Having moved from Washington D.C. to Colorado Springs more than 12 years ago, my husband and I had envisioned a ‘life-style’ change, from the hustle and bustle of traffic congestion and work-stress, to one of the most beautiful locations in the United States.  Colorado Springs, a tourist destination, with an ideal climate for year-round recreational activities and less commute-time seemed like the perfect community.  Having lived in Chicago and Washington D.C. prior to moving to Colorado, we were accustomed to diversity; the local grocery store was an eclectic mix of language and culture, and work colleagues represented diverse religious and sexual orientations.   In retrospect, it seems as if we took tolerance for granted.

Now our home for over 12 years, we realize that Colorado Springs has a reputation for lack of community investment and a civic intolerance for funding programs that do not have a tangible direct personal benefit to the taxpayer.  Whether parks and recreation budget cuts, lack of investment in diverse social programs, or slashes to education and public safety; all have a direct effect on the economic vitality and building of sustainable community in Colorado Springs.

If Colorado Springs is to attract young entrepreneurs and families, it needs to seize the opportunity to ‘create community’ now.  Exposure, civic involvement and embracing diversity are fundamental to community investment.    Passivism will not suffice.   The creation of community and the celebration of diversity in Colorado Springs are dependent on us.  Each of us can build the kind of community we dream of.  In our families, our organizations, institutions, and neighborhoods, we can insist that we won’t remain isolated from those who are different from ourselves.  We can transform our neighborhoods, institutions, and local government into equitable, tolerant, and diverse communities.

Four years ago ‘community’ was celebrated every Wednesday night in America the Beautiful Park, at the heart of downtown Colorado Springs.  Hundreds of families of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds gathered during dinnertime, listening and dancing to hours of free outdoor live music while children played in the Julie Penrose Fountain and on the playground.   Families became acquainted in a celebration of diversity under the shadow of America’s mountain, Pikes Peak.  Those weekly concerts provided exposure to the heart of community, the beauty of our city, and displayed community investment, civic engagement and volunteerism.  Concert attendance grew until the program ended in 2009.  As concerts are rekindled in Acacia Park on Saturday evenings this summer, Colorado Springs has the opportunity to expose citizens to affordable outdoor activities which enhance its quality of life.  You can affect change; bring your family, invite your neighbors and invest in thriving cultural activities essential to a vibrant, sustainable community.   Let’s learn from cities like Austin, TX, one of the fastest growing cities for young professionals, celebrated by its community as the ‘Live Music Capital of the World’ and proud of its eclectic and diverse lifestyle.

Young professionals want to locate to communities that embrace social justice and respect for diversity.   Colorado Springs must recognize differences in religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic backgrounds to help create a climate that welcomes differences and inclusivity.  Each group has a unique strength and perspective that the larger community can benefit from, and by bringing diversity into the center of civic activity, new creative ideas can be used to solve tough problems.   We need to make national headlines celebrating diversity and culture in Colorado Springs, while developing community leaders who are representative of our entire population.

How can we involve our children and create a sustainable, growing, culturally diverse and prolific community?   Recently, my 10 year old asked why our downtown church is open and affirming of all people, yet other churches and organizations are not accepting of gays and lesbians.  As a family, we discuss how all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, sexual respect in our children for a lifetime.  We believe Colorado Springs is worth the investment and we can all make an impact to ‘create community’, one family at a time.  What will be your contribution to the sustainability and vitality of our community?orientations, genders and families deserve equal protections and rights.  Our four children attend a public Montessori school and the Hillside Community Center because there is a fervent respect for diversity, individual equality, deep-rooted community spirit, and a representation of all socioeconomic backgrounds.  Our family celebrates a diverse community by attending local concerts and pride parades, participating in community service, and volunteering to raise funds for local civic minded causes that give back to our community.  We want to instill a sense of community, civic responsibility and cultural

If you’re interested in volunteering, but are unavailable to attend the open house, please email Kristy Milligan or call the office at (719) 520-9899.

Arndt, who graduated in May, has a BA in Religion with a focus in Middle East Studies.  Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Arndt has always had a love for Colorado and embraced the opportunity to come to Colorado Springs for college.

“When I moved to Colorado in 2009 for school, I learned that there was much more to the Pikes Peak region than just its beauty; Colorado Springs is a unique community and a place where I can put my interests to work” says Arndt.

From a young age, Arndt found that she possessed a particular passion for people and for equality, which lead her to pursue interests in inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue.  While she worked through college, these interests were broadened further as she spent time in the West Bank and worked with an organization that promoted reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. She desired to apply these interests back in the U.S., however, and while looking for places to get involved in Colorado Springs, she found Citizens Project.

In the summer of 2012, Arndt interned with Citizens Project.  During her months there, she discovered how truly unique and wonderful Colorado Springs is; she found the work of Citizens Project in the community to be both valuable and inspirational.  Arndt is excited to now spend the next year working for an organization that provides an unwavering voice for religious freedom, civic engagement, and equal rights.

Please join CP in welcoming Anya to the organization.

This event raised over $50,000 in general operating support for Citizens Project’s many programs including: candidate survey voter guides, its monthly publication Freedom Watch Online, and the Citizens Project Activist Network, which currently serves over 1,500 subscribers. Corporate and in-kind sponsorship for the event was provided by Colorado College and The Colorado Springs Independent.

The Creating Community Breakfast featured a diverse array of speakers including: Lt. Governor Joe Garcia, John Robinson, Kristy Milligan, Jeanne Kleinman Williams, JJ Frazier, Isaac Greene, and Karole Campbell, with featured musical performance by Out Loud Colorado Springs Men’s Chorus.

The Creating Community Breakfast celebrated the role Citizens Project has played in creating a community which values diversity, equality and religious freedom. Citizens Project has worked tirelessly to combat extremism and promote respect for diversity in the Pikes Peak region seen since its inception in 1992.

Thursday, June 6, 2013
7:30 – 8:30am
(check-in begins at 7:00am)
DoubleTree by Hilton, 1775 E Cheyenne Mountain Rd.

Learn more about the work Citizens Project is doing in the Pikes Peak region to promote equal rights, diversity, religious freedom through separation of church and state and civic engagement, and learn how you can help! RSVP today!

Read more about last year’s event and see pictures here!

Summary by Ellen Slavitz

Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo. We believe they exist to make our lives more convenient, more interesting, more fun. According to Robert W. McChesney, these Internet marvels are the products of carefully designed operations that enable a small number of corporations to earn huge profits, while providing the public with less and less value, service, and information essential in a democratic society.

McChesney, a media activist and professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy and dozens of other publications in which he describes how the growing concentration of media ownership has decreased variety, competition, public interest, access and content quality. McChesney is also co-founder of Free Press, a media activist organization based in Washington DC that “advocates for universal and affordable Internet access, diverse media ownership, vibrant public media and quality journalism” (Freepress.net).

In his latest book, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy, McChesney meticulously documents how the Internet went from a non-commercial, seemingly utopian and democratic technology to its current mega-profit maker dominated by a small number of major players. He applies theories of political economy, “an understanding of capitalism and its relationship to democracy” (p. 13) to the evolution and current state of internet ownership and control.

McChesney explains how government, guided by teams of handsomely paid lobbyists, has enabled a cartel of huge corporations to own and control the Internet, much like a tiny number of companies have come to dominate the wireless and cable industries. Large players have gobbled up small and medium sized Internet ventures, eliminating competition and ensuring maximum profits and control.

McChesney details how Internet companies earn enormous profits through sophisticated methods of collecting personal data, which is then sold to advertisers. Every Google search or Facebook “Like,” every Web site visit is monitored, accumulated, and monetized for advertisers. “If you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer, you’re the product being sold,” says one of McChesney’s sources. Google, Facebook, and similar sites may have started as useful technological innovations but have quickly transformed themselves into businesses that sell our personal information for enormous profits.

McChesney warns that this massive collection of personal data is also being used in government surveillance. Despite the complicated privacy statements that we  that most of us quickly click past when signing up for Web sites, personal privacy on the Internet is all but nonexistent. Internet companies are happy to accommodate surveillance activities, which add to their profits.

McChesney is particularly concerned about the decline of quality journalism. News providers have greatly reduced expensive investigative reporting, instead regurgitating “official” prepackaged messages. The result of this lack of real journalism was, for example, the Iraq War, support for which rested on the Administration’s claims of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” that went virtually unchallenged by the media.

As in his previous book The Death and Life of American Journalism, McChesney argues in Digital Disconnect that quality professional journalism, even in digital format, cannot exist on advertising-based revenue. He views quality journalism as “public good” like schools, roads, and police, and like those services should receive public, non-partisan funding.

In the last chapter, McChesney proposes a list of media related reforms, including strict regulation of advertising; limits on ownership of broadcast media; expansion of nonprofit and publicly supported media and journalism; and stricter regulations controlling online privacy and surveillance. The rest of the chapter presents a broader economic analysis. The technology fueled increase in productivity in this country has not, in McChesney’s view, translated into a higher standard of living for most Americans because “capitalism is not a sane political economy.”

However, throughout Digital Disconnect, McChesney cites experts representing a broader political spectrum who believe that the Internet, along with other media, should be redirected to better serve the needs of a greater percentage of the population and, as a result, the needs of dem

To have a truly ‘Business Friendly’ community is ensuring that our community is viewed as a truly inclusive and accepting community for all regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation; often, this is not the view many around the country hold of Colorado Springs. Perhaps we can ‘work this issue’ right here!

These small name badges are being offered as a means to generated enthusiasm for the idea of a community that truly is: Business Friendly.

If you want to join in and wear your ‘business friendly’ attitude on your shirt or suit and civic affairs, business meetings and as you travel, we will make available at, no charge, camera-ready artwork so your group members can have their own custom name badge. If your group does not have badge printing capability, we can provide you with the name of the shop who produces these for our employees and you can just order direct. You can email Donna at: project.unity (at) ymail.com

If you ask anyone who knows me well, they’ll tell you. I cry at weddings.  Big weddings, small weddings, family weddings, friend weddings, weddings of people I hardly know. It doesn’t matter. I cry.

Naturally then, I expected some tears and sniffles at this week’s local Civil Unions celebration, and sniffle I did. But as I walked through the blustery evening to my car and sat down, something completely unexpected happened. I sobbed. Inconsolably.

The “usual” amount of tears sprouts from a deep sense of humility and honor at being included in the ceremony that unites two people.  The sniffles ensue because in the moment that two people commit their lives to one another, it becomes impossible to ignore the buoyancy of hope and of the human spirit. And although all of those things were present at the ceremony, the sudden onslaught of weepiness was something altogether different, and I’m still piecing together just why our little Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs Civil Unions Celebration rendered me totally, irrevocably a mess.  At this moment, I can think of three reasons this week’s ceremonies hit me so hard.

First, LGBTQ relationships inherently fall outside the “traditional” definition of “marriage.” Invisible and sometimes insidious ideas about gender roles are abandoned at the altar as two people meet each other as true equals. Many feminist men and women I know, as well as many anti-feminist hetero couples, still argue about who does the dishes…and I’m sure that happens in LGBTQ relationships as well.

But more often than not, those involved in LGBTQ relationships are starting from an emotional space that has no roadmap, implicit or otherwise. They are charting the territory of division of labor, financial obligations, childcare, religion, and more without the benefit (or detriment) of nebulous and often damaging societal feedback about who, exactly, should do what.  There’s something beautiful and courageous about embarking on this journey, period. Double that for LGBTQ couples.

Second, that night I was overcome by a sense of guilt. As an ostensibly “straight ally,” state-sanctioned and legally recognized commitment has always been available to me. It’s available to teenagers and drunken celebrities.  You apply for a license, pay the fee and off you go – holy blissful matrimony. But for the people in the room who were exchanging vows, it was almost a novelty, something so brand-new and shiny that they almost forget that it’s not quite the real thing.

These loving, committed couples deserve better than decades of waiting, and I couldn’t suspend, not even for a moment, my awareness of my own privilege and the suffering the LGBTQ community has endured to even get this far, not to mention the human obstacles they’ve had to surmount to arrive here, at the halfway point. Look at Jason Collins, who had to emotionally eviscerate himself on the national stage, expose all his wounds and deal with the backlash of intolerant vitriol with all the world watching. Again, ask anyone who knows me well: there is little that unsettles me more than human beings who require other human beings to “bleed and beg” before granting them basic civil rights.

Which brings me to the third reason. I was acutely aware – at this week’s ceremonies more than ever – that “civil unions” are no permanent substitution to full marriage equality, nor is the “love the sinner hate the sin” philosophy a satisfying alternative to just plain love.

I’m mostly a realist.  I believe in incremental change, appealing to hearts and minds, and all the other good stuff that makes progress possible.  What’s more, as you’ve certainly surmised by now, I believe that LGBTQ couples deserve that full marriage equality, and that civil unions is an important milestone on our journey.

But here’s what else:  I believe that we need these LGBTQ couples more than they need us.  I’m dismayed when others cannot see this.

By complete accident, I’ve been reading a lot about the institution of marriage lately.  Elizabeth Gilbert’s Committed and Michael J. Klarman’s From the Closet to the Altar currently populate my bedside table, thanks to the local library branch.  Everything I’m reading points to something that many of us – from the most conservative to the most liberal – already know instinctively: the institution of marriage is failing. It is failing to persevere, it is failing to attract adherents, it is failing to capture the increasing complexity of familial structure.  More people are getting divorced, and more people are saying “thanks but no thanks” to marriage in the first place. That’s the one hand.

On the other hand, there are these loving couples, some of whom have waited decades to solidify their commitment to one another, who are desperate to enter into this contract, warts and all. Forgive me for saying so, but these are *exactly* the people we want to extend an invitation to: they will elevate the sanctity of the institution by wanting to be there in the first place and staying there in the second.

As founder and president for the Institute of American Values, David Blankenhorn, thoughtfully expressed on a recent episode of NPR’s On Being:

“You know, we’re in this funny situation. We’ve got, what, 2 or 3 percent of the population, a tiny number of Americans, who are sincerely saying let us in this institution. This means everything to us. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans are exiting the institution quickly. If you go to Middle America now, blue-collar America, working-class America, you will find marriage in shambles.

“So it’s weird. It’s like the people that want in, we say no, and the people that are already in like we are just rushing out. And I was their Mr. Anti-Gay Marriage. How is this helping strengthen what really matters to me? And the answer is, it wasn’t, it wasn’t. If fighting gay marriage was going to get heteros to recommit to the institution, we would have seen a sign by now, I think.”

Not unlike Mr. Blankenhorn and the thousands of activists who fought for these civil unions I witnessed this week, I may be a realist in some ways. In other ways, I’m a complete idealist.  I believe that we will get to full equality and that the beauty and majesty of marriage will prevail and benefit all of us – that the question is not if but when.

So maybe a part of me was crying for a fourth reason: for the road we have yet to travel and the treasure at the end of that road.  For the people who walk with us, ahead of us, and behind us in this journey.  And for the destination: love and commitment.