A big thank you to everyone who came to Trinity Brewing on Friday night for Growlers to Give! The event was a great success and we had a lot of fun!
Here is a link to the video we had playing in the back!
Dear friends of Inside/Out,
Immediately following the fire that engulfed our Inside/Out home earlier this year, so many of you stepped forward to help. We were inspired and humbled to see our community standing in solidarity with our incredible youth, and I can’t begin to thank you enough for your generosity of time, talent, and treasure.
Because of you, Inside/Out Youth Services:
But of course, Inside/Out still has many needs, and I write today to invite you to help us move forward into a brighter future for the young people we serve. Five specific needs we have are:
Thank you again for all you’ve made possible for our incredible and resilient Inside/Out youth. Your generosity gives me – and the young people we serve – confidence that tomorrow will be brighter than we can imagine.
Amy, Board Chair at Inside/Out
We recently had the privilege to talk with Coba Hoban of KRXP and KILO about Citizens Project and Indy Give! The interview aired on Sunday morning at 6 am, but for those of you who might have missed it, we have a copy of it for you here!
Additionally, check out our page on the Indy Give! website and make a donation! www.indygive.com/cp
Tell us in 300 words or fewer why your nominee should be recognized. Please provide specific information about your nominee’s roles in the community – both officially and informally – and how you believe your nominee has made a lasting impact on the community. Please include your name and daytime phone number with your nomination. Email nominations to [email protected] by November 1.
The event will take place in February 2014 at Stargazers Theater.
Previous recipients include: Mary Lou Makepeace, Dr. Jim White, Pam Jones and Juliet Draper (shared award), Lorne Kramer, Richard Skorman, John Weiss, Mary Ellen McNally, Rosemary Harris Lytle, Sharon Berthrong, and Sharon Friedman.
Everybody Welcome: A Celebration of Culture and Diversity is a City of Colorado Springs sponsored week long celebration of the richness of our community. The week begins with a festival, a FREE Family event showcasing the diversity of talented local performers, artisans, cultural craftsmen through distinct activities and exhibits, educating the community wherein difference is looked upon as an asset, and where curiosity and a desire to engage are the first response to difference. Educational programs throughout the week include Bridging Military to Community, Latino and Asian Community Luncheons and an Immigration Symposium. The week concludes with the Cotton Club, a celebration of our community history and a salute to Fannie Mae Duncan.
AUGUST 2013 SCHEDULE
11th: World at the Peak Festival, America the Beautiful Park 10am-4pm
12th: Community Dialogue, East Library 6-8pm
12th: Human Library, East Library
13th: Bridging Military to Community, Gates Common Room, Palmer Hall (Colorado College) 3-5pm
14th: Latino Community Luncheon, Hotel Elegante 11:30am-1pm
15th: Asian Pacific Community Luncheon, Antlers Hilton 11:30am-1pm
16th: Immigration Symposium, Colorado Springs Utilities Leon Young Center 12-4pm
17th: Cotton Club, Stargazer’s Theater and Event Center 8pm-Midnight
For more information on all of these events, click here. For a copy of the flier, click here.
By RoMa Johnson
I sat down to write an article about giving and gratitude for all of the people who have been such staunch supporters of Citizens Project. Prior to writing, of course, I had to caffeinate. As I sipped my quadruple latte, I came across an article in the Harvard Business Review of July-August 2011 entitled “The Unselfish Gene,” which posits that “people behave far less selfishly than most assume,” and that there is “evidence of a human predisposition to cooperate.” This runs contrary to what we have been taught to believe for well over a century. We have built systems and organizations “as though we are selfish creatures [and] by assuming the worst of everyone.” Organizations and systems were “built around incentives, rewards, and punishments to get people to achieve public, corporate and community goals.” Now we know that these old assumptions no longer serve us in our evolving communities—if they ever did.
Citizens Project was created under the new paradigm that assumes that cooperation generated from a common sense of purpose and identity achieves results. For over twenty years we have worked together without “incentives, rewards or punishments” to build and maintain a more diverse and vibrant community through dialogue, engagement and cooperative action.
As I read the article, I was particularly struck by the paragraphs that talked about voting. This section stood out because of Citizens Project’s commitment to civic engagement as well as the importance of voting and being active in the political process.
…voting is a puzzle for the rational actor model [in which our material interests provide good predictions about our behavior]. The probability that an individual’s vote will affect the outcome of a policy he or she cares about is infinitesimally small, so much so that any cost, including a 15-minute detour should outweigh it. Still hundreds of millions of us around the world violate self-interested rationality in public every year. We vote.
Imagine there are such things as personality traits…Imagine one such trait is conscientiousness. People who have that trait…tend to be happier with themselves and do what they think is right according to the cultural context. Voting happens to be one way…
Conscientiousness within a cultural context could easily be a tag line to describe the work of Citizens Project over the last two decades and going forward. Through fostering conscientiousness, Citizens Project aims to build a cooperative, diverse, and respectful community in Colorado Springs.
The Harvard Business Review suggests seven preliminary ideas for building cooperative systems. As I read through these, I found it easy to match up the ideals that we—staff, volunteers and community members—consistently uphold: communication; framing and authenticity; empathy and solidarity; fairness and morality; intrinsic motivations; reputation and reciprocity; diversity. Not only does Citizens Project function as such a system, but we work to build that style of system in the Pikes Peak community.
I noticed that the seven key ideas were bracketed by communication and diversity, both touchstones in our mission. Citizens Project fosters multi-level discourse despite differences of opinion and has a deep commitment to the celebration and engaged experience of diversity.
Well, I started to write about giving and gratitude, and now that the last sip of foam has been slurped from my cup, let me return to topic to say how deeply grateful I am to be a part of Citizens Project, and how none of this would ever be possible without the support of so many “Citizens” like you, who see our work together less as a “Project” and more like a shared vision in action for the community we love. Thank you.
By Kristen R. Downs
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 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 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?
More than 500 community members gathered today to create community and celebrate diversity at Citizens Project’s ninth annual Creating Community Breakfast. The breakfast highlighted 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.
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.
It’s not too late to join Citizens Project at the 8th annual Creating Community Breakfast! This fun and free fundraising breakfast will feature speakers, musical entertainment and a few surprises.
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!