing homelessness.
Rainbow Alley at The Center on Colfax - Neighborhood Safety Award for creating and fostering safe neighborhoods by providing access to safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and other historically marginalized populations.

CHUN Annual Update hosts Speakers from 'Civic Center Next 100 Years' and 'Denver Public Works' Expanded Waste Service Proposal'

At its January 2022 Annual Member Meeting, CHUN hosted guest speakers from Denver's 'Civic Center Next 100 Years" and Denver Publics Works' 'Expanded Waste Service Proposal".

The Civic Center Next 100 vision is to catalyze new activity and animate the heart of Denver. The transformation will elevate Denver's first national historic landmark, the Denver Civic Center, for the next 100 years with new daily energy, world class performance and events. The plan includes creating a true amphitheater (upper photo) and reimaging Bannock Street and the Central Promenade to event and gathering spaces. Phase I is scheduled to begin in 2024.

The trash we throw away and bury in our landfill has a direct impact on air quality and the rate of climate change, because landfill waste produces one of the most harmful greenhouse gas emissions - methane. Reducing landfill waste will fight rising temperatures and poor air quality, as recycling uses 92% less energy than creating the same products from raw materials.

Denver's Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency office is proposing a volume-based trash service fee to incent homeowners to reduce their own trash levels. The city has a goal to reduce the total amount of trash that goes to landfill from 74% to 50%. Cities like San Francisco and Portland send less that 20% of their trash to landfills.

Proposed renovation of The Greek Theater

Proposed volume-based trash service fees to incent homeowners to reduce waste going to landfills.

Travis Leiker, President and Executive Director of CHUN, speaks at Central Park United Neighbors 2022 kickoff community meeting

Central Park United Neighborhoods (CPUN) community meeting included a robust discussion with Travis Leiker, President and Executive Director of CHUN, on the work of the Unhoused Action Coalition (UAC).

UAC is a network of more than 15 organizations, including many RNOs like CPUN, who have signed on to statement calling for a stronger response from the City and County of Denver on addressing issues of homelessness. Read the statement here.

CHUN Members Support MLK Day and Parade

Denver and Colorado News and Events

Coffee & Conversations

This monthly informal Denver Economic Development & Opportunity online gathering will help attendees gain a broader understanding of Denver’s entrepreneurial resources. Do you have a business idea but unsure where to start? Are you looking for help in launching or growing an existing business? Want to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and build community? Then this event is for YOU!

Coffee & Conversations is intended to introduce Denver entrepreneurs to the resources available to them and facilitate important conversations and connections to other business owners and business-curious professionals.

Sign up is easy! Simply email Carrie Singer at [email protected] and you will receive the link to join.
All meetings are held from 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday February 9, 2022
Featuring Denver Community Credit Union – Maria Gutilla

Wednesday March 9, 2022
Featuring - Mi Casa Resource Center, Daniela Ramirez Arias & Martin Diaz

Five Points is getting a 36-unit Affordable Housing Complex

Eddie Woolfolk was happy to welcome people at a groundbreaking ceremony on Welton Street after she and her husband, Robert Woolfolk, pastor at Agape Christian Church, faced a long road to get here.

The initial plan to erect the housing complex was rejected by the city’s Board of Adjustment for Zoning in 2020, since it requested a variance asking for fewer parking spots. Then last June, the city tweaked its zoning code, allowing for changing the number of required parking spaces per unit for affordable housing projects.

Work will begin soon on their vision to build affordable housing along this strip of Welton Street near 29th Avenue. The final product, Charity’s House, will be a 36-unit affordable housing complex available only to the city’s poorest residents, including people who have experienced homelessness or were formerly incarcerated.

Robert and Eddie Woolfolk (center) throw dirt with ceremonial shovels during a groundbreaking ceremony for Charity's House on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. Esteban L. Hernandez/Denverite

Denver Digs Trees Makes Trees Affordable (even free!)

Feeling climate anxiety? Taking action can help...plant a tree in 2022!

Denver Digs Trees makes trees affordable (even free!) for all 9 stunning varieties available - all it takes is a Denver address and 10 minutes of your time.

Apply online at TheParkPeople.org by Feb 15.

Trees go fast...apply early!