05 18 MAPPING SUCCESS STORIES ALONG COLFAX AVENUE By Electa Draper The gritty heart of the city will feel pretty this summer with the Colfax Works pilot project boosting street cleanup, graffiti removal and even landscaping. While Colfax, from Grant to Josephine streets, gets its small facelift, the project also will provide employment and supportive services to residents experiencing homelessness. Colfax becomes a literal path toward independence and stability. The $20,000 pilot project will run June through August, but the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District is considering turning it into a year-round, financially sustainable program, said chair Michelle Valeri. The city is providing a little extra funding to help connect participants to all the supportive services they need, including case management and life-skills training. To start, beginning June 4, a small crew with a supervisor will work Colfax and areas between 14th and 16th streets for probably about six hours a day, four days a week. Project operation falls to Bayaud Enterprises, a 49-year-old nonprofit that runs an array of social programs with the end game of helping people get work and become self-sufficient. Bayaud also operates the successful City Day Works program in parks. It won the Colfax Works bid after an extensive interview process, Valeri said. “We’re starting out pretty small,” Valeri said about street crew size. “It was important for us to pay these workers a living wage and get them support services. We’re aiming for consistency.”
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Flowers bloom near the Science Pyramid at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Stop by their annual plant sale May 11-12. Courtesy photo. An advisory committee of city employees and representatives, business and property owners, as well as Bayaud and Open Door Ministries has been meeting since the beginning of 2018 to launch the pilot. “There’s no silver bullet to end homelessness,” said Scott Kerr, Bayaud’s director of Employment & Opportunity. That said, low-barrier work opportunities are an important first step, he said. “It’s amazing how a living wage can transform someone’s life,” Kerr said. “We’re excited to put living
wages into people’s hands. The Business Improvement District has been a great, creative partner in this.” The Colfax Ave Business Improvement District can help link project participants to the vibrant Colfax community of hundreds of businesses and dense residential neighborhoods, Valeri said. The district’s aim is to help people “graduate” into permanent positions with Colfax enterprises. CONTINUED ON 10
THE HEART OF DENVER BEATS STRONGER WITH COLFAX PROJECT By Electa Draper Denver’s main artery, Colfax Avenue, got an injection of life, color and good intentions in mid-April with the Vision Zero Community Art Project. The public art installation aims to raise awareness of traffic safety along one of Denver’s most congested streets, while enlivening drab utility boxes with paint and posters that tell stories of real people and events. The project represents the city and community’s commitment to ending traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
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Pedestrians can soak in all the details. Drivers will see only a succinct message: “Vision Zero.” East High School students and other volunteers mentored by lead artist Pat Milbery turned out in force April 14, a breezy cool Saturday morning, to add the artwork to East Colfax. “We’re giving these utility boxes new life,” Milbery told paintbrush-wielding East sophomores clustered around the first “test box” in the East 1200 block. Volunteer headquarters was a nearby coffee shop. Colfax, practically synonymous with Denver, is arguably its most famous, infamous and dangerous
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street. “I’m excited by this project because it brings color and spunk to the street,” said Frank Locantore, executive director of the Colfax Avenue Business Improvement District. “It takes advantage of the resources we have here and the enthusiasm of the East High School students. It also sends an important message in this high-injury corridor.” About 5% of the city’s traffic fatalities and serious injuries happen on Colfax, Locantore CONTINUED ON 9
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