We are North Denver!

by Guest Blogger Lelanda Lee

In the first week of May, North Denver residents were confronted by at least 20 signs posted on white paper on utility posts that spewed racist messages against Hispanics. [See ABC 7 news story here.] The neighborhood quickly responded with a Twitter campaign (#WeAreNorthDenver and #SomosNorthDenver) that also appeared in other social media such as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/wearenorthdenver), Instagram, and a new Website (wearenorthdenver.com).

What is heartening is how residents, workers, and business owners in North Denver are standing up for our diverse neighborhood and counting the many blessings of our diversity. Our Hispanic, Italian, and other cultural roots go deep, and North Denver is an exciting, interesting, and caring place in which to live and work, because we reflect acceptance, shared community values, and innovation.

Here at the Jubilee Center, our mission is to break the cycle of poverty for those who have been marginalized by the changing demographics and economic face of North Denver. Change is always hardest on those at the bottom of the economic ladder, who are one paycheck or one illness away from food insecurity, a shortage of funds to pay their rent or mortgage, and homelessness. The 2006-2009 recession is one from which many families have not recovered. Our new North Denver businesses are adding some jobs, but we don’t know how many other jobs have been priced out of the neighborhood by rising rents and real estate prices.

If you walk around the neighborhood these days, you will notice many signs of the changing face of North Denver. I spent an afternoon this week on Central Street near the 20th Street pedestrian bridge, drinking coffee in the breezy sunlit afternoon, listening to the white noise of the I-25 traffic below my view and gazing at the downtown high rise Denver skyline behind the nearer LoDo lofts and businesses on the south side of the interstate. I was surrounded on every side by new apartment and loft dwellings, with amenities like lanais and small landscaped areas for residents to be outdoors. The age ranges of most of the people I saw were mid-twenties to late-forties with a few outliers, many with dogs and toddlers in strollers.

I had many questions, which I didn’t have a chance to ask, like asking the employees of the cafes and restaurants if they lived in the area and if they could afford to live in the area. The parking signs typically allow a 2-hour parking period during the hours that stretch from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and I wondered about where the residents parked their vehicles. I saw several city buses pass by, and I wondered if they offer enough convenience to wean residents and workers away from their vehicles. Being “on-the-ground,” so to speak, in the neighborhood, made me want to learn more from the local residents and workers about their individual stories, because #WeAreNorthDenver definitely has a story to tell. I think the Jubilee Center, and especially our ABCD (asset-based community development) project, can be part of that storytelling.

Guest blogger Lelanda Lee serves on the board of directors of the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center and blogs at whatacupoftea.blogspot.com.