Colorful Colorado!

The notorious PGV shirt arrived at my doorstep at an (ever to frequent) inflection point in my life. Over the summer, I worked as a community organizer/canvasser for two different organizations. I started working at Food & Water Watch, an environmental organization. I sometimes struggle with environmental work, seeing it as a white middle class issue, but we talked a lot about how environmental work is social justice work. It was inspiring to see the passion of those doing community organizing work! And as a lobbying organization, I learned a lot about politics and grassroots organizing.

A picture from my "office", aka a neighborhood

A picture from my "office", aka a neighborhood in Denver. 

After a couple of months of this work, I was burned out, and unable to make the fundraising standards. For the first time in my life, I was fired from a job. This was definitely a learning experience in and of itself. The following week, one of my friends I met through organizing called me, and said that I should come and work as a community organizer for the Blue Bench, the sexual assault care and prevention center in Denver.

The Blue Bench was founded by a group of politically minded youth activists who saw the need for these services. And the way they knew how to raise money and awareness was community canvassing. We maintain that tradition to this day, knocking on every door in the 9 county area we serve to educate the public about the issue and our services, and collect donations. Having a base of skills from the previous canvassing job, and my background knowledge and experiences with sexual assault, I excelled at this position. 

A few of my co-workers from the Blue Bench.

Canvassing is a weird job to begin with, but canvassing on sexual assault issues is beyond weird. While canvassing, you run into people with all sorts of beliefs. There were two frequent responses that still stand out to me. First: “Isn’t it counterproductive for a rape crisis center to have young women walking around the streets and knocking on people’s doors at night?” So much victim blaming! I probably heard this on average 5 times a night. It really made it obvious to me the amount of victim-blaming still present within our society. Second: “I’m a guy so this doesn’t apply to me” or “I don’t have kids in college so this doesn’t apply to me”. Sexual assault is a community issue. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 17 men in Colorado will experience sexual assault in their lifetime. In Colorado, half of all reported cases are children under the age of 18. People are so uneducated about this issue! Anyways, canvassing was one of the hardest jobs I have ever done, but it was so rewarding to educate the community about this issue!

In mid-October, I got offered another position to help with development for the Rose Andom Center, the family justice center opening in Denver. This agency has been in the works for over 10 years, and they are finally almost finished with their capital campaign and the building! The woman who has been doing the fundraising received a grant for a personal assistant to help with the last push – and that’s me!

The banner on the building currently being renovated. 

A drawing of what the renovated building will look like. 

  

Adjusting to this new position has been difficult, but I am really enjoying it! I get to help finish a $12 million capital campaign, and network with some very influential people in the Denver community. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be involved with this project. 

During all the job changes and struggles, I have found some stability through the Masters of Public Administration Student Association. I am the Vice President of this organization, and we do many fun activities focused on increasing connections between students. I have made the most amazing friends through this organization!

MPA Student Association Members.

As I look forward to graduating in May, I reflect back on the amazing people I have met and the awesome opportunities I have been granted through the MPA program and the Gender-Based Violence concentration!