People are busy. After a day of work and taking care of our families, there is a reason why Netflix, the NFL, and shopping are where most people spend their time and money. Instead of shaming people for not being more involved, we make civic life as irresistible and joyous as possible!
our community impact
We begin all of our work asking this question: “Who is not in the room that needs to be here before a decision is made or a memory becomes history?”
"We really had the voices that don’t go to community meetings. We actually have people who live in the neighborhood and care about it. Versus a local government process, and I’ve been in those meetings, they already know what they wanna fund. They’ve got their five things picked out, and they just need to figure out how to pay for it. Versus the PB project, I think we went further."
"As a citizen, I feel like this organization is essential because it is shining light on a lot of difficult conversations, and at a time where we are increasingly losing our ability to have conversations as a society."
“Drug deals and unruly behavior were a regular occurrence on my block. My house was burglarized and I felt defeated. I had been thinking that perhaps I needed to leave my wonderful little house by the park due to a rising anxiety about the neighborhood. The Bring Your Government program where I met my Councilman, Paul Lopez, was the spark that began the long path of getting to know my neighborhood and community organizations. I decided to stay and create change by using my voice and energy, and finding like-minded others who share my vision.”
“I met housing expert Heidi at the Civic Stitch n’ Bitch event. Given my job as a social worker at a pediatric clinic, I am particularly interested in issues around low-income housing and homelessness in Aurora. Multiple clients had informed me that they were prohibited from contributing to their rent prices beyond the amount awarded to them in their Section 8 vouchers. Heidi did some research for me, showing that this practice was in fact, not legal. Her collaboration and assistance were much appreciated, as was Warm Cookies’ organization of the event!”
The Short Story
We created the first arts-based Participatory Budgeting project in the world. Our artists and residents organized and pushed for Participatory Budgeting to be a part of the Denver city budget, using ridiculously wild artistic approaches to engage, educate, and train each other. The city didn’t want to do it, but after almost six years we made it happen!
take our book journey to see why we do it
