Each year, the Leadership Foundation connects teams of Impact Denver participants to community organizations who need those engaged leaders to take on a project that will help the organization make a greater impact.
For the first time, ID participants selected one project to receive a $3,000 contribution from the Leadership Foundation based off the outcomes of the projects. ACCESS Housing, which offers families facing homelessness shelter for up to 90 days, was selected as the recipient this month.
“It was a huge surprise. We’re thankful to be the recipients,” said Ken Hayes, president of ACCESS Housing’s board of directors. “The money will go towards improving our shelter facilities.”
The ID project team: Brittany Bernacchi, Kourtney Geers, Scott Honig, Robert Peek, Zaki Robbins, Betsy Sklar and Trevor Zalkind along with their ID coach Steven Paletz, was originally tasked to build a sustainable program to engage community residents to teach shelter residents about home maintenance skills, but ACCESS Housing’s property was damaged, changing the organization’s need.
“Our scope changed drastically after a watermain break devastated four of the eight units on the property,” Zalkind said. “We pivoted to focus on connecting ACCESS Housing to funders and in-kind donors to fundraise and help restore the units.”
The team collaborated to fundraise and showed up to paint, garden and more to help restore the residential units – working together to make an impact and rebuild someone’s home. Check out the video below to learn more about their project work:
“We hope that our project has made an intangible impact by adding energy to the agency, letting the residents know that they have a community behind them ready to help them live their best lives,” Zalkind said.
Do you know an organization that could benefit from the work of an Impact Denver team? Applications are open for project proposals for the fall 2019 class. Submit a proposal by Monday, July 1.
