Every year the Leadership Foundation connects teams of Impact Denver (ID) participants with community organizations who are looking for engaged leaders to take on a project within their organizations. The work of ID participants enables these community organizations to amplify their work.
This past year required organizations, teams and individuals to work in new and collaborative ways. It was fitting, then, that this past slate of ID projects were all awarded contributions. Fall 2020 ID organizations that were awarded contributions are: Civic Canopy, CrossPurpose Career Guidance, Maria Droste Counseling Center, PCs for People and WeeCycle.
These nonprofits provide a wide range of services within the community from providing mental health counseling to refurbished technology and diapers. They have all been challenged in new ways over the past year. That’s where ID participants came in, working on a project to meet the needs of each individual organization.
The fall 2020 ID cohort was the first to complete the program and their projects virtually, and the focus of many of their projects reflected the increased demand for services these organizations have experienced during the pandemic.
“PCs for People’s mission and organization is more relevant now than ever due to the rise of remote-learning during the pandemic,” said Purav Modi, the associate administrator at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s & Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children. Modi, whose ID group worked with the technology nonprofit, also added “PCs for People’s impact of removing the technological barriers to education for low-income families and their children will profoundly shape the lives of these children who will one day be the future leaders of our city.”
Just as their nonprofit partners and their services provided shifted because of the virtual world, ID participants were fully remote as well. “Despite the virtual environment, we [the project team] still formed a bond and connection,” said Blake Barnes, senior consultant at Credera, whose team worked with CrossPurpose Career Guidance. “Impact Denver enabled us to relate to each other in a way that is hard to do virtually. There was a feeling of ‘we’re all in this together.’”
Forging connections and having an impact can be difficult without traditional networking or face to face connections, but participants were able to grow their leadership skills and learn lessons to take directly into their careers and civic engagement in the future.
“Being a part of ID opened my eyes to opportunities that I never thought had existed,” added Maya Fieweger, learning and development specialist at Molson Coors, who worked with Civic Canopy. “For example, just from talking about board memberships in class, I was able to join the Board of Directors for the Asian Chamber of Commerce, which will allow me to continue to make a difference in my community.”
The breadth and scope of these projects, and the impact they have on Denver’s community resonated with participants. “Ultimately, Impact Denver showed me there are small steps to making change,” said Hannah Hunter, senior analyst with ZOMA Capital. “It’s extremely difficult to create systemic change in one action or with one organization tackling the whole issue, but if you work at it from different angles over time, you can chip away at it.”
Ultimately, the teams were able to deliver projects that met the needs of their unique organizations and decided to split the $3,000 award evenly between all nonprofits. Congratulations to all of the participants of ID fall 2020 and their nonprofit partners!
Do you want to be a part of the fall 2021 ID class? Applications are open until Monday, May 24 at 5 p.m.
