The leaders who tap into their passion to take action are making a difference in our community. We’re lucky to have over 5,000 Leadership Foundation alumni who are creating real change.
They’re always asking, “What’s next? How can we make a difference together?” And, this year at the Leadership Foundation, inspired by our alums, we looked toward the future while celebrating our history.
We marked the 45th anniversary of Leadership Denver with the graduation of our 2019 class. It’s hard to believe that the first Leadership Denver class started in 1974 with 38 leaders and now we engage over 1,000 program participants yearly through all of our programs: Access Denver, Colorado’s Civic DNA Fellows, Colorado Experience, Colorado Leadership Alliance, Impact Denver, Leadership Alumni Network, Leadership Denver and Leadership Exchange.
We teamed up with B:CIVIC – an organization focused on elevating business for good. Now we can harness not only the power of individuals but also businesses to do even more good in the community.
We want to create more opportunities to lead and thrive. On our Leadership Exchange trip to San Diego in 2018, we saw how that community is working to help more residents access economic opportunity. Inspired by their efforts, we launched Prosper Colorado with our Chamber family and alumni. This nonpartisan research and communications initiative brings together all sectors to understand the causes of and potential solutions to economic disparity.
We want to pay it forward to the next generation of leaders. This year we awarded $138,500 to students across the state through FirstBank Scholarships and over $87,000 in program scholarships through our Leading Colorado Scholarship Fund. We couldn’t have done it without Southwest Airlines, which challenged our alumni to match their donation of $20,000 – and our alumni answered the call. You can help us reach our $25,000 goal for 2020 scholarships by giving today.
We want our alumni to grow their network. Our alumni are connecting and engaging with each other on The Network, an online community created just for them. Discussions around critical issues, advice and more increased by 23 percent last year on The Network.
We do all of this work through the lens of Colorado’s Civic DNA™, employing the values of inclusivity, responsibility, shared vision, collaboration and leadership.
See what else we were up to this year in our 2019 Annual Report and celebrate with us at our Leading Colorado luncheon on March 12.
Thank you for all your support of the Leadership Foundation, the Denver region and the future of Colorado.
Dan Lewis, Executive Director of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation and Ruth Rohs, 2018-19 Board of Directors Chair and VP of Corporate Communications for IMA Financial Group, Inc. and Executive Director of the IMA Foundation
