Here in Colorado, we pride ourselves on having one of the smartest, most innovative workforces in the nation. But did you know that our state also leads the way in community involvement? More than 1.3 million Coloradans volunteered 160.3 million hours of service to community organizations in 2012.
Giving back is part of the DNA of our business community, and the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation’s Impact Denver (ID) program is passing that civic DNA to the next generation of business leaders. This year’s class is no different. They’re looking for nonprofits that need a few extra hands to complete a short-term project. Proposals are due on Friday, Dec. 19. Click here for more details or to apply.
Here are a few of the ways that Impact Denver leaders have impacted our community through these projects:
Denver City Lax: In 2014, an ID team worked with Denver City Lax (DCL), an organization that reaches out to youth in underserved Denver neighborhoods through the sport of lacrosse, creating and executing a plan to market and support the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship Games and collaborating with 7News Denver to increase awareness of the Games and DCL.
Junior Achievement: A group of ID participants partnered with Junior Achievement (JA) in 2013 to create a volunteer recruitment, retention and training plan to attract young professionals. But first, the team had to experience the volunteer programs they were marketing. They went through volunteer training and taught over 200 students in eight different metro area high schools. After the project was completed, the JA staff implemented many of the ideas and recommendations.
Reach Out and Read: When a team from ID ’12 began its project with Reach Out and Read’s gently used books program, the task was to deliver children’s books to locations around the metro area. This group went above and beyond, creating a sustainable plan to partner with a pharmaceutical company that visited many of the same locations to deliver the books, increasing the efficiency of the book delivery process and lightening the burden of delivery for the Reach Out and Read staff.
This year’s Impact Denver class will launch in January with more than 90 young professionals who are ready to kick start their community engagement. These projects present a great opportunity for local nonprofits to expand their volunteer base and work with a small group of energetic professionals from Impact Denver who can help these organizations have an impact in the community.
Danielle Mellema is the communications and marketing specialist for the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation.
