Each year, the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation connects teams of Impact Denver (ID) participants with community organizations that need those engaged leaders to take on a project. Their work helps those organizations make a bigger impact.
The spring 2020 ID participants selected two projects to receive a $1,500 contribution from the Leadership Foundation based off the projects’ outcomes. This is the first time that a class has selected two projects to receive this support. The two projects are Hunger Free Colorado and the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Foundation’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Centers.
Hunger Free Colorado is dedicated to connecting families and individuals to food resources. FACE Centers are one-stop hubs that connect any community member over the age of 16 with free services to increase their economic self-sufficiency and academic success.
“It was great to connect with a lot of young professionals and get them involved with the work we do,” said Brett Reeder, director of client services at Hunger Free Colorado. “We’re all going through a lot of weird craziness these days, true for us and everybody who worked with us. They all did a very nice job.”
Team Wolf Pact, the ID project team that worked with Hunger Free Colorado, is Kyle Andrews, Katie Brown, Anna Leer, Julia Manning, Morgan McNeal, Cary Walker, Mark Wittman and Emily Worm. Jamal Jackson was their coach.
“We started working with Hunger Free Colorado in January, and when COVID hit in March, their [call] volume increased dramatically,” McNeal said. “We realized what an impact they [Hunger Free Colorado] have on their community, especially in times of crisis.”
The team performed an analysis on the efficiency, quality and reach of the Food Resource Hotline, a bilingual, statewide, toll-free number that connects Coloradans to needed food and nutrition resources. As a result of the qualitative and quantitative analysis, Hunger Free Colorado incorporated changes to more efficiently process calls. COVID-19 has only increased the number of calls received by the hotline, and Team Wolf Pact’s analysis has resulted in more Coloradans being served.
Learn more about their project:
Team Eat Smart, the ID project team that worked with DPS Foundation FACE Centers, is Douglas Carlson, Susan Davis, Kate Dingan, David Miller, Marybeth Goodwin, Meagan Logan, Ryan Luby and Nina Roumell. Chris Kerry was their coach.
Their team worked specifically with Johnson Elementary School; that FACE Center saw a huge increase in hunger insecurity as the pandemic continued. The FACE Center has a community garden and food bank at the school, serving as many as 200 people per day. Team Eat Smart created a sponsorship menu that allowed potential donors to select one of three sponsor packages funding the community garden, food bank or both.
“I think overall, Denverites want to help each other. We worked with the FACE Center at Johnson Elementary, and the school was trying to start an emergency food pantry,” Roumell said. “So much of Denver is known as healthy and outdoorsy. There is a swath of Denver where that’s not the case. This was a project we could actually make a difference on.”
Learn more about their project:
Both projects and its challenges reflect the difficult year that many in Denver, especially families, have felt. These projects directly connected ID participants to nonprofit leaders who are facing all new challenges in this virtual and socially distanced environment.
Do you want to be a part of the spring 2021 ID class? Applications are open until Friday, Dec. 4 at 5 p.m.
Do you know an organization that could benefit from the work of an Impact Denver team? Applications are open for project proposals for the spring 2021 class. Submit a proposal by Thursday, Dec. 17.
