By Dwyer Gunn, 5280, September 1, 2019 On a frigid morning this past March, Jo Carrigan, principal of Denver Public Schools’ Doull Elementary School in Harvey Park, stood on a blacktop playground as students streamed into the red brick building. As evidenced by the elaborate hairstyles, shimmery party dresses, and clip-on ties, it was school picture day. Carrigan complimented students on their outfits as she guided them around an icy spot on the pavement. Inside the building, up a flight of...

By Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado, February 5, 2020 There’s a lot Melisa Sandoval wants educators to know about childhood trauma. But perhaps the most important thing is this: It’s not a life sentence. The brain can heal from trauma with the right relationships and environment, said Sandoval, the director of social emotional learning and student agency for the 9,000-student Westminster School District in suburban Denver. [ Please click here to read more .]

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...

By Ailsa Chang and Jonaki Mehta, National Public Radio, July 10, 2020 Across the country, students of color have been demanding change from their schools. At one Denver school, the push for a more inclusive and diverse curriculum came last year, from a group of African American high school students at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College. Black students at the joint middle school and high school say they didn't see their history and culture reflected in the curriculum at a school that's...

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...

By Veronica Penney, The New York Times, September 30, 2020 In most American cities, white residents live near parks, trees and baseball fields, while communities of color are left with concrete and the heat that comes with it . Now, in a push that could provide a road map for other cities, officials in Denver are working to rectify that historical inequity. The effort, one of a handful around the country, has been bolstered by an environmental tax that added tens of millions of dollars to...