40 minute read
State of the City: Denver Mayor's Update
My fellow Denver residents and neighbors:
I’m going to ask you today to take a moment, to lift your head, and look around. From this vantage point overlooking Civic Center park, the signs of recovery are all around us. People have returned to downtown Denver. Jobs are available. Construction is picking up. We successfully hosted Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game and nearly a week of events leading up to it. And I’m sure you’ve noticed, there’s a lot of traffic again.
The state of our city is resilient. We’re turning the challenges of the past year, and there were many, into opportunities – opportunities to transform our city into a model of equity and inclusion that is sustainable for years and even decades to come.
The Denver Central Library, where I am standing this morning, exemplifies that. Thanks to Denver voters, the library is undergoing renovations and modernizations that will improve access and resources for the 1 million people who visit this iconic building every year. It’s an example of how public institutions can adapt and transform to meet the changing needs of the communities they serve.
Without question, the past 16 months have been a time of loss, hardship and change. The stress of folks losing their jobs; of losing loved ones or friends; of losing a sense of belonging and connectedness after months and months of staying at home – has taxed all of us. Unfortunately, that stress may be with us for a while longer. As much as we might like to think COVID is over, it’s not. That’s why we’re allocating another half-million dollars to continue bringing vaccines into neighborhoods and communities with low vaccination rates.
Yes, the uncertainty and the challenges are all very real. They also represent opportunities. I often think about the vision of past mayors –Federico Pena, Wellington Webb, John Hickenlooper and Bill Vidal. When faced with extraordinary challenges, they mustered the courage to lift their heads and think beyond current circumstances. Today, we are the beneficiaries of their efforts: DIA, the Convention Center, reclamation of the South Platte River, sports venues, and amazing systems of libraries, parks and recreation centers.
Today, we must heed the same clarion call to lift our heads and invest now to create opportunities for tomorrow.
I want to turn now to some of our priorities for the next year, starting with homelessness.
We should all be proud of the care we provided to our unhoused neighbors during the pandemic, and over the past 10 years, we have helped transition more than 11,000 people out of homelessness and into housing. But clearly and without question, there is so much more to do. Even before the pandemic, homeless encampments were appearing in cities across the country in numbers not seen in almost a century.
You have my word – we are going to continue to deploy every tool available, with a goal of lifting thousands of people out of homelessness over the next two years, including those who are living on our streets in the most unsafe and unhealthy of conditions.
Let me tell you about a couple named Smokey and Mary. They who lived on the streets for 12 years without accessing shelter. They were staying in an encampment in the Uptown neighborhood when a Safe Outdoor Space opened across the street last December. They moved into the Safe Outdoor Space, connected with outreach workers, and last month, they moved into housing.
We know what works, and we’re going to do even more and even better. Hundreds more hotel and motel rooms. More tiny home villages, more safe outdoors spaces, and even safe parking spaces. Housing vouchers, wrap-around services and programs that will keep people from falling into homelessness in the first place – rental and utility assistance, eviction-protection programs, and of course, creating new and preserving existing affordable homes.
For every unit of affordable housing that’s built, two jobs are created. That’s why I am proposing to infuse funding from the American Rescue Plan into our Affordable Housing Fund. And to get affordable housing built sooner, we will be creating a specialized team to prioritize these projects for permit review and approval.
As I said, we know what works. Our innovative Social Impact Bond program, which has kept hundreds of people housed, was recently hailed nationally as a “remarkable success.” Housing with supports works. And we are going to do more of it. We recently opened new state-of-the-art shelters to serve hundreds of men and women in 24-hour facilities. Our new Solution Center is providing a muchneeded option for folks experiencing a behavioral health crisis. And to our partners at the state and regional levels – thank you to metro mayors and to Gov. Polis for stepping up and leaning in.
You know, back in March, we initiated work with our regional partners to eliminate the tragedy of veteran homelessness. The successes we see here will guide us to better serve other vulnerable groups, such as children, women and the chronically homeless. While we’re doing our part, today I am calling on the federal government to join us. Cities cannot do this alone. It’s long past time for a stronger nationwide push to address homelessness. There is a moral, economic and social imperative to correct these most extreme cases of poverty in our country.
We must also address another crisis in cities nationwide: a post-pandemic spike in violent crime. In Denver, that spike is being compounded by the release of violent criminals too quickly from custody, putting them right back in the community to reoffend. This must be corrected. There must be a balance between reform that keeps low-level non-violent folks from going to jail in the first place, and our residents’ safety. One cannot come at the expense of the other.
And we must look out for one another. It’s been a tough year. For some, it has pushed their mental and behavioral wellness to the breaking point. I have felt it throughout this pandemic many times myself. I urge everyone – educate yourselves, learn to recognize the signs of a person in crisis, and be there to help. Once someone has lashed out or reached their breaking point, it may be too late. For their safety and the safety of others, be there for them, ask for help – because no matter their circumstance, it can get better.
Our children also absorb the stress, and the consequences for them can be life-altering. We have prioritized our new Youth Violence Prevention initiative, which is well underway. We are engaging our youth to guide those strategies. And the Denver Police Department has embarked on a new collaborative crimeprevention initiative, bringing more patrols to hotspot areas and delivering more resources to help these communities address the underlying factors that can give root to crime.
We’re also seizing the opportunity to hire new officers who can meet the challenges of policing in America today, and training them to better meet the needs of the communities they serve. The social and cultural fabric of our nation has been built by people who stood up and engaged when they saw unjust laws and actions by the system. They marched and protested, but they didn’t stop there. Refusing to sit on the sidelines and expect others to bring the change they hoped for – they got involved. They became a part of the solution. They ran for office. Many were elected mayors of their hometowns, to congress. They applied for and joined law enforcement departments around the country.
So, here’s my invitation I want to issue to the young people who have called for better accountability in law enforcement: be the change you want to see by running for office or applying to be a Denver police officer, sheriff’s deputy, firefighter or paramedic. We’re hiring, and we would be honored to have you.
Denver has become a national leader in alternative police response, and we’re committed to staying on this path. In the first year of the pilot, the STAR Program has responded to more than 1,300 calls for people in a crisis. Not once – not one time – did those responding need to call in a uniformed officer for backup. We
know that alternative response works. It works at getting people the help they truly need, and it works at keeping our officers focused on preventing crime. It’s a fundamental issue of equity in the pursuit of justice.
We are investing in this approach, adding $1 million to continue the expansion of the STAR Program so people in crisis are met with behavioral health professionals instead of uniformed officers. A new civilian Street Enforcement Team will address lower-level infractions, and we are working on a new Assessment Intake Diversion Center. This AID Center will create an additional alternative response to the criminal justice system. On calls where a uniformed officer may be required, we can better guide individuals with mental health or substance misuse challenges away from being booked into jail, and instead connect them to more appropriate services.
Now, our economy must work for everyone, and this pandemic has made it very clear that it still does not. When we lift our heads up, we see where we need to go. There is a fundamental lack of equity for far too many. The question we must ask ourselves is not when we will economically recover from this pandemic. The recovery is underway. The question is: how we prioritize those hit hardest by the pandemic: women, youth, low-income earners, and people of color.
Earlier this year, when faced with the possibility of delaying a scheduled increase in the minimum wage, Councilwoman Kniech and I decided to move ahead as planned. We simply could not deny workers, especially frontline workers who were already struggling, a muchneeded pay raise.
Denver International Airport, Colorado’s number one economic engine, is also at the heart of our equitable recovery strategy. The Great Hall renovation, 39 new gates and a new runway are infrastructure investments that will create new opportunities for workers, businesses and tourists well into the future. Infrastructure is multi-generational. It creates the structures and facilities that create jobs and enable prosperity.
I am also proposing to deploy funding from the American Rescue Plan and other sources to help our neighborhoods, businesses and workers emerge stronger and more resilient. This funding will help businesses, non-profits and neighborhood organizations. It will help entrepreneurs in communities of color and it will help families with childcare, food and bridging the digital divide. We will focus our workforce development efforts on those who were hurt the most by the pandemic. We will leverage local, state, and federal funds and our goal here is to serve more than 20,000 Denver residents with job-seeker support, skills training, micro credentialing, pre-apprenticeships, digital literacy and job placement.
In 2014, Denver became the first American city to begin legalized retail sales of marijuana. History exposes an amazing imbalance when it comes to this industry. Many investors in the industry are White and male. But many people of color are still weighed down by past convictions for possession of marijuana and, as a result, barred from entering the industry. Many minority and women-owned businesses have lacked access to capital. It’s time to level the playing field and leverage the profits of retail marijuana to correct these challenges.
Today, I am directing our economic development and finance teams to realign a portion of the city’s marijuana sales tax revenue to establish a new revolving loan fund to support those businesses. We will also engage financial institutions to compound this funding, with the goal of eventually creating a $50 million fund to help these enterprises start, grow and thrive. Thank you to Council President Gilmore for agreeing to sponsor this fund.
I’m asking you to lift your head up – and look beyond the borders of the city. Many people don’t realize it, but Denver actually owns 14,000 acres of mountain parks. These are your parks, and we share them with the world. I have a deep passion for our mountain parks and a commitment to sharing the opportunity and the promise they hold, especially with our young people.
For many of us, our first trip to a Denver mountain park may be for a concert at the iconic Red Rocks amphitheater. What you may not know is Red Rocks was built by the hands and labor of young, unemployed, unskilled workers – members of the Civilian Conservation Corps – thought to be the most successful of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs to combat unemployment during the Great Depression. They learned a trade that would sustain them for the rest of their lives, like masonry, carpentry, surveying and landscaping that would sustain them for the rest of their lives.
There were 2,000 of these work camps across the country. The one near Red Rocks is still home to the barracks where the workers lived. It’s a national historic landmark – one of only two remaining camps in the nation. I’m pleased to say that we’re going to restore that camp for use by Denver residents before the end of my term. At this precise moment, up at the Mount Morrison Camp, a new Workforce Historic Preservation Training Program is getting started that will provide the same, timeless, hands-on training it offered on that very site nearly a century ago. Thanks to the hard work of our Parks and Economic Development departments, young adults interested in entering the construction and preservation workforce are starting a six-week course. They’re receiving training from our partners at HistoriCorps – to give them not only the expert insight and hands-on experience they will need for a future career, but also the guidance to secure those sought-after jobs upon graduation. The campus will be preserved for history… and it will be a source of inspiration, stewardship, recreation, education and sustainability for generations to come.
When we lift our heads, we can also see the opportunity – the need – to address climate change and create a new generation of cleanenergy jobs. Another summer of wildfires makes this seem so obvious. It takes skilled labor to reduce emissions in our buildings, to build more solar, to install more electricvehicle charging stations. More than just creating good-paying jobs, we’re going to make renewable electricity more accessible to our residents and businesses, especially for lowincome residents.
Our Net Zero Implementation Plan calls for all new buildings and homes to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. Our Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan is centered on equity, ensuring that the 30 percent of homes in Denver that currently lack air conditioning, will have it with technology that doesn’t make climate change worse. We’re providing fully subsidized solar power subscriptions to 300 low-income households thanks to the voter-approved Climate Protection Fund. We are doing our part to address climate change while reimagining how our economy works for everyone.
As our recovery roars forward, we lift our heads up to recognize that these investments will fuel it and sustain it.
The immediate challenges of the moment will try to force us to keep our heads down. But it’s time, Denver, to lift our heads and see a better tomorrow, to build a better tomorrow. This is a phoenix moment, where we get to rise from the ashes of hardship transformed, redefining what it means to be a 21st century city.
That’s the opportunity before us. And we are ready. The resiliency that defines us, the Denver spirit that welcomes challenges and creates opportunities, is back and stronger than ever before – that is our path forward. Our conviction is unyielding, and it’s built upon equity. It’s a future we can aspire to, and that every one of us can believe in.
This is no time to think small. It’s time to go big.
And I look forward to seeing everyone out there starting on Saturday for the return of Denver Days!
It’s time to lift our heads up, and move forward. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the City and County of Denver.
Mayor Michael B. Hancock State of the City Address July 26, 2021
Editor’s note: This version was received prior to the State of the City Address and may not be the exact wording presented at the event.
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Registered Representative for NYLIFE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC), a Licensed Insurance Agency. Financial Adviser for Eagle Strategies LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser.
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Scholarships are available.
BE AMAZING
ACT. SING. IMPROV. REPEAT.
If you want to be on the stage, the screen or anywhere in between, DCPA Education is the place to be and we’re back in person.
From Intro to Acting to Audition Techniques, students of all ages build confidence, creativity and collaboration.
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Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Presents Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Presents Virtual Ticketed LIVE Gala Event Virtual Ticketed LIVE Gala Event
Benefiting students of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy, Arts-In-Education, and Community Outreach programs
Get ready to attend the best gala in Denver from the comfort of your home on Saturday, August 14 at 7 p.m. Share the excitement as “gala stars” from Denver’s sports, civic and corporate communities perform in a virtual live webcast for the 11th annual “Dancing with the Denver Stars.” This annual fundraiser, which benefits the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy, Arts-In-Education, and community outreach programs, pairs Denver celebrities and executive leaders with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble professional dancers. Gala Stars become accomplished dancers to raise scholarships and stipends for CPRD Academy/AIE students from across the eight-county Denver region.
“Social distancing didn’t limit our options this year because this virtual live event creates nearly unlimited attendance possibilities. We’re excited that online ticket holders will be able to watch former Denver Bronco Ryan Harris and Super Bowl 50 champion in his first dance performance!” said Founder and Artistic Director Cleo Parker Robinson.
Virtual event tickets are $50 per household. Virtual host Matisse Mcknight will guide audiences through a unique evening experience. This year’s gala co–chairs are Amy Parsons (Mozzafiato CEO) and Karen MacNeil-Miller (Colorado Health Foundation CEO) who are also alumna gala dancers. Comedian Shed G will be the event host. Viewers can watch performances by the CPRD Youth and Junior Youth Ensembles, and enjoy the brilliance of the professional dancers of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and Cleo II.. Editor’s note: For information or tickets, email Matisse@cleoparkerdance.org or visit cleoparkerdance.org/tickets
2021Gala Star Dancers:
Justin Adams, CBS4 Abasi Baruti, Solutions FBIA Gillian Bidgood, Polsinelli Elias Diggins, Denver Sheriff Ryan Harris, former Denver Bronco/SB 50 Champion Carlos Martinez, Latino Community Foundation Christian McGill, Empower Retirement Maja Rosenquist, Mortenson Construction Danielle Shoots, Colorado Trust Kris Staaf, Safeway Brooke Trammel, Xcel Fabian Tunson, US Bank
Wedding Bliss Congrats!
Family and friends joined in a virtual wedding of Rev. Dr. Michael A. Williams and Jendayi Harris who were united in matrimony on July 17. Denver Urban Spectrum sends best wishes and congratulations as they begin their spiritual journey together.
Fitzsimons Credit Union Awards $5,000 in Scholarships to Local Students
Fitzsimons Credit Union believes that education has the power to transform communities announced the 2021 recipients of the Sandra B. Neves Scholarship. Established by the board of directors and supported by the credit union, the scholarship is named in honor of former CEO, Sandra Neves, and was founded after her retirement in 2017.
This year’s scholarship recipients were chosen based upon academic achievement, career aspirations, community service, extracurricular participation, and financial need. Each recipient received $1,250, totaling $5,000 in awarded scholarships. The awardees are:
Jazmyn Johnson is pursuing a degree in event and meeting management, with a minor in entrepreneurship at Denver’s Metropolitan State University. 2020 was a very challenging year for her; however, she continues to strives to be a great mom and student.
Matthew Johnson will be a freshman at Grand Canyon University and is pursuing a career in accounting. He has received multiple honors including the Academic Award in the Field of Business and Highest Academic Honors.
Ben Torres is entering his senior year at the University of Colorado and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in economics. His goal is to get a PhD in economics and to find a career in investment banking to help people achieve their financial goals.
Ramadje Benoudjita is currently studying at Regis University where he is pursuing a bachelor’s in accounting. Ramadje overcame great challenges to study and live in the United States. He has participated in programs such as Brother 2 Brother, the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, and has volunteered at numerous community events.
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C.2021, Amistad; $25.99 / $31.99 Canada; 235 pages
One, two, buckle my shoe.
We Three Kings, cheaper by the dozen, it’s a Catch 22 and double jeopardy, then we’re back to Square One. In every corner of our lives, we use numbers, we count, we cypher. And in the new book “My Remarkable Journey” by Katherine Johnson (with Joylette Hylick and Katherine Moore), we know a career takes true calculations.
When Katherine Coleman was born in 1918, Model T cars were selling for $350, fresh off the assembly line. Women couldn’t vote, TV hadn’t been invented, and Black Americans lived under strict Jim Crow laws. Knowing that schooling was the best way to survive the latter, Coleman’s parents, who owned a farm near the town of White Sulpher Springs, West Virginia, insisted that their children all get educations.
Precocious Coleman was the youngest, but by the time she graduated high school at age fifteen, she was old enough to see that success would require more classwork and that teaching at a Black school was the likeliest goal. College spoke to Coleman’s innate curiosity and she loved it; she planned to major in French until “the math professors had their say.”
One of them challenged her to become a “research mathematician.”
Unsure what, exactly, that was, Coleman stepped off the career track to marry and raise three daughters before heading back to work as a teacher, then landing a position at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (the “predecessor to NASA”) at Langley Field (now Langley Air Force Base) in Virginia. Her job, at first, was as a “computer” – literally, one who computes so that the program’s engineers didn’t have to do it. Coleman (then Goble, later Johnson) quickly worked her way into the research division involved in the Space Race, and when the Soviets launched Sputnik, she felt “that competitive American spirit” deep inside herself.
“We’ve got to do something,” she remembered thinking. “Little did I know then that ‘we’ soon would include me.”
So you saw the movie, Hidden Figures, and you loved it. So did author Katherine Johnson, on whom the movie is modeled, and here, she explains what parts were right and what Hollywood got wrong. Moreover, she takes you back to the beginning in “My Remarkable Journey.”
Lively and with great detail, Johnson tells her story in a way that frames her accomplishments in humble neon, never letting readers forget who she was or what she did, but not bragging on it without giving ample credit to others. The warmth and grace of that is impressive; so is the fact that she admits to having endured racism, patriarchy, and Jim Crow laws but she waves them away like a fly on a June afternoon, as if they weren’t even a part of her equation.
“My Remarkable Journey” puts the movie about Johnson into keener perspective, bringing the full story, as Dr. Yvonne Cagle says in her introduction, to a new generation of young women. Find it, share it with your daughter. Or catch it on an audiobook. That counts, too.
“Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance” by Mia Bay
C.2021, Belknap, Harvard University Press; $35; 391 pages
“Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move” by Nanjala Nyabola
C.2020, Hurst; $19.95; 238 pages
You’ve always wanted to do it. You just wanted to go.
You’d hop in a car or van, no GPS or map, no real itinerary, no destination in mind. You’d point your headlights in some direction and drive until you got where you felt like you needed to be. No timetable, no worries... And no chance for your ancestors to do that very thing. So this summer, honor their wanderlust by seizing yours, and read these two similarly-titled new books...
First, the history: it had to start somewhere – but where? You can imagine how Black mobility was affected by slavery but how and why did it
continue? Surely, it wasn’t arbitrary, not just “no, you can’t travel here,” so how did restrictions on Black mobility happen, how did African Americans fight the system, and why does it matter now? In “Traveling Black,” (Belknap, Harvard University Press, $35.00), author Mia Bay answers these questions, starting back when travel was largely of the horse-andwagon type.
Starting with Plessy v. Ferguson, Bay explains how segregation in travel began, and how it spread along roads and rails and then spread to accommodations, and the uncertainty of what might await a traveler along the journey. Bay separates each mode of travel to examine how Jim Crow laws affected a Black traveler in different manners, and she looks at the ways in which travel was sometimes used as activism.
Now, though, you’re free to travel – not just in the U.S., but around the world, if you want. In “Travelling While Black” (Hurst, $19.95), author Nanjala Nyabola shares some stories of her travels, and how her skin color matters when she’s on the move.
Indeed, what’s it like to travel as a Black woman, when guidebooks are not written with a Black woman in mind? How can you draw a line from African Americans on the road in the Old Days, to travel now? And now that you can travel, what does it tell you about yourself?
These are just a few things Nyabola ponders as she takes readers from Haiti to the Far East, Mexico, Africa, Europe, and the American South. She muses about suffering, the need for literature in Black culture, identity, asylum, and the meaning of home.
This is the kind of book you’ll want to read when you want to go somewhere but you’re stuck at home for whatever reason. Nyabola goes to the popular places but she also travels to spots that are generally sought by adventurers. This gives readers a sense of travelogue with a hint of the unusual; her musings on the places she goes make this a book you won’t want to put down. Her observations will make you glad she took you along with her.
If these don’t quite fit what you’re looking for, there are lots of other books you’ll find at your local library or bookstore. As always, be sure to ask your librarian or bookseller for help; they’re pros at finding what you’re looking for. Do it today. Just go..
Photos by Lens of Ansar and Ed Jenkins
MLB All-Star Weekend City Park Jazz Winter Park Jazz Juneteenth Music Festival
Juneteenth Music Festival Colorado Black Arts Festival
The Bay Area’s First Multi-City Art Event in 2021
In celebration of the United Nations’ (UN) World Refugee Day 2021, BOXBLUR and Immersive Arts Alliance announced the west coast debut of Shimon Attie’s Night Watch, a floating media arts installation that will travel the San Francisco Bay, will take place Sept. 17 to 19, along the shorelines of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, California. The floating art installation combines contemporary LED-technology with a historic mode of water transport – a barge – to create a sophisticated and layered artistic and sculptural work of art.
Night Watch features 12 close-up video portraits of refugees who were granted political asylum in the United States. Displayed on a 20 ft-wide, highresolution LED-screen, the portraits will travel aboard a slowmoving barge to allow for onshore public viewing. The silently displayed images largely feature members of international LGBTQI communities, as well as unaccompanied minors, who fled tremendous violence and discrimination in their homelands of Columbia, Honduras, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Peru, and Russia.
“Our capacity to ignore the suffering of the 80 million forcibly displaced people in the world depends on their invisibility. Shimon Attie’s Night Watch demands that we see their faces, and by seeing, acknowledge both their pain and our responsibility. It is a work that does more than humanize the crisis, it transforms the viewer,” says Ayelet Waldman, novelist and screenwriter.
The creation of the Night Watch portraits was made possible through the artist’s relationship with the New Yorkbased Moreart.org, who made introductions to refugees and asylees with whom Attie’s project aligned. During the process of shooting the portraits, Attie was privileged to hear personal stories, conversations of home and the uncertainty of futures, fear of political reprisals, sensitivities to trauma, homesickness, and individual hopes and dreams. “Night Watch,” Attie states, “is for the millions who have been forced to flee their homelands to escape violence and discrimination. For the fortunate few who have been granted political asylum in the United States.”
“Many of our families originally arrived in this country seeking refuge from a homeland. Today, in a world dealing with an unprecedented flux of uprooted lives, the Bay Area presentation of Night Watch provokes thoughtful discussion through an exceptionally engaging work of art that compels conversation, and hopefully action, for more compassionate humanitarian treatment at our borders,” says Clark Suprynowicz, Immersive Arts Alliance.
The 2018 New York City debut of Night Watch during the UN General Assembly Week was received with widespread acclaim, prompting BOXBLUR founder, Catharine Clark to consider the possibility of a California presentation. “Shimon’s artwork engages one of the most urgent issues of our time – that of welcoming or closing our doors to asylum seekers,” says Clark. “During its 2021 west coast debut,” Suprynowicz continues, “Night Watch will activate and animate the San Francisco Bay as both a literal and metaphoric site and landscape for escape, rescue, safe-passage, and the offering of safe-harbor for those most vulnerable.” “No other state has taken in more refugees than California,” says Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutenant Governor of California. “As a former Ambassador and the daughter of an immigrant who started out in California as a farmworker, I deeply understand the value of immigrant and asylee communities. The compelling nature of Shimon Attoe’s Night Watch accentuates a social issue of great importance – that of seeing ourselves in the other. Through a dignified artistic portrayal of refugees and asylees to the United States, Night Watch is a civic art experience that invites us to celebrate our strength in diversity.”
Beginning on the eve of Sept. 17 and on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19, Night Watch will travel on a barge captained by Matt Butler and slowly navigate the cities shorelines from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m., corresponding with scheduled live nightly performances on the coastal shorefronts. Night Watch shoreline performances with artists, musicians, and dancers will take place across the Bay Area in San Francisco at Fort Mason, Aquatic Park, Rincon Park, and Warm Water Cove, as well as along the East Bay shorelines at Berkeley Marina and Oakland’s Jack London Square.
Partnerships with non-profit organizations representing the needs of refugees will provide educational materials and resources to the public online and at the live performance sites; Catholic Charities, Center for Refugee & Gender Studies, International Rescue Committee, Oasis Legal Services, Partnership for Trauma Recovery, and Roots Community Health Center.
Night Watch by Shimon Attie
September 17 – 19, 2021
Shimon Attie, Night Watch (Norris with Liberty), 2018. Originally produced by Moreart.org in New York City. “For the millions who have been forced to flee their homelands to escape violence and discrimination. For the fortunate few who have been granted political asylum in the United States.” – Shimon Attie
Night Watch Schedule
•Friday, Sept. 17: Fort Mason, Aquatic Park, Rincon Park (San Francisco) •Saturday, Sept 18: Fort Mason, Aquatic Park, Warm Water Cove (San Francisco) •Sunday, Sept. 19: Oakland’s Jack London Square, Berkeley Marina (Oakland and Berkeley) Alternate Dates (in the event of bad weather): Sept. 20 to 22.. Editor’s note: For a full schedule of programed events and updates visit, https://www.immersiveartsalliance.org/nwpage .
Julia Ann Gayles August 31, 1945 ~ June 26, 2021
On August 31, 1945, God sent me to Denver Colorado, into the loving arms of Lula and Cleveland Mallard. Upon my arrival, I discovered I had a big sister, Betty Lou. Betty was curious about me and how I worked. I remember her examining my fingers to see just how far they would move back! We had so many fun adventures in our childhood; we were steadfast as children, disagreeable as pre-teens, supportive as adults and have become closer than ever in the winter of our lives. Daddy always encouraged us to take care of each other. As it turned out we purchased a condo in Windsor Gardens in 2011, to live out our remaining years together. It has been a blessing.
I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior and was baptized in 1961. New Hope Baptist has been my church home and family since I was born. I was active as a child and youth. And as an adult, I served as President of the Majestic Praise Choir for over 15 years. In 1998, I was appointed to the Board of Trustees and became 1st Vice Chair of the Trustee Board in 2010, and chair of the board in 2015. The love and nurturing I received at New Hope has sustained me in everything that I have done. Lifelong friends raised at New Hope are as close as family. There is a danger in naming names but there are some people that not only have I known for a lifetime, but we have shared life’s journey, and gone through the fire together. A few of those dear friends are Wilma Webb, Jennifer Ford Keel, Gretta Burroughs, Mary Gorham, Shirley Chapman, Roz and Wil Alston, Daryl J. Walker and LaTonya and Frenchie Lacy. God is at the core of everything that I am and believe. The Love of Christ cannot be described but life is not worth living without it.
I was educated in the Denver Public School System, attending Columbine and Wyman Elementary, Cole Jr. High and am a proud graduate of the Manual High School Class of 1963. Many of the friends that I made at Wyman have been an important part of my life journey. My first-grade friend Marcia Montgomery Clinkscales and I have had a spiritual connection throughout our lives. When we were in 2nd grade, we walked home from school together and then talked on the phone in the evening. We read the Bible and I remember us trying to figure out some passages of scripture from Deuteronomy. We have walked life’s journey in fun and difficult places our entire life and I thank God for her spirit. I attended Northeast Jr. College in Sterling, CO. Several friends from Manual also matriculated to Sterling. The two years there served as a cultural shock but was a growth experience in learning more about people from different backgrounds, social and spiritual values. Sterling is where I got to know my best friend Alice Ross Turner. We have shared a wonderful friendship since 1963. In 2019, I reconnected with my old roommate Janet Gideon Bowlds as well as another college friend, Anita LaRue Sherburne. As I get older, the value of friendship is more important than ever. We have no time to put things off or do tomorrow what you can do today. Tomorrow is not promised.
In early 1966, I ran into an old classmate of my sisters, Robert Gayles. We started dating and were married on November 10, 1966. To this union came a beautiful daughter, Christel Queen Elizabeth Gayles. Although the marriage did not last, Robert and I remained friends until his death in 2018. The greatest blessing has been our daughter Christel. She had a personality that was larger than life and I am very proud of the person she grew up to be. She was well loved in our community, and I thank everyone for your warm regard, love, and concern for both of us. Unfortunately, Christel died on February 19, 2020. Family is defined as a group of people living in a household together; descendants of a common ancestor; designed to be suitable for children and adults. I was blessed to have a great family on both my mother and father’s side and then marrying into the Gayles family became another wonderful gift, which connected me to a close, loving, fun and loyal family.
My world of work began in retail, in 1968, at the Denver Dry Goods. I worked as a Sales Associate. After repeated efforts to get into their management training program, I decided to pursue employment opportunities elsewhere. I continued to work in retail part-time on and off at The Denver Dry Goods, May D&F, Foley’s, and Macy’s for over 35 years.
I began working at United Bank of Denver (now Wells Fargo) in 1972 - 1982. After being laid off, I started working at Central Bank of Denver, (now U S Bank) in 1982 - 2002. During my 30 years of banking, I had the opportunity to be one of 25 charter members that formed a non-profit organization of minority bankers in 1978. The Mile High Bankers Consortium became affiliated with the National Association of Urban Bankers. The experience helped us to enhance our professional expertise as first-generation minority bankers in majority banks. The organization allowed me to improve my management skills, network with peers across the country and stretch beyond what I thought I could do.
After being laid off from US Bank in 2002, I was asked by my friend, Wellington Webb to transition him out of office. He was leaving the Mayor’s Office after three successful terms. I inventoried all of his awards, plaques, pictures, and gifts and helped make his move as smooth and orderly as possible. I then started working for the then newly elected City Councilman Michael B. Hancock representing District 11. I was his first hired employee as an elected official, and I have been with him through two terms in council and three terms as Mayor of Denver. My best job ever! I was blessed to retire from the Mayor’s Office on September 1, 2020, after 17 years of service with the City and County of Denver.
With every year of life, I value the experiences shared with my family and friends. My mother used to say as she grew older and lost most of her friends, “No one knows what I know.” This statement is more profound to me with each
passing day. I feel so blessed to have friends that know what I know. People who know what Grasshopper Hill meant to our neighborhood. Friends that knew the fear of getting scrubbed as a new student of Cole Jr. High, who knew the pure pride of being a Manual Thunderbolt, can still feel the intimidation when Mrs. Henry’s name is mentioned.
The life that God has given to me has been a wonderful journey. He blessed me with many gifts and talents. From an early age, I had the gift of wise counsel. Many of my classmates would tell me their secrets because they trusted me to keep them. My parents taught me to love and be considerate of others. We ARE our brother’s keeper. If I identified a need that I could do something, I would take care of it as quietly as possible. Love is action. I considered myself to be a good cook—how about the fried (crack) chicken, cabbage, and baked salmon? I learned to crochet when I was 13 years old. My passion was making baby clothes. I also loved to create beautiful, gift-wrapped packages. I was a good organizer, writer and speaker and always loved to take pictures to record important life events. This passion led to learning how to produce videos for various occasions. To God be the glory for all that he has allowed me to do. It has been a gift to be His child.
I departed this world after a battle with Ovarian Cancer on Saturday, June 26, 2021, to reside for an eternity with my Heavenly Father in a mansion prepared just for me. Preceding me in death are my parents Lula and Cleveland Mallard, my former spouse, Robert Gayles, my beloved daughter Christel Gayles. Loved ones that I have left behind to cherish my memory include, my beloved sister, Betty Slaughter; my bonus son, Christopher Hall, and a host of family, friends, godchildren, and other loved ones, too many to name. Y
Wayne Allan Carroll February 28, 1961 ~ June 12, 2021
Wayne Allan Carroll was born on February 28,1961, in Denver, Colorado to Dolly W. Wilson and Roy S. Carroll. He was a loving father, son, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin, and close friend. He was the youngest of four children. Wayne grew up in Parkhill and was educated through Denver Public Schools. He attended Hallett Elementary and would continue on to Place Middle School with lifelong friends and family members. Wayne then proceeded to attend George Washington High School where he graduated.
As a child, Wayne enjoyed spending quality time with his older brothers and beloved family members. He was extremely family oriented and loved to gather with loved ones to create countless memories. He was ecstatic about celebrating birthdays, holidays, or just having a good time. Some of the most cherished times were Christmas Eve memories when the whole family would gather at Aunt Dolly’s and Uncle Roy’s house for gift exchanges as well as annual celebrations. “Oh yea, this was the party house.” The basement and backyard will always be filled with so many precious memories.
Wayne then met his best friend and companion Olivia. She gave birth in 1987 to his beautiful daughter Te’Angela L. Carroll, whom he loved dearly. Memories from his daughter will always be his contagious laugh and slew footed walk that she could not help but to inherit. Wayne’s profession was landscaping. His passion was to maintain a perfect yard. He was employed with Mel’s & Son‘s Landscaping Company from 1985-1999 and was very proud of his work.
During his free time, Wayne enjoyed bowling, which he has was introduced to by his mother “The Bowling Queen”. He also enjoyed fishing and rooting for his home team the Denver, Broncos. His huge smile and unique laugh will forever be missed.
Wayne gained his wings and ascended the stairway to heaven June 12, 2021. He is preceded in death by his mother Dolly M. Carroll, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He leaves to cherish his memory, his daughter Te’Angela L. Carroll, his father Roy S. Carroll, and loving brother’s Roderick D. Carroll. Michael L. Carroll, and Dale E. Carroll. Wayne also leaves behind a host of uncles, nieces, cousins, and friends. Y
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Project500!
Joint Collaboration of The New Pearl Church and Battle and Company
Greetings Future Partners:
This communication is to make you aware of a new funding opportunity sponsored by the inaugural partnership of The New Pearl Church and Battle and Company. This partnership is offering small grants to community-minded organizations interested in the improving the healthcare outcomes of People of Color (POC). The focus will be on those individuals who are either eligible now or will become Medicare eligible within six (6) months of the grant application. This grant’s purpose is to help improve health outcomes of qualified recipients by:
a. Increasing relevant information, b. Increasing advocacy, c. Increasing health and social connections.
This grant is a funding opportunity, which means that only applicants that are willing to leverage their respective talents, resources and connections with the target group to accomplish the agreed upon goal, will be accepted. Applicants can be either churches or other community groups. You do NOT have to have a 501c3 classification to be eligible!
Please email Sharon D. Battle, Grant Coordinator for your grant package. All grant applications are due by September 1, 2021 and must be sent to Project_500@yahoo.com. Successful Grantees will be notified by email by September 15, 2021. All materials necessary for successful Grant completion will be emailed by September 15, 2021. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sharon D. Battle Grant Coordinator Project_500@yahoo.com 720-892-0387
