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Our in-depth look at the housing crisis

Racial Inequities: Black Coloradans often face barriers in homeownership

Some now look to build equity for future generations

BY NINA JOSS AND HALEY LENA NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM; HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A few years ago, Aurora Warms the Night, an Aurora-based nonpro t serving people who need housing, ran into a challenge when assisting its Black clients in applying for apartments. When

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Health care giants form one insurance company Question is who benefits

BY JOHN INGOLD THE COLORADO SUN

By some measures, the Denver metro area has one of the most competitive hospital markets in the country. Large health systems duke it out every year for supremacy in the multibillion-dollar marketplace.

But now, two of those heavyweight health systems — locally based UCHealth and Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare — have decided to … cooperate? e systems earlier this month announced plans to form what is known as a “clinically integrated network.”

the applicants visited properties, landlords denied their applications. is happened over and over again.

So the team decided to take a di erent approach, sending in White volunteers to check out the apartments rst.

“I would send one of our employees or people that were White to look at the apartment — to get the pricing, get everything, to make sure everything was available,” said Brian Arnold, who was executive director of the group at

the time ve years ago. “After that, we did the application online and sent it in without them being able to see the person.”

Once the application got approved, the team at Aurora Warms the Night would let the real estate agents see the client was Black.

Arnold said this process worked almost every time and became the organization’s own way of making a dent in the discrimination that people of color may face, but nd

While that may sound like the hospital giants are planning to combine resources on the clinical side, it’s actually more akin to forming one giant insurance network. e health systems will remain separate, and they will continue to compete against one another to attract patients.

e new network will bring together roughly 700 primary care physicians, hundreds of clinics and dozens of hospitals — all available and in network for consumers whose health insurance contracts with the new clinically integrated network. And, not coincidentally, the systems announced that Intermountain’s SelectHealth insurance

SEE GIANTS, P2

plan will jump into the market in Colorado for Medicare consumers as well as people who buy insurance on their own. SelectHealth will utilize the new network.

UCHealth’s and Intermountain’s respective leaders said the new clinically integrated network will improve the quality of health care that people receive in Colorado while reducing the costs of that care.

“We are excited to partner with Intermountain to advance these goals and to give Coloradans a new option for their health insurance that prioritizes value-based care,” Elizabeth Concordia, UCHealth’s president and CEO, said in a statement announcing the new network. “Together, we will help improve the overall health of the communities we serve.”

But consumer advocates question whether that will actually happen or whether this is another play by large health systems to get even larger — and take more money for themselves.

“If they’re essentially using this as negotiating power or as a mechanism to shirk all other insurance carriers, that’s a concern,” said Adam Fox, the deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.

How the clinically integrated network would, um, work

The power of the new

network,

according to UCHealth’s Michael Cancro, is in its size.

Cancro is UCHealth’s chief strategy officer and he also serves as the president of an already-existing UCHealth provider network called Coordinated Care Colorado. That network will merge with Intermountain’s Colorado Quality Care Network to form the new clinically integrated network. The new network will operate as its own company.

Cancro said this merger does one

really important thing: It gives the new network enough patients to start doing some in-depth analyses and also provide better service.

“By bringing the organizations together, you have a pretty vast trove of data as well as the capability to look and identify those patients who are rising risks,” he said.

The key to reducing costs while improving care is to identify patients early whose health is heading down the wrong path, Cancro said. But, with a smaller pool of patients, he said it can be difficult to have enough data to know which signals mean trouble.

The patient volume of the new network means it will gather enough data to conduct more precise analysis, while also being able to hire more experts to do that work.

“Having access to data scientists, having access to large enough datasets to be able to say that this is an indicator and this is not,” he said. “The more lives, the better.”

The network will also be able to send out alerts to people, letting them know they need to see a doctor about an issue or giving them a nudge to come in for a checkup.

Cancro said the network will initially offer care to more than 300,000 patients. But Cancro said the goal is for more insurers besides SelectHealth to strike deals with the new network, meaning it could bring in more patients. He said it’s also possible that additional doctors’ groups and medical providers could join the network.

Consumer advocates are skeptical of all these promises. To them, this sounds an awful lot like what hospital systems have said for years when buying up local hospitals or merging with other systems.

As in many other states, Colorado’s health care system has been consolidating. And not always to the benefit of the patient’s pocketbook.

“Hospital consolidation is likely the biggest driver of prices and operating margins in Colorado’s Front Range counties,” a 2020 report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research stated.

The new clinically integrated network isn’t an exact analogue to a hospital merger. But it has enough similarities that folks like Robert Smith, the executive director of the Colorado Business Group on Health, will believe its promises of lower prices and better care only when he actually sees it. Smith has long been a champion of reducing health care costs in Colorado.

“There’s no evidence in the literature that these mergers improve outcomes,” Smith said. “They’ve all said that. But there’s no evidence.” What is SelectHealth and when will it launch?

Intermountain is a new player in Colorado’s health care market. Last year, it merged with SCL Health, giving it a presence in Colorado for the first time. SelectHealth is Intermountain’s insurance arm — and, like Intermountain and UCHealth, it is nonprofit.

SelectHealth hopes to have plans available for sale in Colorado at the end of this year for coverage that would begin in 2024. It intends to offer Medicare Advantage plans, as well as insurance in the state’s individual insurance market, including via the Connect for Health Colorado insurance exchange.

UCHealth’s Cancro said SelectHealth won’t sell insurance in every Colorado county. Instead, it will launch in around 16 to 18 counties, he said. Those will mostly be along the Front Range, to match UCHealth’s and Intermountain’s footprints for their health systems.

First, though, SelectHealth must receive approval from the state’s Division of Insurance. The division is reviewing SelectHealth’s application and will announce a decision later this year.

“The DOI is just learning about this joint venture, and we will need to further analyze what it entails and what impact it will have on the state’s health insurance market,” Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway said in a statement. “But, this announcement is a clear indication that Colorado continues to be a place where health insurance companies want to come to, and that they want to do business in our individual health insurance market.”

Despite the obvious inside connection, leaders of UCHealth and Intermountain said SelectHealth won’t be getting a sweetheart deal when it contracts with the new clinically integrated network, or CIN, as the executives refer to it.

“The CIN will treat SelectHealth just like all payers here,” Mark Korth, Intermountain Healthcare’s regional president, said in a statement. “Any plan that aligns with the CIN’s goals of ensuring a better patient experience and health outcomes while lowering costs will be considered a valuable partner.”

This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

The exterior of the University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, photographed on Oct. 18, 2019. The hospital is the flagship of the UCHealth system.

PHOTO BY JOHN INGOLD / THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado may end age-discriminating work question

How old are you?

BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN

Asking someone their age is considered impolite. But asking a job candidate? at’s perfectly legal.

A bill at the state legislature would change that, at least in Colorado, and prohibit companies from shing around for an age by asking about high school or college graduation dates. Older job candidates never know if that little number got in the way of a callback so this proposal would eliminate that doubt.

“In order to combat that kind of age discrimination in the hiring process, we mean to eliminate any ageidentifying items in the job application process,” said state Sen. Jessie Danielson, a Democrat from Wheat Ridge who is the prime sponsor of the bill. “ at way, older Coloradans are being judged on their merit equal to their younger counterparts when they’re trying to get a new job.”

Senate Bill 58, also known as the Job Application Fairness Act, is straightforward: remove any part of a job application asking about age.

ere are exceptions, including occupations with age limits — commercial pilots, for example, must be under 65, per federal law. e bill joins others introduced in recent years attempting to address workplace equity for Coloradans of all genders, backgrounds and abilities. It also comes at a time

when the state really needs more workers and adults nearing retirement age or beyond it are seen as an underutilized workforce.

In a job survey conducted by AARP last year, 53% of respondents who were recent job seekers said they were asked by an employer to provide their birth date during the application or interview process, while 47% were asked for a graduation date.

“Of course you can guesstimate how old someone is if they graduated in 1987 from high school,” said Bill Rivera, senior vice president of AARP Foundation Litigation. “It’s unfortunate that age discrimination still seems so alive and well. And frankly, I think people don’t get that upset about it.”

He pointed to electronic hiring systems that ask for dates — and don’t let the applicant move forward if the question is not answered. “And think about the people who are dissuaded from applying in the rst place,” he said.

Sometimes, the companies don’t even ask. Amazon, T-Mobile and other tech companies were accused in 2017 of using Facebook’s targeting tools to target 18 to 38 year olds for job openings and thereby excluded older Americans, according to the lawsuit by Communications Workers of America. e companies ended up settling and Facebook paid $5 million and agreed to block discriminatory ads.

“Ageism often is still one of the last acceptable bastions of isms,” Rivera said. “And so in the workplace, you will get a greater tolerance for jokes about aging, when you are going to retire or people having ‘senior’ moments or other things that you wouldn’t tolerate … if you were making racial, ethnic or misogynist jokes.”

Age discrimination enforcement is reactive ere is no telling how much age discrimination at work goes on in America. A lot is anecdotal. But there is a federal law protecting workers 40 and older. It’s the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. ADEA doesn’t prohibit asking job seekers their age.

Some of the cases made public were eye-popping. An HR director at Swiss manufacturer Fischer Connectors in Atlanta witnessed the company “repeatedly turning down quali ed older employees in favor of less quali ed, younger employees.” She was red when she questioned the actions and refused to participate and was replaced by two younger

workers, according to the EEOC.

Last May, the EEOC sued iTutorGroup, an service providing online English-language tutoring to students in China, alleging that the company programmed its recruitment software to automatically reject female applicants 55 or older and male applicants 60 and over. More than 200 quali ed applicants were rejected because of their age, according to the EEOC.

e EEOC investigated after hearing from a female applicant over 55. She was rejected. But a day later, she submitted the same application with a “more recent date of birth” and was o ered an interview, the lawsuit said.

Justin Plaskov, a Denver attorney at Colorado Employee Advocates who represents workers in discrimination cases, said the employment discrimination data is underreported because not everyone reports it.

“ ere’s a lot of discrimination happening but the burden to prove a discrimination case is incredibly high,” Plaskov said. “I see cases all the time where it seems like there’s discrimination happening. But because of a lack of economic damages, or a lack of corroborating evidence, it’s not a case we’d be able to take on. But yeah, I absolutely think it’s still incredibly prevalent in our workplaces.”

Plaskov, who helped the EEOC successfully win a $20.5 million award against Jackson National Life Insurance Company for discriminating against 21 workers in 2020, said he turns away more than 90% of the inquiries he receives. But he theorized that the EEOC numbers may be low and declining because states are more active. He said the Colorado Civil Rights Division is faster at investigating cases and much more robust.

According to the latest CCRD annual report, the agency, which is responsible for enforcing the state’s anti-discrimination laws for employment and housing, 11% of the 1,090 employment-related complaints led in scal year 2021 were about age. Disability and discrimination based on sex were much higher, at 23% and 21% respectively.

But ultimately, it’s up to the person who faced discrimination to report it and that’s why it’s hard to know exactly how prevalent age discrimination actually is.

“Both the state and federal government rely on individuals ling charges to alert them,” Plaskov said. “ at’s the system we have set up.”

Colorado needs more workers

One of the highlights of Colorado’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is that people have returned to work or the job hunt at higher rates than other states. Colorado has ranked among the top states nationwide for highest rates of labor force participation. In other words, 69% of Coloradans over 16 work or are looking for work, as of December. Other states have larger adult populations that are retired or on disability and aren’t looking for a job.

But Colorado’s population is getting older. And if people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and older give up on nding work and retire, that will eat into the state’s productivity and cause a cascading economic e ect, said Elizabeth

Rent control could come to some Colorado cities

New bill being considered

BY ANDREW KENNEY COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers have signed onto a proposal that could bring rent control to some Colorado cities.

e legislation, titled HB-1115, was introduced in the state House recently.

“ e rent is too high in Colorado, and that’s not just for essential service workers,” said state Rep. Javier Mabrey, a rst-year Democrat lawmaker and a prime sponsor.

He’s cosponsoring the bill with state Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, also a rst-year Democrat, and Democratic state Sen. Robert Rodriguez.

“ is is not just a Denver problem, and so this is why I have cosponsors on this bill from the Western Slope and Colorado Springs and places Democrats haven’t won election in decades,” Mabrey said.

Currently, Colorado’s local governments are not allowed to pass laws that limit the cost of rent in privately owned housing. If the bill eventually passes, individual city councils would be allowed to pass rent control or rent stabilization laws.

In Colorado and 31 other states, rent control is banned

Rent control laws already exist in some of the nation’s most populous — and expensive — cities, including New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Under those policies, the local government generally dictates that rents in certain buildings can increase by only a certain percentage per year.

Colorado is one of 32 states that currently prevent local governments from controlling rents, according to the National Multifamily Housing Coalition.

State lawmakers banned rent control in 1981, after an e ort to implement rent control in Boulder, according to a University of Colo-

rado Law Review article.

Rent control is the subject of intense debate, with many economists arguing that the limits drive landlords out of the market and disrupt the housing supply, while supporters point to the direct bene ts to renters who have faced astronomical cost increases, as well as the way that rising costs can destroy the social fabric of a neighborhood.

However, Polis is no fan of rent control, and some fear it can scare o developers

Even if it passes the legislature, the legislation would likely have to get support from Gov. Jared Polis, who has the power to veto bills.

Polis has not been supportive of rent control, previously forcing lawmakers to dump the idea of limiting rent at mobile home communities. Generally, Polis has pushed for a “supply-side” or market-based approach that focuses on building new housing.

In a statement, Polis’ o ce said he was “skeptical that rent control will create more housing stock, and locations with these policies often have the unintended consequences of higher rent.” e statement underlined that the “rent is too damned high” and added that the administration is “always open to seeing speci c proposals and letting legislators know if they have any concern.”

e statement also pointed to the state’s recent “historic investments” in housing.

Drew Hamrick, a vice president for the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, similarly warned that rent control would scare o new construction and landlords.

“Colorado’s prohibition against local governments enacting rent control ordinances for more than 50 years is both a recognition of the damage rent control can do to available housing and also an understanding that one local government’s housing policy negatively

Orchard Crossing Apartments in Westminster is an a ordable housing community that also includes housing for people with vouchers.

PHOTO BY ANDREW FRAIELI

For Girl Scouts, cookie sales generate a sense of accomplishment

BY CHRISTY STEADMAN CSTEADMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e rst year that Denver Girl Scout Bianca Morris started selling Girl Scout Cookies, she was hesitant to stand at a grocery store booth because she had yet not built up her con dence with customer interactions.

Today, booth sales are her favorite part of the scouts’ annual cookie business. She enjoys joyful conversations with customers as she rings up sales, and gracefully accepts the “no, thank yous.”

Morris, who is 13 and in the eighth grade, has been in Girl Scouts since she was in the third grade. After muddling through the COVID-19 pandemic for the past couple of years, this year she is eager for more in-person encounters.

“It brings the community together,” Morris said of cookie season. “It’s something you can look forward to every year.”

Cookie sales run from Feb. 5 to March 12 and nine di erent kinds of cookies are going by the boxful: Adventurefuls, in Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Dos-Si-Dos and Lemon-Ups, S’mores and To eetastic. e cookies sell for $5 or $6 a box.

A new thin, chocolate-dipped cookie, Raspberry Rally, won’t be on Morris’ counter, but available as an online-exclusive. e Girl Scouts’ Digital Cookie platforms will o er it starting Feb. 27.

“Everyone loves Girl Scout Cookies — but the program is about so much more than cookies,” said Leanna Clark, CEO of Girl Scouts of Colorado, in a news release. “When you purchase cookies, you are helping girls power their Girl Scout leadership experience and you’re supporting female entrepreneurs.”

Cookie season focuses on ve

lifelong skills: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

“I think the most valuable aspect

of the program is the way the skills build upon each other and grow with the girls,” said Robin Morris, Bianca’s mom. “As a Brownie, the girls were developing their people skills — getting out into the community and talking to people. Now, as teens they are using management skills as they begin working at their rst jobs and saving towards college.”

Girl Scouts begin their journey as Daisies in kindergarten and rst grade. ey become Brownies in

the second and third grade, then Juniors. Bianca Morris is currently a Cadette. Her next step will be a Senior as a ninth- and 10th-grader before she becomes an Ambassador in her junior and senior year of high school.

“Eating cookies is always a perk of cookie season,” Bianca Morris said.

But it’s the sense of accomplishment that is most rewarding. rough the years, Bianca Morris has learned many skills — both as a Girl Scout and through cookie sales — that have carried through to di erent aspects of her life.

“Bianca’s con dence has soared as a result,” Robin Morris said.

She pointed to a recent example that her daughter experienced at school when one of the clubs Bianca Morris is part of was raising funds to donate to a charity.

“ ey were selling baked goods and the table was overrun by hungry middle schoolers anxious to buy,” Robin Morris said. “Bianca quickly jumped behind the counter and told her teachers she was experienced with cash handling from Girl Scouts and could help the teachers run the cash box.”

Cookie sales have been a staple for the scouts for more than 100 years. e tradition started in 1917.

“I think every person may have some connection to selling, buying or eating Girl Scout Cookies,” Robin Morris said. “Today’s Girl Scouts are excited to continue to create that experience for others as they build a foundation of practical life skills.”

HOW TO GET GIRL SCOUT COOKIES

1. Booth sales: There is a mobile app to help find the Girl Scout cookie booths, or text COOKIES to 59618. To use the Cookie Finder online, visit girlscoutsofcolorado.org, and select Find Cookies. Enter your zip code in the Cookie Finder, and a new window will provide you with a list of dates, times and locations of a local Girl Scout cookie booth.

2. Digital Cookie: If you know a Girl Scout, this might be the most direct way to get your cookies. Your Girl Scout might send you an invite to purchase cookies from her Digital Cookie site, but you can also ask her for her Digital Cookie link. Through Digital Cookie, you pay online and cookies are shipped.

TURN TO THE COLORADO SUN FOR NEWS ACROSS THE STATE

The Colorado Sun is a journalistowned, award-winning news outlet that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself.

In this way, The Sun contributes to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado.

The Sun, launched in 2018, is committed to fact-based, in-depth and non-partisan journalism. It covers

everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Now, The Colorado Sun co-owns this and other Colorado Community Media newspapers as a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy. The Sun is CCM’s partner for statewide news. For Colorado Sun stories, opinions and more, and to support The Sun’s misssion as a member or subscriber, visit coloradosun.com.

Bianca Morris, a 13-year-old Denver Girl Scout, is looking forward to selling cookies again this year — particularly the booth sales because that’s when she gets to interact with the community. Cookie season runs Feb. 5-March 12 this year.

This year’s cookie season runs Feb. 5-March 12

HOW OLD?

Garner, the Colorado state demographer.

“We’ve just been such a young state. We’ve never had a lot of people over the age of 65. And (that age population) is just growing really fast,” Garner said. “ e decade we’re in right now, the fastest growth is in the 75 to 84 year olds. And that has an even lower labor force participation rate than the 65 to 74 year olds.”

Many people also plan to work longer anyway, partly because the toll of labor hasn’t been as harsh on their bodies as it was centuries ago. Some plan to work longer because they haven’t saved enough for retirement. e important point here is that Colorado needs all the workers it can get, she said.

“When a 50-something worker leaves the labor force, it’s much harder to get back in again. So trying to keep the 50-somethings

RENT

impacts neighboring communities,” Hamrick wrote.

Rent control has come up several times at the state legislature

Mabrey, who helped found an organization to help tenants fight

in and then trying to keep the 60-somethings in is really important across the spectrum,” Garner said. “ e more workers, the better.”

Danielson has worked to pass several laws promoting equity for women, people of color and a more diverse workforce. She was a prime sponsor for the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, to narrow the gender wage gap. It went into e ect in 2021 and required job postings open to Coloradans to list actual wages. Colorado’s law inspired similar pay-transparency laws in other states. Removing any request for age, birth date or high school graduation date in a job application is just another step forward.

“People are reluctant to hire older workers even though they’re some of the most valuable members of the workforce, as they have the most experience,” Danielson added.

e Democrat hasn’t heard any pushback for her Job Application Fairness bill, which has no Republican sponsors. Tony Gagliardi,

eviction, said he’d already heard from elected officials in large cities on the Front Range and beyond who want to implement rent control.

Rent control has come up several times at the legislature in recent years. In 2019, state Sen. Rodriguez was a co-sponsor of a similar measure to allow local rent control and stabilization. That bill did not

state director of small-business advocacy group NFIB Colorado, is still researching the bill but questioned whether it was necessary.

“My members still are desperately looking for employees and they’re going to do everything they can to hire a worker,” he said.

While it’s legal to ask job applicants their age, Heather TinsleyFix, AARP’s senior advisor for employer engagement, called it risky “because it opens the employer up to the possibility of appearing to make decisions on the basis of age and to be vulnerable to age discrimination lawsuits.”

AARP Colorado supports the bill.

A similar bill in Connecticut had bipartisan support and passed unanimously in 2021 to block employers from asking prospective employees about birth dates and graduation dates. Four other states — California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — also have laws that ban age questions during the hiring process, according to AARP.

make it out of the Senate, though Democrats already controlled both chambers.

This year, Democrats have larger majorities in both the Senate and House, and Mabrey argued that rising prices will put more pressure on politicians to act.

In 2021, lawmakers moved to give cities limited power over rent prices, although only in new

e proposed Colorado law would just close a loophole, said Andrea Kuwik, senior policy analyst with Bell Policy Center, an organization that advocates to improve the economic conditions for Coloradans. Bell Policy worked with Danielson on the bill.

e other lead sponsors of the legislation are Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Boulder County Democrat, and Democratic Reps. Jenny Willford of Northglenn and Mary Young of Greeley.

“ is is not about creating a new protected category,” Kuwik said. “We’re just trying to close a loophole and I think that’s one of the things that helped make it bipartisan.”

is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

construction. A law passed that year authorizes cities to require designated affordable units in new builds, as long as they offer other options to developers too.

This story is from CPR News, a nonprofit news source. Used by permission. For more, and to support Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr. org.

Juvenile violent crime is rising

Researchers look for answers

BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN

Violent crimes that land kids and teens in Colorado’s youth corrections system are on the rise, accounting for 41% of admissions in 2022.

From homicides, to sexual assaults, to robberies at gunpoint, the violent crimes committed by young people have risen sharply during the past ve years, a climb that has sociologists studying the consequences of a virtually connected but physically isolated society and the long-term e ects of the coronavirus pandemic.

e percentage of young people sent to a Division of Youth Services facility for a violent crime was 35% in 2021, climbing to 41% in 2022, according to the agency’s recently released annual report.

at includes 54 young people held in detention for felony homicide, 47 for attempted homicide and 40 for sexual assault last year.

“All across the state, the level of violence that we’re seeing among young people is increasing,” said Anders Jacobson, youth services director. “ at’s been a stark reality for us.”

e youth corrections system, which includes 15 state-operated, locked facilities, holds young people ages 10 to 21 either in detention — before their cases go to court — and after they are “committed” by a judge. Of the 176 children and teens who were committed to serve out a sentence last year, 71 were for violent crimes, including six murders and nine attempted murders.

e result is that the population in the state’s youth corrections system has grown increasingly more violent and more likely than in prior years to have committed a crime against a person, rather than property. is year, 43% of young people committed to the system were sent for violent crimes, com-

pared with 31% three years ago. e division in the past several years has moved toward pods, or living spaces, with fewer kids, and has improved its youth-to-sta ratio so young people have more attention, Jacobson said. It’s also ramped up behavioral health services, including for young people who are held in detention before their sentence has been determined.

“We’re pretty well versed in dealing with these types of young people, but there are certainly times when there’s a lot of emotionally charged issues that can take place,” Jacobson said.

It’s reached the point that, occasionally, the murder victim of one of the young inmates is a loved one of another young person held in the facility, he said. “It could have been a brother. It could have been a sister. It could have been a friend,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot more of those situations.”

Still, violent incidents within youth facilities in the state have

not spiked. “ at’s something that we’re happy we’re seeing right now, but it’s a daily grind,” Jacobson said.

Nearly 80% of kids and teens committed to a Division of Youth Services center last year needed substance abuse treatment, according to the agency’s data. More than two-thirds of young people in the system need mental health treatment. e division’s behavioral health program, which includes two sessions of talk therapy per week for young people serving sentences, garnered national attention last year, winning a “program of the year” award from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

Since 2017, when the state legislature passed sweeping reforms and changed the name from Youth Corrections to Youth Services, the division has steadily reduced the use of physical restraint and solitary con nement. Repeat offenses also have dropped, with the one-year recidivism rate falling to 22% in 2020 compared with 41% in 2018.

e rise in youth detention for violent crimes comes as overall juvenile arrests are declining in Colorado.

Crime rates, including among juveniles, hit records in Colorado and nationwide in the 1980s, then began dropping. In Colorado, the all-time high for juvenile arrests was 70,710 in 1997. By comparison, there were 19,442 juvenile arrests in 2018, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

One of the safest stretches on record, based on crime rates, was 2010-2014, said David Pyrooz, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. In the last several years, however, violent crime among young people has been climbing, and it isn’t due to the decisions made by police or prosecutors, he said.

“ ere is something that is taking place,” he said. “ ere is little doubt about that.”

Why violent crime is rising is harder to determine, considering researchers are still trying to understand the 50% reduction in crime rates that occurred nationally in the 1990s, the “criminological miracle,” Pyrooz said.

Now, sociologists are looking at how teenage behaviors — including spending more time at home alone, yet connected via social media and video games — might a ect violent crime rates. In the past, violent crime was often linked to groups of young people hanging out unsupervised in parks or street corners, Pyrooz said.

Researchers are also just beginning to examine the pandemic’s e ect on youth crime, which could have repercussions for years to come, he said. Kids who stopped going to after-school activities and sports during the isolation of the pandemic, perhaps as fourth or fth graders, might not have returned to those sports, meaning they will miss out on those activities as middle and high school students, when they are more likely to get involved in criminal activity.

e keys to keeping kids out of trouble are community support systems, including within families, schools and churches, Pyrooz said. “ ose are the things that really matter,” he said. “If those institutions are failing, so too are our kids.”

On average, there are about 290 children and teens serving sentences in youth corrections on any given day, 89% of them boys. e average length of stay is about 18 months.

Juvenile criminal case lings increased by 15% last year in Colorado.

is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center, a juvenile corrections facility for boys in Golden, is surrounded by a 16-foot fence with anti-climbing mesh. It is operated by the Colorado Department of Human Services. MARVIN ANANI / SPECIAL TO THE COLORADO SUN

CU’s Street Medicine team assists homeless patients

BY DANA KNOWLES, LINDSEY FORD, WILLIAM PETERSON ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Health care is often a low priority in a person’s life if they are experiencing homelessness; surviving hour to hour is their main concern, explained 53-year-old Guy Neiderwerfer.

He lost his job, his apartment, and has been surviving on the streets for several days. “When you’re looking for medication even, you’ve got to go through so many steps just to get help,” Neiderwerfer said.

is is not the rst time Neiderwerfer has been in this situation.

“It feels like there is no hope, and it makes you feel doom and gloom. You feel lonely and you feel hopeless,” he said. “It’s a common loop to walk around and feel like ‘What am I doing and what kind of help can I get?’”

Neiderwerfer said that access to food, medical care and employment is often so spread out that without access to transportation, seeing a health care provider moves to the bottom of the to-do list.

CU Street Medicine’s mobile health care clinics aim to eliminate some of the barriers to health care for the unhoused by literally meeting people where there are.

Scott Harpin is the co-faculty advisor for the program and an associate

professor of nursing at the CU College of Nursing.

“ e CU street medicine program is a grassroots students group that organizes around meeting the medical needs of people experiencing homelessness in our community, specically rough sleepers and people who have to survive in locations like this, like parks and bikeways, and trails and downtown on the sidewalks,” Harpin

said.

Nearly 7,000 people are currently unhoused across the state, according to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. After working for the Coalition and then graduating from CU College of Nursing, Kiera Connelly decided to volunteer for the CU Street Medicine Program.

“It’s extremely important for us to be out here because people experiencing

homelessness have more co-morbidities and a higher risk for pretty much everything than the the housed population,” Connelly explained. “ at being said, they also have the most barriers to accessing health care.”

Connelly frequently visits hiking trails in the Commerce City area along with other CU Street Medicine volunteers to administer health care for the unhoused. She said before offering any kind of treatment, the team must rst build trust with the patients, which can take time.

“Once people get comfortable and open up, we will do blood pressure checks, wound care, blood sugar check,” Connelly said. “We also check and treat frost bite, and then make recommendations for them for navigating the health care system.”

Connelly said not only is the goal is to make health care more accessible to those who might need it the most, but also to show the patients that some people are trying to help. “As a nurse, being able to show that ‘Someone does care enough to come out here and talk to me about my heath problems and wants me to get better or wants to help me maintain my health’ — I think that’s huge.”

is story is from Rocky Mountain PBS, a nonpro t public broadcaster providing community stories across Colorado over the air and online. Used by permission. For more, and to support Rocky Mountain PBS, visit rmpbs. org.

Guy Neiderwerfer knows from experience just how hard medical care is to come by for unhoused people. “You feel lonely and you feel hopeless,” he said.

WILLIAM PETERSON / ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS

Car providers meet people where they are

Momentous treaty coming to Denver

Historic document ending war with Mexico created much of American West

BY SONYA ELLINGBOE SELLINGBOE@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transformed what is now the western United States, and pages of that document will arrive at History Colorado Museum, 1200 N. Broadway, Denver to accompany the exhibit called “Borderlands.”

e document came from the National Archives in Washington and will be exhibited only until May 22, because the paper is old and fragile. e treaty’s arrival in Denver is timed for Feb. 2, the 175th anniversary of its signing.

I visited this exhibit in Pueblo when it opened there several years ago and had a chance to see the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo then. It really is a good experience to see those actual old documents instead of settling for a photo!

e treaty was signed on Feb. 2, 1848, marking the end of the Mexican-American War. By shifting the

U.S. borders south from the Arkansas River to the Rio Grande and west to the coast of California, Mexico relinquished 525,000 square miles of territory to the United States.

e land became all or part of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, as well as a large part of western and southern Colorado. Present borders were taking shape then. Redrawing

boundaries did not change linguistic, ethnic or geologic boundaries that were in place prior to the treaty. is exhibit, rst presented at the Pueblo History Museum several years ago, will be of interest to history bu s of all ages. It includes maps, documents and numerous related artifacts, including clothing, guns, kitchenware, photographs of those early hardy types, items that

Homelessness and live music

BY STAFF REPORT

Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, a registered neighborhood organization that serves the greater Capitol Hill area, presented its annual S.E.E.D. awards on Jan. 12.

is is the fourth year for the S.E.E.D. Awards Program, which exists to help organizations meet immediate funding needs for smaller projects that encourage civic entrepreneurship and/or promote neighborhood engagement. To be awarded S.E.E.D. funding, a project must enhance the greater Capitol Hill community and align with CHUN’s mission and values. S.E.E.D. is an acronym for Smart

solutions-oriented development, Enrichment, Environmental sustainability, and Diversity in the community. is year, more than $5,000 were awarded to the community organizations.

2023 S.E.E.D. recipients

B-Konnected e project: the implementation and scaling of a tenant housing stability tool.

Learn more: bkonnected.org

will interest children of all ages, as well as their parents..

A number of early southern Colorado residents were Mexican citizens, who eventually lost their lands and wealth. And Mexican women lost many rights they had under Mexican law, since American women could not own land at that time.

Dawn Di Prince, History Colorado’s executive director, said: “In some ways, it is hard to fathom that old handwritten pages would wield such power over the lives and lands of so many in this part of the world, but this treaty dramatically altered the lives of many families who call southern Colorado home today.

“ e document is also connected to the displacement of indigenous tribes and has been referenced in hundreds of court cases ranging from international border disputes to water and mineral rights claims.”

IF YOU GO

History Colorado is at 1200 N. Broadway in Denver. Parking is available across the street in the garage attached to the Denver Art Museum. Admission charges vary. 303-HISTORY, HistoryColorado.org.

Learn more: headwatersprotectors.org

Queer Community Cultural District

“

e S.E.E.D. awards are an opportunity for our organization to fuel creativity through local solutions and community-based impact investments,” said John De enbaugh, executive director of CHUN, in a news release. “We are proud to be celebrating our fourth year of providing much-needed funding to local groups and organizations in our community so that they can continue their important work.”

NEVER PAINT AGAIN

This amazing new product has been engineered specifically to combat the harsh Colorado climate, and eliminates constant painting and maintenance costs. Backed with fade and lifetime material warranty, and providing full insulation, summer and winter, this product can be installed on most types of home. It comes in a wide variety of colors and is now being offered to the local market. Your home can be a showplace in your vicinity. We will make it worth your while if we can use your home.

Denver Park Trust e project : fund the annual Parks, Rivers, Trails and Trees event at Cheesman Park.

Learn more: denverparktrust.org

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church e project: support Our Savior’s Lutheran Church’s Helping Hands program, which purchases muchneeded items such as socks, clothing, and toiletries, for those experiencing homelessness. e church is located at 915 E. Ninth Ave.

Learn more: oslchurchdenver.org

ReCreative Denver e project: underwrite Head Room Sessions at various locations around Capitol Hill. Head Room Sessions are intimate live music sessions featuring BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists.

Learn more: recreativedenver.org

Senior Housing Options e project: provide outdoor activities for residents of the Olin Hotel Apartments, 1420 Logan St. e Olin Hotel Apartments provides a ordable housing for older adults and individuals with disabilities.

Learn more: seniorhousingoptions.org

Denver East High School e project: fund the creation of the Madam C.J. Walker Black Girl Hair Project.

Learn more : east.dpsk12.org

Headwaters Protectors e project: fund compassionate water and trash services for people experiencing homelessness.

e project: launch a new cultural district to acknowledge and honor the historic and ongoing contributions of queer people to Denver and Capitol Hill.

Learn more: Zach Kotel at zachkotel@gmail.com

ReMerg

e project: help fund the Housing, Opportunity, Unity, Stability and Engagement (HOUSE) program for justice-involved populations.

Learn more: remerg.com

Urban Servant Corps

e project: provide professional development for full-time sta .

Learn more: urbanservantcorps. org

CHUN also recognized its Good Neighbor Award recipients. ese awards recognize organizations, individuals or businesses for outstanding contributions to the greater Capitol Hill community.

2023 Good Neighborhood Award RECIPIENTS

Tom Knorr Community Leadership Award: Vickie Berkley and Nichole Racelis, Roger Armstrong Volunteer of the Year Award: Jeanne Puerta

Historic Preservation Award: Semple Brown Architects

Neighborhood Character Award: Sienna Wine Bar

A ordable & Accessible Housing/Addressing Homelessness

Award: Capitol Square Apartments

Neighborhood Safety Award: Rachel Gri n

These homes sat atop Pueblo’s Goat Hill, or Smelter Hill, an area of Colorado that was adjacent to Mexico until the border shifted after the Mexican-American War. This William Henry Jackson photo dates to 1900.

COURTESY OF HISTORY COLORADO

Thu 2/09

Cooking with Elle @ 5pm Feb 9th - Mar 2nd

Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

ARTS: Valentine Tea @ Southwest @ 6pm Denver Parks and Recreation (SOU), 9200 W Saratoga Pl., Denver. 720-913-0654

Featured

Featured

Vanimal Kingdom Duo at Lincoln Station @ 6pm

Lincoln Station Coffee/Pizza/Mu‐sic, 9360 Station St, Lone Tree

Larry & Joe: WORKSHOP: Venezuelan Strings @ 6pm Swallow Hill Music, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver

Outta Nowhere

@ 7pm Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora

Joe Troop: Swallow Hill Music Association - Larry & Joe @ 8pm Swallow Hill Music Association, 71 E Yale Ave, Denver

Fri 2/10

Dead On A Sunday @ 7pm

Moe's Original BBQ, 3295 S Broadway, Englewood

Sat 2/11

The Atomic Drifters: 105 WEST BREWING COMPANY WILL RO-C-K @ 6:30pm 105 West Brewing Company, 1043 Park St, Castle Rock

Rubblebucket @ 8pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Englewood

Spaceface @ 9pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Rubblebucket @ 9pm

Gothic Theatre, 3263 S Broadway, Engle‐wood

Sun 2/12

Parker Parks and Recreation Love 'em or Leave 'em

Valentine's Day 5K/10K @ 10am / $40-$50

11920 Motsenbocker Rd, Parker

Halfway There Bon Jovi

Tribute: **MegaShow Alert** Bon Jovi and Journey Tributes Take Over Wild Goose Saloon @ 7pm Wild Goose Saloon, Parker

Super Sunday Fun Run 5K @ 10am / $20

6745 S Santa Fe Dr, 6745 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton. SarahN@ ssprd.org, 303-483-7034

RAZA COSTENA @ 9pm

Stampede, 2430 S Havana St, Aurora

Gran Baile Costeno @ 9:30pm / $55

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

Tue 2/14

Stop Motion AnimationMackintosh Spring 2023 @ 3:45pm / $200

Feb 14th - Apr 25th

Mackintosh Academy, 7018 S Prince St, Littleton. 720-996-0894

Fitness: HIGH Fitness Valentine's Party (13+ yrs) Feb. 14 @ 11:15pm

The King Stan Band in Paradise @ 7pm

Paradise Tavern, 9239 Park Mead‐ows Dr, Lone Tree

Amor y Cumbia

@ 8:30pm / $49

Stampede, 2430 South Havana, Aurora

ARTS: DIY Valentine Card Making @ Harvey Park @ 11:30pm

Harvey Park Recreation Center, 2120 S. Tennyson Way, Denver. 720-913-0654

Cory Michael @ 2pm Wide Open Saloon, 5607 US-85, Sedalia

Kids Cooking Valentine Surprises @ 4pm PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker

YS: 3-4 Sports Experience @ Southwest @ 5:30pm Feb 11th - Mar 4th

Southwest Recreation Center, 9200 W. Saratoga Pl., Denver. 720-913-0654

Halfway There @ 7:30pm

Wild Goose Saloon, 11160 S. Pikes Peak Drive, Parker 0xxKBxx0: KBS FRIENDS TOUR: SINGLES VALENTINES @ 8pm Old Chicago, 16990 E Iliff Ave, Aurora

Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E Lincoln Ave., Parker

Wed 2/15

Casino - Bally's @ 2:45pm Heather Gardens Clubhouse, 2888 S. Heather Gardens Way, Aurora

Thu 2/16

ARTS: Mini Picasso @ Harvard Gulch @ 5pm

Feb 16th - Mar 16th

Harvard Gulch Recreation Center, 550 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. 720-913-0654

powered by

Denver welcomes migrants today, and yesterday

Why Denver and why now?

We wondered as we watched in early December as the quiet arrival of migrants from our southern border increased suddenly and noticeably.

We watched with worry as they arrived to our city and were greeted with bone-chilling temperatures, full shelters and a city government on its heels, working overtime to welcome them the best it could.

But Denver wasn’t the only city receiving men, women, families with children, people eeing violence, climate disruption and economic collapse abroad. And it wasn’t Denver’s rst time seeing a wave of cross-cultural migration. When life becomes untenable where you are, “somewhere else” becomes an answer — even at great cost and risk, without knowing what will come next.

We don’t have to look far back to see times when our city welcomed people taking such life-changing, risky journeys. History Colorado’s Colorado Encyclopedia chronicles Denver’s modern experience with

these earlier eras:

· Waves of recruitment for immigrant labor largely drove waves of migration in the late 1800s into the early 1900s, including eastern European Jewish communities that formed in several neighborhoods of Denver.

· e Great Migration from 1910-20s brought Black residents from southern states to Denver. Our response was not a welcoming one, with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan among Denver’s political leadership.

· Many Japanese Americans were forced from their West Coast homes into internment camps — more than 2,000 — then relocated to Denver from 1942-1944.

· Racially restrictive covenants meant that more than 75% of Denver’s Black residents lived in Five

Points by 1929, the World-War II era brought another wave of newcomers and Five Points’ Black population doubled by 1950 with former servicemembers and others.

Housing crunch? Denver had one in the post-war era, too. Concerns about language barriers and cultural di erences? Europeans didn’t speak English when they came to build railroads or work in meat packing plants. City resources? Denver’s funds are not unlimited, but surely the city’s economic success of recent years puts us in one of the strongest positions we’ve ever been in. What about jobs and our economy? Today, we have a relatively low unemployment rate, and employers in construction, restaurants and other elds are still looking to ll positions. And every person who works in our community also buys goods and services, stimulating more economic activity that grows the pie, pays sales taxes on those purchases and funds infrastructure and services in our community.

While many may be passing through to other destinations, we

Playing through the pain

The game was close, there was less than two minutes to go, and the eld was a mix of snow and slush. On the previous play, his hand had been caught between two helmets as he attempted to make the tackle. When the play was over and he made his way back to the defensive huddle, he refused to look at his hand because he knew it had been broken. He didn’t want to come out of the game. As he took up his position as an outside linebacker, the opposing team threw a pass play in his direction, and with his good hand he was still able to make a play on the ball and de ect the pass. He played through the pain.

at story was shared with me about a high school athlete who had the heart of a lion. After that last play his coach called him to the sideline as he knew something wasn’t right and he took him out of the game. And indeed, his hand was broken. Each of us has probably lived through at least one season of life, if not many where we also played through the pain. It might have been personally or professionally, but we

can and should prioritize continuing to welcome and support those who stay. ey will become a part of our city’s fabric just as those who’ve come before. is will require even more creativity on housing, legal support, job connections and community integration than we’ve brought to bear to support Ukrainian and Afghan refugees, but we are Denver and we can.

But Denver shouldn’t act alone.

e United States House of Representatives passed a federal immigration reform bill that would have created a path for individuals to apply for residency, work visas and a more orderly system at the border. It. Does. Not. Have. To. Be. is. Way. e Senate failed to act. But those with their backs against the wall and no options don’t give up hope. So we can’t give up the ght for comprehensive immigration reform either.

Robin Kniech is an at-large member of Denver City Council. She can be reached at kniechatlarge@denvergov.org or 720-337-7712.

knew that no matter how much it hurt, we had to rise to the occasion and play through the pain for those around us. If these last few years have taught us anything, they have taught us that things in life are broken. Education, healthcare, the economy, relationships, things at work and just about every other part of life. Some things just aren’t working the way we would want them to. And it becomes frustrating as we do our best to muddle through only to hit the wall again and again. We think that there must be a better way. We believe that there must be someone somewhere who has the insight and intelligence to x the problems in our government, in society, in the workplace, and even at home. We ask ourselves, who is that person or where are those people who are supposed to have all the answers? And what can we do while we wait for those in charge to come

WINNING

up with a better plan and get things moving in the right direction?

We start playing through the pain.

Soon enough we will realize that the people who we believe have the solutions to our problems and challenges might be struggling themselves. And it’s not that they don’t know what they are doing, it’s simply that the problems and challenges require more time, money, resources, planning and processes to get some resolutions and to turn things around for the better. And while that is going on, we need to do our very best to do what we are in control of doing, making a play, even if it means playing through the pain.

We can remain optimistic in the face of negativity and pessimism. We can look at our stack of to-do items and get after it without looking over at others who are paralyzed by the dysfunction. We can help those in our community who need help and do it generously and cheerfully knowing we are serving the greater good. Now don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean we don’t also feel the frustration and the challenges. It doesn’t mean the pain and the

problems aren’t just as real for us. It just means that we have a choice to make, we can choose to get sucked into the vortex of doom and gloom, pointing to all the reasons why we cannot be successful, or we can choose to do our part in playing our position as best as we possibly can, even if it means playing through the pain at times.

We are all part of a team somewhere. At work, home, school, church, in our community and in society. And it will never be perfect and will often be frustrating. As a part of a team or family, I would love to hear your story of how you deal with staying motivated in the face of frustration at gotonorton@ gmail.com. And when we can grit and smile, and play through the pain when we need to, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

THELMA GRIMES South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

CHRISTY STEADMAN

Editor csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Columnists & Guest Commentaries

Columnist opinions are not necessarily those of the Herald-Dispatch.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please include your full name, address and the best number to reach you by telephone.

Email letters to letters@coloradocommunitymedia.com

Deadline Wed. for the following week’s paper.

Denver Herald-Dispatch (ISSN 1542-5797)(USPS 241-760)

Councilmember Robin Kniech

The Long Way Home

The changing American dream and the obstacles some people face

BY MICHAEL DE YOANNA COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

e rst week of Colorado Community Media’s Long Way Home series focused on what many experts say is a housing crisis across the metro area. In short, housing is increasingly una ordable and inaccessible for Coloradans. Week two of our four-week series turns to how those issues look through the lens of race and younger residents, some whose experience of the American dream is changing..

Reporters Nina Joss and Haley Lena delve into the realities faced by would-be Black homeowners and others who nd skin color can be a factor in achieving their long-term dreams. .

Joss and Lena break down how the system can sometimes work against Black applicants. ey also uncover possible solutions, including an initiative from Realtors to provide training that averts subtle biases in the buying process.

Meanwhile, reporter Ellis Arnold asks a di cult question about metro area suburbs: why are they so White? ere’s no single answer, but some neighborhood covenants from a few decades ago

INEQUITIES

di cult to prove.

Because many of the individuals served by the group were facing homelessness and unemployment, Arnold acknowledged that these factors could have played a role in their initial application rejections. However, when they conducted the blind application process with the same nancial information, the applications were approved. For Arnold, this con rmed race was a barrier.

“ e racism is just so out there,” he said. “It was easy to realize it.”

Arnold’s group did not le any complaints because their main priority was getting their clients housed, and they found a way to do that. Colorado Community Media reached out to Aurora Warms the Night to see if this is still a strategy but did not get a response.

But once a Black client successfully got on a lease, Arnold said even more challenges ensued if they were looking to someday own a home. “How do we get them from renting into homeownership?” he said. “ ose barriers seem to be some of the biggest.”

For decades, homeownership rates for Black people have lagged far behind those for White people. Census data released last month shows just how wide that gap is. More than seven in 10 White Coloradans and a little more than half of Latino residents own their homes, according to the 2021 ve-year American Community Survey. Only 42% of Black Coloradans own their homes.

Although Latino homebuyers in Colorado face many of the same barriers as Black homebuyers, their rates of homeownership have grown in recent years. For Black Coloradans, on the other hand, the

Contributors to the project include:

prove, in writing, that race was sometimes a factor in creating our communities. Accessibility to housing isn’t only an issue of race. It’s an issue of income, as well. Many Coloradans simply can’t a ord to apply for a home, and some of them are rede ning their idea of the American dream as a result. Reporter Christy Steadman digs into this issue. When affordability, accessibility and fairness play a role, families are shifting away from the old dream in which people started a family and bought a home.

When rising home prices and in ation makes that next to impossible for many Coloradans, the American dream may shift from the idea that owning a home is the true measure of success. Still, across generations, many hold out hopes for homeownership. Statistics, data and experts may have great information on how the market works, but it’s the people living through the crisis who matter the most.

To read all the parts of our Long Way Home series, visit https://coloradocommunitymedia. com/longwayhome/index.html.

numbers have remained stubbornly low.

ese trends hold across the metro area, with Adams, Je erson, Arapahoe and Douglas counties all showing higher rates of homeownership in White communities than in those of color.

e reasons for this gap are myriad, but over time, Black Coloradans have generally had less opportunity to build home equity and wealth to pass from one generation to the next. ese barriers mean many metro Denver communities lack racial and ethnic diversity. rough training and other measures, many are now trying to reverse this situation and improve access to housing for all.

A denied opportunity to build generational wealth

In 2021, eo E.J. Wilson and his wife started looking to buy a home in Aurora. Wilson is a Black college lecturer and non ction television host.

Like many Coloradans regardless of color, Wilson and his wife did not have enough money for a down payment in today’s expensive housing market, even though they both make a good living. In Arapahoe County, the median sale price of a singlefamily home increased by $180,000 over the past ve years, according to the Colorado Association of Realtors. In other metro Denver areas, the numbers have skyrocketed even more drastically.

While many White Americans may have bene ted from the e orts of their ancestors, particularly through inheritances, Wilson says many Black people, including him, were denied that possibility. In his eyes, that’s part of why homeownership has been so elusive.

“In what some of my elders have called the ‘illusion of inclusion,’ income is used as a metric to say that things are getting better for Black people,” Wilson said.

But, he pointed out, income is di erent from wealth. For generations, “White America was building wealth, assets and the skill set and personnel to

manage that wealth,” he said.

Wilson’s older family members, on the other hand, were not o ered the same opportunities, he said.

Wilson’s grandfather was in the Army Air Forces during World War II, a Tuskegee airman, one of a pioneering group of Black military aviators. When he returned to New York City after the war, he did not receive federally backed home loans like his White counterparts did.

“ ey basically shoveled these White vets from World War II into programs that gave them college money and programs that gave them homes in the suburbs,” Wilson said. “Imagine if my grandpa would have got the property that he would have got had he been White in New York City. How much

Theo E.J. Wilson holds a hat from the collection his grandfather, who was a Tuskegee airman in World War II, gave him.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THEO E.J. WILSON

A New Vision

American dream changing for some Coloradans

BY CHRISTY STEADMAN CSTEADMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Amber Carlson is a Colorado native. She loves the Denver area for all its amenities — from outdoor recreation to the arts-and-culture scene. But with so many other people moving to the region because they also love those things, Carlson would consider moving away.

“I don’t blame people for wanting to live here,” she said. “It’s got a lot going on.”

Carlson doesn’t want to uproot from Colorado, but if she did, it would be because of the region’s skyrocketing cost of living.

“It’s di cult when you’ve lived here your whole life and it has become hard to stay,” she said.

Carlson is in her 30s. She went to Denver’s George Washington High School and is currently in graduate school at the University of ColoradoBoulder. She lives with her partner in a house in Wheat Ridge that he owns, a situation she feels fortunate to have. Otherwise, Carlson said, she is not sure if she would be able to a ord a rental on her own.

Her experience leaves her with questions about the idea of the American dream — owning a home.

It is, for many, a dream of a single-

Map experts dig for roots of racial separation in metro Denver

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In 1967, Black Americans were mired in “the long, hot summer.” Frustrations over poverty, unemployment, discrimination and myriad other issues spilled into the streets, leading to clashes with police and arrests in many places, including Denver. e widespread tensions over race left President Lyndon B. Johnson searching for answers.

So, he issued an executive order for a report that would detail what caused the chaos. He wanted it to answer a crucial question: How can the country prevent more unrest in the future?

When the report arrived seven months later, it laid out hundreds of pages of analysis and recommendations for improving race relations in America.

But its message was best summed up in a sentence:

“To continue present policies is to make permanent the division of our country into two societies: one, largely Negro and poor, located in

Amber Carlson, a graduate student at the University of Colorado-Boulder, is pictured in front of her partner’s home in Wheat Ridge. Because her partner owns the home, Carlson is able to a ord rent in the metro area as she completes her studies.

COURTESY PHOTOS

family home on a private plot of land in the suburbs, maybe with a picket fence and tire swing hanging from a lofty tree.

But younger people are changing their perceptions about what the American dream should be. Driving that change is the increasingly una ordable nature of housing,

One of the reasons that University of Denver student Caitlyn Aldersea doesn’t envision herself ever becoming a homeowner is because she wants to be able to travel. Here, she is pictured during her Spring 2022 travels to Budapest, Hungary. She has also spent time studying abroad in Amman, Jordan, and the UK.

according to a few surveys, including one by Bankrate last year. It found that two-thirds of respondents cite a ordability as a major hurdle to homeownership. eir pinch points included everything from salaries that didn’t keep up to a lack of ability to save for down payments to high mortgage rates.

A Look at the Suburbs

‘The American dream has decreased in relevance’

James Truslow Adams, a writer and historian, is credited with coining the term “the American dream” in 1931 — early in the Great Depression — in his book, “ e Epic of America.”

“ e American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement,” Adams wrote. “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” Carlson re ects on all of that. She said that people began to conceptualize how to get their American dream — go to college, get a good job and buy a home — in the postWorld War II era.

“ ere was this idea that you could have all of this,” Carlson said.  More Americans these days, she said, are de ning success on their own terms. More folks might see homeownership as a relic, even something that holds them back in life, rather than necessary for all of their needs and desires.

“Buying a home is probably

SEE VISION, P19

the central cities: the other, predominantly White and a uent, located in the suburbs and in outlying areas.”

In other words, the issue of where people can live was at the heart of the report. It all ties into the American dream, the idea of a family owning a home, building wealth as that home increases in value over time and being able to live in whatever neighborhood a family can a ord without fear of discrimination.

housing areas where racially restrictive covenants were located in Je erson County. This part of the map includes part of Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and Golden. Red areas had the covenants, green areas did not and yellow areas were unclear. See the full map at tinyurl.com/Je coRacialCovenants.

Yet more than half a century later, that divide between Black and White residents continues to complicate the dream in many parts of America, including the suburban towns and cities that surround Denver.  e divide is less stark and less known than it was in 1967, but its legacy is still alive in the metro area, where the Black population tends to live in Denver or Aurora, numbering in the tens of thousands in each city. Elsewhere, Black residents number in the hundreds or just a few thousand while White residents make up strong majorities. White residents are 78% of the population in Arvada and 1% are Black. White residents are 80% of the population in Littleton and 2% are Black. White residents are 82% of the population in Castle Rock and less than 1% are Black.

A part of a map that shows

So, why do the metro area’s communities look the way they do? e answer isn’t completely clear, but two map experts have delved into local property records, uncovering data that could help start to answer that question.

ey’re trying to discover what many have either forgotten or swept under the rug about parts of the metro area — or simply never knew.

ey’re digging in at the neighborhood level, looking for words in property documents — called “racially restrictive covenants” — that excluded people from housing by race. ey’re looking to discern the legacies that still echo in communities today.

Christopher iry, a map librarian at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, is one of the diggers. Discovering the covenants in Je erson County shocked him.

“ at blew me away that this rural county at the time would have them,” iry said. “As I tell people, ‘Yeah, the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, sure. But Je erson County? Come on.’”

‘Only persons of the Caucasian race’ iry, a longtime resident of Golden, took inspiration from the “Mapping Prejudice” project, an e ort at the University of Minnesota to identify and map racial covenants.

He jumped into his work after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police o cer. e mapping is a tedious task of sifting through mostly mundane, uncontroversial rules, like how many feet a house must sit away from the road or bans on billboards in front of homes.

iry has examined about 1,000 Je erson County documents and found nearly 200 had some kind of race-based stipulation. He looked at documents from the 1860s to 1950, though most of them were from the 1910s to 1950.

Speci cally, he has pored over “plats,” or plans for new neighborhoods. e plat for one neighborhood — Cole Village, located along Colfax Avenue near Kipling Street in what’s now Lakewood — had this to say:

“Only persons of the Caucasian race shall use or occupy any building or any lot. is covenant shall not prevent use or occupancy by domestic servants of a di erent race.”

e document was registered with the county in 1945. at type of race-based language is now unenforceable but remains on o cial plats, property deeds and other documents, according to iry.

It wasn’t just developers who pushed such language, iry said.

Local elected and appointed ofcials of the government of Je erson County signed the documents, iry added.

He singled out some other examples:

• “Ownership in this subdivision shall be restricted to members of the Caucasian race,” says a planning document for Sunshine Park in Golden at Sunshine and High parkways, dated 1944.

• “Stipulate that no lot at any time shall be occupied or owned by any person or persons not of the Caucasian races. However, this provision shall not prohibit the employment of persons of other races by the occupants,” says the plan for Green Acres along 6th Avenue in what’s now Lakewood, dated 1939.

• “No (area) shall at any time be occupied or owned by any person or persons of other than the Caucasian race, however, this shall not prohibit the employment of persons of other races on the premises by the occupants,” says the plan for Happy Valley Acres in the Golden area at South Golden Road and Orion Street, dated 1939.

• “ e said (land) shall (be) used for no other purpose than for the building and maintaining thereon and the occupancy thereof of private residences by Caucasians, and the erection of necessary outbuildings,” says a planning document for part of the Indian Hills area, dated 1923.

iry has used his ndings to make a map of the parts of Je erson County where race-based rules were baked into the original plans of the housing developments.

Many are concentrated in what are now the Wheat Ridge and Lakewood areas, with a handful dotting the Golden and Arvada region. Others sit in the Evergreen and Indian Hills areas.

It’s not yet a complete picture.

iry is wary that he may have missed pieces. ough the map is a work in progress, it already has him wondering how the covenants still in uence lives today.

Beyond that, what can be done to right past wrongs.

His work has made one measurable impact. It has inspired the work of another mapper, Craig Haggit, a map librarian at Denver Public Library.

Haggit, who is looking into where racist restrictions lurked in the paperwork for housing in Denver, also wants to shed light on “the way forward” for communities.

“I feel like we can’t know where we’re going until we know where we’ve been and how we got there,” Haggit said. “Otherwise, you’re just (in) the dark.”

It could take years to look through all the documents. But so far, Haggit’s work has revealed racial restrictions in Denver that targeted people in “a mix” of ways.

“Sometimes, it’s excluding ‘Negro’ or ‘Asian’ or ‘Mongoloid’ or whatever terms they used. And sometimes it just says only White people” can live in a certain house, Haggit said.

His team at rst zeroed in on the 1930s because the Ku Klux Klan was so active in the 1920s in the metro area. Since he’s in the early stages of the research, Haggit is unsure which neighborhoods were home to large concentrations of racially restricted housing.

One clue could be redlining, a term that refers to marking areas red on color-coded federal maps in the 1930s, re ecting the practice of restricting access to home loans in certain areas, partly based on race. at disparity stood in the way of homeownership for majority-Black areas and other groups in urban cities.

ough he doesn’t know yet, Hag-

git expects that the neighborhoods that were not redlined — the ones deemed higher class — would have the restrictive deeds because they were trying to keep certain people out.

In Denver, redlining zeroed in on predominantly Black neighborhoods, but it also covered neighborhoods where other ethnic or religious groups were present, according to the Denver redline map as displayed by the “Mapping Inequality” project from the University of Richmond and other university teams.

Denver’s redlined areas at the time included some western parts of the city and areas that surrounded downtown. But the map also redlined a small part of Aurora along Colfax Avenue — and parts of west and central Englewood. (A sliver of Je erson County in the Edgewater area landed on the map too, though it was rated slightly higher in yellow.)

e map re ected the view that people of certain backgrounds negatively a ected the values of homes.

In Englewood, for example, an “encroachment of Negroes” in an area near what appear to be railroad tracks was listed under “detrimental in uences” in comments that accompany the map.

And for the Five Points area near downtown Denver, comments mention “Negroes, Mexicans and a transient class of workers.”

Just to the east, comments called the neighborhoods “a better Negro section of Denver” and “one of the best colored districts in the United States.”

“Were it not for the heavy colored population much of it could be rated” higher, the comments say, appearing to use the term “colored” to refer to residents who were not White.

E ects linger ‘to this day’ ough the picture isn’t entirely clear yet, what experts already know suggests that policies that deepened racial disparities in uenced the makeup of today’s suburbs.

One driver of suburban growth that was especially visible was the American GI Bill — or the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 — that provided World War II veterans funding for college tuition and low-interest mortgages. But not everyone reaped the same rewards because of the covenants that the mappers at the local libraries are looking into, along with unequal access to GI Bill bene ts for White veterans compared with Black veterans.

e disparities played into how largely White the demographics in the suburbs turned out to be, said Christy Rogers, a teaching assistant

professor in the program for environmental design at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“ at has consequences for intergenerational wealth,” Rogers said.

In other words, though the descendants of White military veterans saw their homes rise in value over the decades, essentially becoming investments, many Black families encountered barriers and that had a ripple e ect as they could not pass down as much wealth to their children and grandchildren.

Rogers, who is White, knows this rsthand.

“My dad got the GI Bill, and he went to college and bought a house,” Rogers said. “So, our family could draw on our home value to send me to college.”

It took decades for federal lawmakers to ban the practice of racially restrictive covenants. ey were banned in the months after the “long, hot summer” of 1967 — through the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which bars discrimination in the sale, rental and nancing of housing based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex. e act also prohibited redlining.

What’s left today is a puzzle in places like Je erson County, made even harder to discern after booming growth since the mid-1900s. It is di cult to tell how much past covenants shaped the suburbs, said iry, the Colorado School of Mines librarian.

“With that said, you cannot discard the fact that these covenants did exist,” iry said.

e prevailing attitudes of racism at the time still may have made Black families feel unwelcome in certain neighborhoods, iry said. ere is evidence that the researchers are onto something. In Minnesota, researchers looking into Minneapolis and its suburbs discovered a “bonus value” persists today among White homeowners who bene ted from restrictive covenants.

“We document that houses that were covenanted have on average 3.4% higher present-day house values compared to houses that were not covenanted,” according to a 2021 University of Minnesota study entitled, “Long Shadow of Racial Discrimination: Evidence from Housing Racial Covenants.” “We also find that census blocks with a larger share of covenanted lots have smaller Black population and lower Black homeownership rates.”

The study also noted, “the racial makeup of neighborhoods determined in preceding decades persisted, where the region was highly segregated with White families

primarily residing in suburban areas and Black families within select neighborhoods (in) parts of Minneapolis.”

“ is segregation has continued for more than fty years, suggesting the highly long-lasting e ect that covenants had on the racial distribution of the region,” according to the study.

Rogers at CU added that moving to the suburbs could be more di cult for residents in redlined areas who may not have the money to move.

“Redlined areas to this day (sometimes) have lower appraisal values compared to a house across the street that’s not in a redlined area,” Rogers said.

The path

forward

Many Denver-area suburbs have large White majorities today. About 20 cities, towns or rural counties have a larger proportion of White residents than the national rate and

INEQUITIES

would that be worth today?”

Many Black veterans faced issues using the programs o ered by the GI Bill. ey often could not access banks for home loans, were excluded from certain neighborhoods and faced segregationist policies. Instead of a home in the suburbs, and despite his service to his country, Wilson’s grandfather wound up in low-income housing. ere, he raised Wilson’s father, who was not able to attend college.

“ e only physical thing that I have from (my grandfather) besides his DNA is a collection of hats … that shouldn’t have been the case,” Wilson said. “I should have more from him than his name, his genes and some hats.”

In that era, federal authorities also made color-coded maps that reected the practice of restricting access to home loans in certain areas, largely based on race. is practice is known as “redlining.” People of color were also excluded from obtaining housing through “racially restrictive covenants,” or text written into property records that was used to prevent people of certain races from purchasing certain homes. Some exclusionary policies, which have been documented in the Denver area, left a toll that’s evident in communities of color today.

Family wealth is a good measure of that. In 2019, the median White family in the country had about

the Colorado rate — many by a large margin, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

In Cherry Hills Village, a wealthy suburb that borders Denver, the number of Black Americans amounts to 0% of the population. Just a few miles away, the population is 17% Black and 44% White in Aurora, one of Denver’s most diverse suburbs.

Aurora is an exception, not the rule. Many of Denver’s other older suburbs are much less diverse.

Several Adams County cities have large Latino populations, but even though they’re suburban, the cities still tend to have lower-income neighborhoods closer to Denver and more expensive housing farther north.

Still, the suburbs don’t entirely look like they used to, according to Yonah Freemark, senior research associate at the nonpro t Urban Institute, based in Washington, D.C.

“Overall, the suburban parts of the nation have transformed dramatically and have become more diverse over time,” Freemark said. at’s in terms of age, ethnicity

and race, and income, Freemark added.

In the future, some suburbs will likely undergo a “steady transformation” toward increased mobility, such as having more public transportation, Freemark said. Other changes could include more e orts to get people walking and biking, with the transition of suburban storefronts and strip malls into more walkable neighborhoods, he added.

e path forward for the suburbs may involve a continued increase in diversity of residents, Freemark said.

But that depends on whether states and the federal government will expand support and requirements related to a ordable housing, Freemark said.

“We’re going to need signi cant public investment and changes to public law to support those outcomes,” Freemark said. “Otherwise, little is going to change.”

e a ordability issue transcends race, with many people simply priced out of the housing market and those who are in it struggling to a ord what they need for their families. In 2010, the median single-

family home price in metro Denver was about $200,000. It was roughly triple that as of 2022.

Coupled with a ordability is an availability issue that local rules play a role in exacerbating. Large-lot zoning — planning for houses to be built on large portions of land — is one major issue. In other words, there are too many large homes being built and too few starter homes, leaving prospective rst-time homebuyers with few options, perhaps even relegated forever to renting.

“If you have a very expensive largelot neighborhood, you don’t get young families,” Rogers said. “You don’t want your community to box out young families or new Americans. Or, you end up with, in a sense, a retirement community, and there’s nothing wrong with a retirement community, but you don’t want your entire community (to be that). You want kids to be in your schools.” e long-term trend of rising housing prices plays a role, too, as wages fail to keep pace with housing costs. at “has the potential to continue to widen inequality and even perhaps embed it,” Rogers said.

our clients and borrowers to say, ‘We will provide that down-payment assistance,’’’ Weeks said.  is program helped Wilson and his wife buy their home in Aurora.

In addition, the fund also o ers advice and education on how to build wealth.

“We know that there are so many pitfalls and just things that, as a community, we have not learned at the dinner table like our counterparts,” Weeks said. “ ere’s a lot of power in the knowledge information transfer that happens within other communities that we need to make sure that families are understanding.”

FREEDOM. TO BE YOU.

$184,000 in wealth compared to just $38,000 and $23,000 for the median Hispanic and Black families, respectively. at’s according to data from the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances.

ese numbers speak to the notion of generational wealth. Generational wealth is anything of nancial value that is passed from one generation to another — including money, property, investments, valuable heirlooms or businesses.

“ ink about the wealth that was created during (the ‘40s and ‘50s) that White families have been able to leverage generation after generation, either to send their kids to college, to be able to start a business, to writing a check for their loved ones to be able to have money for (a) down payment in order to buy their

own home and continue that generational wealth transfer,” said Aisha Weeks, managing director at the Dear eld Fund for Black Wealth, a Denver area group that emphasizes homeownership. “ at wasn’t available in mass for Black and African American families.”

A family’s primary residence is typically their most valuable asset, according to the National Association of Realtors.

It’s not just the monetary value of a house and property that adds to wealth. ere are tax bene ts for homeowners and people can borrow against a home’s equity to start a business or to help with unexpected bills. Homeownership also provides stable housing, which has been shown to positively impact health and educational achievement. ese factors can, in turn, improve a person’s economic prosperity.

Trying to change the equation e Dear eld Fund for Black Wealth o ers down-payment assistance loans with no interest and no monthly payments up to $40,000 or 15% of the purchase price for Black homebuyers.

“We acknowledge that there’s a generational wealth gap, and so Dear eld Fund is walking alongside

at issue of being at the proverbial dinner table comes up a lot for communities of color. Without an example to follow, some rst-time homebuyers don’t know where to begin. According to Alma Vigil, a local loan o cer assistant, families who do not own homes often do not pass along information about how to own and maintain a home.

To address this challenge, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority o ers homebuyer education programs to teach Coloradans nancial skills and the steps to homeownership. ese classes are o ered in English and Spanish in an e ort to remedy language barriers, which can add challenges for potential homebuyers who do not speak English.

“ ere’s very (few) Spanish speaking loan o cers,” said Vigil, who is Hispanic and speaks Spanish herself. “ ere are some that claim to speak Spanish, but they’re not very uent. So it becomes a huge problem, especially with lack of understanding.”

In order to close the gaps, some lenders across the metro Denver area provide services in Spanish. A list of Spanish-speaking lenders can be found on the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority’s website. e issue isn’t just one faced by Hispanic and Latino communities. A report by the National Coalition for

Figure shows median family net worth by race. The “other” category contains Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, and multi-race households. CREDIT: FEDERAL RESERVE SURVEY OF CONSUMER FINANCES; 2019

Asian Paci c American Community Development found language barriers are also often a challenge for members of the Asian American community when pursuing homeownership. In addition to conversations with lenders, real estate paperwork and documents rarely come in languages other than English.

Debt-to-income ratio

Over the last couple of years, Brandon Stepter, a community consultant, has been working in Broomeld. In an e ort to bring more people of color into the community, Stepter looks at housing infrastructure, housing practices and community practices.

Stepter and his wife, Gabrielle, both of whom are Black, have been renting in Aurora but have recently been looking to purchase a home.

“We thought we would be pretty solid in that regard and we both make a decent amount of money,” Stepter said. “We thought we would be able to start looking, even in this market, to try and nd an equitable home that ts our budget.”

Stepter, who also works as a healthcare administrator, and his wife, who works for a technology company, said they are trying to gure out how to pay o their student debt so they can get a home loan within the next couple of years.

“I think right now what we’re seeing is a lot of younger African Americans who are in copious amounts of student debt and that has been preventing them from owning a home,” Stepter said.

Debt-to-income ratio is often a signi cant barrier for Black people who are looking to buy a home because that number is assessed when underwriters are deciding whether or not to give a mortgage, according to Jice Johnson, founder of the Black Business Initiative.

e Black Business Initiative is a Denver-based organization that focuses on economic equity in the Black community.

“In America, you are encouraged to graduate high school and go to college,” Johnson said. “Typically speaking, because you don’t have access, when you go to college you’re not going to pay for college outright. Instead, you’re going to get a student loan … So it increases the debt side of your ratio by a lot, oftentimes preventing you from purchasing a home.”

Black college graduates tend to owe thousands of dollars more in student debt, on average, than their White peers. According to a 2016 report from the Brookings Institution, the amount can exceed $7,000 at the date of graduation.

Black and Hispanic workers also tend to be paid less than their White counterparts, according to many studies on the subject. In 2020, Black workers in Colorado earned 74% and Latino workers in Colorado earned 71% of the hourly earnings of White workers, according to numbers from the 2020 ve-year American Community Survey.

“So you go to school, you get the degree, which is what you’re supposed to do to get the high-paying job,” Johnson said. “Now you come out and you have debt and also your income isn’t as high as it should be. So, your entire debt-to-income ratio doesn’t allow for you to purchase a home.”

Discrimination

In a national statistical analysis of more than 2 million conventional mortgage applications for home purchases, a data-based news publication called e Markup found that lenders were 40% more likely to turn down Latino applicants for loans, 50% more likely to deny Asian/Paci c Islander applicants, 70% more likely to deny Native American applicants and 80% more likely to reject Black applicants compared with similar White applicants. Even for families of color that may not struggle immediately with wealth and knowledge disparities, discrimination persists in the housing market. People of color are often treated di erently in appraisals, lending practices and neighborhood options.

Stories about what that looks like in the Denver area abound. Johnson of the Black Business Initiative lived in Westminster before moving to Aurora. When she was staging her home to sell, her real estate agent gave her some advice.

“It was encouraged for me to make sure I had no family photos up,” she said.

Meanwhile, she visited homes for sale that had photos of White families.

Johnson said it was good business advice. Her Black Realtor, Delroy Gill, understood the landscape and was looking out for her.

“ at’s my Realtor trying to get me top dollar,” she said. “ e question is, why would (leaving) my photos prevent me from getting top dollar?”

Gill said the practice of taking down photos removes potential hurdles that could occur for his clients. For Black clients, race is sadly one of those hurdles that could a ect how appraisers, inspectors and potential homebuyers view the home, he said.

“We do know racism is a real thing,” he said. “And it exists in every facet of life. So therefore, when you are faced with the unknown, it’s better to make the adjustments based on how society is versus taking the risk of creating more damage on Black wealth by them receiving less funds for their homes.”

e advice Gill gave Johnson was not unique. Paige Omohundro, business development manager at the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority said her team heard similar stories in recent focus groups with real estate agents, nonpro ts, lenders, housing advocates and people trying to achieve homeownership in Black and African American communities. She said these stories were shared by members of Hispanic and Latino communities as well.

Gill said that because of his precautions, discrimination rarely impacts his clients’ sales. One time, however, the preparation was not enough.

A couple of years ago, Gill was working with an interracial couple to sell their home in Parker. When the appraiser arrived, the Black husband was leaving the property.

“I own investment properties in the area, so I know the area very well,” Gill said. “And I used to live in the neighborhood. So the value that we gave to the house was very appropriate — and the appraisal came in $100,000 less (than our value).”

According to Gill, the buyers, who were White, decided to pay the extra $100,000 out of pocket because they knew the original asking price was fair.

“ e agent and the buyers thought that the price was reasonable and that the appraiser made a big mistake,” Gill said. “We tried to dispute the appraisal and failed. He said he’s not going to change it.”

Gill said the homebuyers noted that the low appraisal was probably due to racial discrimination.

According to a 2021 study by Fred-

die Mac, a government-sponsored mortgage-buying company, this experience was not rare. Black and Latino mortgage applicants get lower appraisal values than the contract price more often than White applicants, according to the study. e study found that, based on over 12 million appraisals from Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2020, 8.6% of Black applicants receive an appraisal value lower than contract price, compared to 6.5% of White applicants. In the study, Freddie Mac said it would be valuable to conduct further research to understand why this gap exists.

In a report by the National Fair Housing Alliance, however, personal stories like that of Gill’s clients make the case that the appraisal gap comes from racial or ethnic discrimination.

One of these stories, originally reported by the Washington Post, was about a mixed-race couple in Denver. An appraiser greeted by the White wife valued the house at $550,000, whereas one greeted by the Black husband valued it at $405,000. e lower value appraisal report explicitly compared the home to others in a nearby predominantly Black neighborhood, even though that’s not where the house was located.

Since 1968, housing discrimination based on race has been illegal under the Fair Housing Act. Nine years before that federal law was signed, Colorado was the rst state to pass its own fair housing laws, according to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.

Although it is illegal, discrimination in housing based on race or color still happens, according to the Department of Justice. e department has led cases related to lending discrimination, including a 2012 Wells Fargo case in which the bank was forced to pay a settlement for its pattern of discrimination against quali ed Black and African American and Hispanic and Latino borrowers.

ere are e orts to change the process. According to the Urban Institute, a nonpro t research organization, 89% of all property appraisers and assessors are White while only 2 percent are Black and 5 percent are Hispanic. Addressing the lack of diversity in the profession could improve outcomes for Black and Hispanic communities, the organization said.

e Appraiser Diversity Initiative, a program led by mortgage-buying companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and civil rights organization the National Urban League, is teaching new potential appraisers with a diversity of identities in an e ort to close this gap.

Approaching inclusion in real estate from a wider perspective, a program through the Urban Land Institute Colorado works to train women and people of color in development. is program, called the Real Estate Diversity Initiative, aims to create urban landscapes that serve diverse communities.

“I think trust in community-building is key,” Executive Director Rodney Milton said. “When developers build projects, they need community support because they’re shaping the community. And who better to

Part of the opening scenario of the Fairhaven simulation, where the user is in the shoes of a real estate agent whose client is experiencing discrimination. Given this situation, the user must choose their response.

CREDIT: FAIRHAVEN ONLINE SIMULATION

FROM

18

be equipped to strengthen a community, to build it out, to revitalize it, then the folks who are from that community?”

Welcome to Fairhaven

Housing is a source of discrimination complaints. e Colorado Civil Rights Commission Annual report found that 14% of complaints were claims about housing issues.

Chantal Sundberg, a Black Realtor who works in the metro Denver area, said she has not witnessed or experienced discrimination in her work with her clients, most of whom are Black.

“Everyone is treated equal, whether it’s borrowing or buying homes,” she said.

Sundberg witnessed the 1994

VISION

FROM

something that some people want,” Carlson said. “But I don’t think everybody wants or needs to buy a home.”

Others are holding onto the old idea. Bankrate found that homeownership remains a persistent part of the American dream. Homeownership is the “most-mentioned milestone” for Americans 26 and older, but younger Americans see it as less important. Gen Z, aged 18-25, doesn’t rank it as the top accomplishment like older Americans tend to.

Gen Z member Caitlyn Aldersea, a student at the University of Denver, is representative of the changing attitude.

She remembers as a young child how the Great Recession that began in 2007 a ected her family.

“ e American dream today is much di erent than how my parents thought of it,” Aldersea said. “Today, it’s more based on what can be accomplished. It’s not shooting for the stars anymore.”

Aldersea’s personal de nition of the American dream includes a

Rwandan genocide, when hundreds of thousands of members of a minority ethnic group called the Tutsi were murdered by members of the Hutu ethnic majority. In her eyes, although it might be important to talk about topics of racial discrimination, focusing on them too much can have unintended consequences.

“When we emphasize them so much, it creates more division rather than unity,” she said.

Still, discrimination is an ongoing concern for the National Association of Realtors and Brokers. Sundberg said Realtors are trained to address discrimination issues.

And to Gill, the Realtor who helped Johnson sell her home, the association’s training is not enough to help all real estate agents.

SEE INEQUITIES, P23

ful lling career, opportunities to be part of a community that one is able to give back to and the freedom to pursue personal interests. She believes housing should be attainable for everyone, but doesn’t think it de nes success or happiness.

Aldersea doesn’t envision ever becoming a homeowner. One reason is that she wants to be able to relocate as she pursues her career goals. Another is that she wants to travel and pay o student loans.

“I don’t think my wage or salary will ever help me a ord a house or mortgage,” Aldersea said. “A house would not be the only thing I’d have to focus on nancially.”

Time will tell whether homeownership will eventually become more important to younger Americans. According to Bankrate, the pull to own a home remains strong. Fiftynine percent of Gen Z members want to own a home as a life goal, second only to having a successful career (60%).

For other generations, homeownership remains the top life goal and the likelihood of that increases with age. Eighty-seven percent of older adults, aged 68 and up, cite homeownership as integral to the American dream.

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Service

Legals

Summons and Sheriff Sale

Public Notice

CITY & COUNTY OF DENVER, DISTRICT COURT

COLORADO CIVIL COURT

Denver City & County Bldg. 1437 Bannock St., Rm. 256 Denver, CO 80202

Plaintiff: Cenco Building Services, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company,

Defendants:

H+L Development, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company and Bryant W. Long, an individual

Case Number: 22CV30744 Div. Ctrm. 280

NOTICE OF LEVY OR SEIZURE

Sheriff Sale No. 22004964

STATE OF COLORADO )ss

COUNTY OF DENVER

TO THE JUDGMENT DEBTOR

BRYANT W. LONG:

Notice is hereby given that on May 9, 2022, a judgment against Bryant W. Long from the District Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado, entered in favor of CENCO BUILDING SERVICES, LLC, in the original amount of $36,522.62, and that on December 2, 2022 the Clerk of the DENVER County Court issued a Writ of Execution commanding the Sheriff of DENVER County to levy, seize and take into possession the following real estate, to wit:

LOT 22 AND SOUTH ONE-HALF OF LOT 23, BLOCK 31, MCCULLOUGHS ADDITION 3RD FILING TO DENVER, CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, STATE OF COLORADO.

Otherwise identified or referred to as 2127 High Street, Denver, CO 80205 (the "Property").

You have legal rights that may prevent all or part of your money or property from being taken. That part of the money or property that may not be taken is called "exempt property." Notwithstanding your right to claim the property as "exempt," no exemption other than the exemptions set forth in C.R.S. Section 13-54-104(3), may be claimed for a Writ. The purpose of this Notice of Levy is to tell you about these rights.

If the money or property which is being withheld from you includes any "exempt property," you must file within 14 days of receiving this Notice of Levy a written claim of exemption with the Clerk of the Court, describing what money or property you think is "exempt property" and the reason that it is exempt.

You must act quickly to protect your rights. Remember, you only have 14 days after receiving this Notice of Levy to file your claim of exemption with the Clerk of Court. Your failure to file a claim of exemption with 14 days is a waiver of your right to file.

Now therefore, you BRYANT W. LONG take notice that within fourteen (14) days from the date of service hereof, if served within the state, or if served by publication, within fourteen ( 14) dates after service hereof, exclusive of the day of service, you may file with the Clerk of the above-entitled Court, a written claim of exemption which you may have under the statutes of the State of Colorado; and in case of your failure to make and file such written claim of exemption with the Clerk of said Court you shall be deemed to have waived your right of exemption under the statutes of this state.

Elias Diggins, Sheriff City and County of Denver, Colorado

By: /s/ Deputy Sheriff Sergeant Line

CERTIFICATE OF LEVY

I, Elias Diggins, Sheriff of Denver County, State of Colorado, do hereby certify that by virtue of a certain Writ of Execution to me directed, from the Denver County District Court, State of Colorado, in favor of Cenco Building Services, LLC, and against Bryant W. Long and H+L Development, LLC, jointly and severally, Defendants, dated December 2nd, 2022, I did on this 5111 day of January, 2023, levy upon the following real estate, to wit:

LOT 22 AND SOUTH ONE-HALF OF LOT 23, BLOCK 31, MCCULLOUGHS ADDITION 3RD FILING TO DENVER, CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, ST A TE OF COLORADO.

Otherwise identified or referred to as 2127 High Street, Denver, CO 80205 (the "Property"). Situate in the City and County of Denver, Colorado.

Elias Diggins, Sheriff City and County of Denver, Colorado

By: /s/ Deputy Sheriff

AND AGAINST DEF IN THE AMOUNT OF 36,522.62 WITH INTEREST AT THE RATE OF 10% PER ANNUM, JOINTLY AND SEVERALLY.

Debtor (s): HAND L DEV LLC BRYANT W LONG Creditor(s): CENCO BLDG SERV LLC Balance of Judgment to Date: $36,522.62

To the Sheriff of Denver County,

You are commanded to satisfy the above judgment plus interest and costs executing against any property legally subject to levy of the above-named judgment debtor(s) and to return this execution within 90 days from the date of issue, unless sale is pending under levy made.

This Summons is issued pursuant to Rule 4, C.R.C.P., as amended. A copy of the Complaint must be served with this Summons. This form should not be used where service by publication is desired.

WARNING: A VALID SUMMONS MAY BE ISSUED BY A LAWYER AND IT NEED NOT CONTAIN A COURT CASE NUMBER, THE SIGNATURE OF A COURT OFFICER, OR A COURT SEAL. THE PLAINTIFF HAS 14 DAYS FROM THE DATE THIS SUMMONS WAS SERVED ON YOU TO FILE THE CASE WITH THE COURT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTACTING THE COURT TO FIND OUT WHETHER THE CASE HAS BEEN FILED AND OBTAIN THE CASE NUMBER. IF THE PLAINTIFF FILES THE CASE WITHIN THIS TIME, THEN YOU MUST RESPOND AS EXPLAINED IN THIS SUMMONS. IF THE PLAINTIFF FILES MORE THAN 14 DAYS AFTER THE DATE THE SUMMONS WAS SERVED ON YOU, THE CASE MAY BE DISMISSED UPON MOTION AND YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO SEEK ATTORNEY’S FEES FROM THE PLAINTIFF.

TO THE CLERK: If the summons is issued by the clerk of the court, the signature block for the clerk or deputy should be provided by stamp, or typewriter, in the space to the left of the attorney’s name.

Legal Notice No. 82031

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

SUMMONS (CITACION JUDICIAL)

NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: (AV/SO AL DEMANDADO): RIVIERA BEVERAGES, LLC, YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: (LO ESTA. DEMANDANDO EL DEMANDANTE): ALL BETTER CBD, LLC; Nu Wave Enterprises, LLC; and Jerry Krecick, dba HSW WHOLESALE, NOTICE! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the Information below.

Lee Goodson Jr; CTX Mortgage Company, LLC; Arrow Financial Services; LVNVFunding LLC; City and County of Denver Manager of Public Works; Master HOA for Green Valley Ranch; and All Other Persons who claim any interest in the real property which is the subject of this action

Attorneys for Plaintiff: HELLERSTEIN AND SHORE, P.C.

Address: 5347 S. Valentia Way, Suite 100 Greenwood Village, CO 80111

Phone Number: (303) 573-1080

Fax Number: (303) 571-1271

E-mail: dshore@shoreattys.com jelsner@shoreattys.com

Atty. Reg. #: 19973 (David A. Shore) 55149 (Jacob B. Elsner) Case Number: 022CV32986

SUMMONS

The People of the State of Colorado

To the Defendants Named Above: All Other Persons who claim any interest in the real property which is the subject of this action.

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to file with the Clerk of this Court an answer or other response to the attached Complaint. If service of the Summons and Complaint was made upon you within the State of Colorado, you are required to file your answer or other response within 21 days after such service upon you. If service of the Summons and Complaint was made upon you outside of the State of Colorado, you are required to file your answer or other response within 35 days after such service upon you. Your answer or counterclaim must be accompanied with the applicable filing fee.

If you fail to file your answer or other response to the Complaint in writing within the applicable time period, the Court may enter judgment by default against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint without further notice.

This is an action under C.R.C.P. 105 to foreclose a Deed of Trust encumbering real property located in Arapahoe County, State of Colorado, more particularly described as follows:

LOT 1, BLOCK 11, GREEN VALLEY RANCH FILING NUMBER 20, CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, STATE OF COLORADO.

The following documents are also served with this summons: Complaint with Exhibits 1-4 and Civil Case Cover Sheet.

DATED at Greenwood Village, Colorado, this 10th day of October, 2022

HELLERSTEIN & SHORE, P.C.

Pursuant to C.R.C.P. 121, 1-26(7), original signature is on file at the offices of Hellerstein and Shore, P.C. and will be made available for inspection upon request

las Cortes de Califomia, (www.sucorta.ca.gov) o poniendose en contacto con la corte o el colegio de abogados locales, AVISO: Por ley, la corte tiene derecho a reclamar las cuotas y los gastos exentos por imponer un gravamen sobre cualquier recuperacion de $10,000 o mas de valor recibida mediante un acuerdo o una concesion de arbitraje en un caso de derecho civil. Tiene que pagar el gravamen de la corte antes de que la corte pueda desechar el caso.

The name and address of the court is:

(El nombre y direccion de la corte es):

Orange County Superior Court 700 W Civic Center Dr. Santa Ana, CA 92701

CASE Number: 30-2021-01220598-CU-BC-CJC

Judge Nancy E Zeltzer

The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiffs attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is:

(El nombre, la direccion y el numero de telefono del abogado del demandante, o del demandante que no tiene abogado, es):

Gary Kurtz, Law Office of Gary Kurtz, Inc., 30101 Agoura Ct, Ste 118, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 818-884-8400

DATE (Fecha) : 09/13/2021

DAVID H. YAMASAKI, Clerk of the Court

Clerk by H. McMaster Hailey Mc Master, Deputy

ADDITIONAL PARTIES ATTACHMENT Attachment to Summons

ECCE GLOBAL: ECCE, LLC;

ICONIC MEDICAL GROUP, LLC;

DANIELLE JOHNSON; GINA PSAREAS: and DOES 1 to 100, inclusive

Legal Notice No. 82010

First Publication: January 12, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Misc. Private Legals

Public Notice

TO: LAVON SMITH:

You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo. ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral servlce. lf you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the Callfornia Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifomia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case. AVISO! Lo han demandado. Si no responde dentro de 30 dias, la corte puede decidir en su contra sin escuchar su version. Lea la informacion a continuacion.

Tiene 30 DIAS DE CALENDARIO despues de que le entreguen esta citacion y papeles legales para presentar una respuesta par escrito en esta carte y hacer que se entregue una copia al demandante. Una carta o una liamada telefonica no Ia protegen. Su respuesta por escrito tiene que estar en formate legal correcto si desea que procesen su caso en Ia corte. Es posible que haya un formulario que usted pueda usar para su respuesta. Puede encontrar estos formularios de la corte y mas informacion en el Centro de Ayuda de las Cortes de Califomia (www.sucorte. ca.gov), en Ia bibioteca de leyes de su condado o en la corte que le quede mas Cerca. Si no puede pagar la cuote de presentacion, pida al secretario de la corta que le de un formulario de exencion de pago de cuotas. Si no presenta su respuesta a tiempo, puede perder el caso par incumplimiento y Ia corte le podra quitar su sueldo, dinero y bienes sin mas advertencia.

Hay otros requisitos legales. Es recomandable que LLame a un abogado inmediatamente. Si no conoce a un abogado, puede LLamar a un servicio de reision a abogados. Si no puede pagar a un abogado, es posible que cumpla con las requisitos para obtener servicios legales gratuitos de un programa de servicios legales sin fines de lucro. Puede encontrar estos grupos sin fines de lucro en el sitio web de California Legal Services, (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), en el Centro de Ayuda de

You are notified that you have 10 days after publication for this notice of levy to file your claim of exemption with the District Court of Denver County, 1437 Bannock, Room 256, Denver, CO 80202 in Case 2021CV031425 entitled: TIDEWATER FINANCE COMPANY, d/b/a TIDEWATER MOTOR CREDIT, d/b/a TIDEWATER CREDIT SERVICES v. LAVON SMITH, a/k/a LAVON DONNAILL SMITH, a/k/a LAVON DONNAIL SMITH, a/k/a LAVON D. SMITH $2,402.45 garnished at FirstBank, 2850 Quebec St., Denver, CO 80207.

Legal Notice No.82048

First Publication: January 26, 2023

Last Publication: February 23, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Storage Liens/Vehicle Titles

Public Notice

Notice to obtain title- The following vehicle(s) were towed and abandoned:

1) VIN 1C4RJFAG6JC172231, 2018 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE

M1 Towing lot address 2810 W. 62nd Ave, Denver, CO 80221, 720-364-1160 is applying for title.

Legal Notice No. 82058

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Notice to Creditors

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Brent Thomas Walker, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR031614

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before June 02, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Amy Walker, Personal Representative 3453 South Bellaire Street Denver, Colorado 80222

Legal Notice No. 82059

First publication: February 02, 2023

Last publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Lafontise,

a/k/a Mary Kathryn Lafontise, a/k/a Kay M. Lafontise, and Kay Lafontise, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31601

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to: Denver Probate Court City and County of Denver, Colorado 1437 Bannock St., #230 Denver, CO 80202 on or before May 26, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Brandon Cauthon, Personal Representative c/o Law Office of Byron K. Hammond, LLC 4500 Cherry Creek Drive South, Suite 960 Denver, CO 80246

Legal Notice No.82044

First Publication: January 26, 2023

Last Publication: February 9, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS Estate of LeRoy B. Schoenberger, a/k/a LeRoy Schoenberger, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31648

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to tje Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

LeRoy A Schoenberger Personal Representative c/o Davis Schilken, PC 7887 E. Belleview Ave., Suite 820 Denver, CO 80111

Legal Notice No. 82036

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Kimberly D. Danzer, a/k/a Kimberly Dawn Danzer, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31619

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Person Giving Notice: Larry T. Weddle, Jr., Personal Representative 2913 Umatilla St. Denver, CO 80211

Legal Notice No. 82032

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Bonny Lee Michaelson, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31574

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before June 2, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Phil N. Michaelson, Personal Representative c/o 11479 S. Pine Dr. Parker, CO 80134

Legal Notice No. 82055

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Last Publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Russell Leon Haughey, a/k/a Russell L. Haughey, a/k/a Russell Haughey, a/k/a Russ Haughey, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31628

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Edward Peterson, Personal Representative 845 S. Carr Street Lakewood, CO 80226

Legal Notice No. 82040

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Nancy L. Packard, Case Number: 2022 PR 31625

understand if you’re being a racist or not,’” he said.

To address such concerns, the association released an immersive online simulation in 2020 that aims to train agents to recognize and avoid acting on their own biases.

e program is part of the association’s Fair Housing Act Plan, which leaders created to emphasize accountability and culture change. e training is meant to make housing more accessible and a ordable to people of color.

A White Colorado Community Media reporter went through the online simulation, which takes place in a ctional town called Fairhaven.

e simulation puts a person in the shoes of potential homebuyers who

are experiencing discrimination.

One scenario is based on a federal court case, Clinton-Brown v. Hardick. In 2020, Todd Brown and Ebony Clinton-Brown led a suit against Helene L. and John Hardick alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and Rhode Island law.

e case claims the Hardicks noticed Clinton-Brown’s rst name and asked their real estate agent if Ebony was Black. When they learned she was, the Hardicks refused to sell their property and the agent withdrew the listing upon the Hardicks’ request, ceasing communication. roughout the simulation, agents attempt to theoretically sell four homes within six months while coming across day-to-day happenings including the views of colleagues and encounter issues like language barriers. e simulator provides for moments of re ection in the sales

Public Notices

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 22, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Timothy A. Jacobs, Personal Representative

722 S. Wildhorse Dr. New Castle, CO 81647

Legal Notice No. 82027

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Randy Leroy Willmarth, deceased Case Number: 23PR27

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before June 02, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Mandi Ann Garrett

Personal Representative

3412 S. Patton Way Denver, Colorado 80236 Denver, Colorado 80236

Legal Notice No. 82053

First publication: February 02, 2023

Last publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of PAUL M. RAY, aka PAUL MUNCY RAY, aka PAUL RAY, Deceased Case No. 2023PR30042

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before June 3, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Ruth Ann Curtis, Co-Personal Representative 1796 S. Cole St. Lakewood, CO 80228

Gregory Ray, Co-Personal Representative 495 Powerhouse Road Lewistown, MT 59457

Legal Notice No. 82052

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Last Publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Noelle Felice Arrangoiz, aka Noelle F. Arrangoiz, aka Noelle Arrangoiz, deceased

Case Number: 2022PR615

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to District Court of Denver County, Colorado on or before June 02, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Clark David FitzSimmons

Personal Representative 4036 N Clay St Denver, CO 80211

Legal Notice No. 82054

First publication: February 02, 2023

Last publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Case Number: 2022PR031691

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Josie Gibbons, Personal Representative 4591 Abilene St., Denver, CO 80239

Legal Notice No. 82030

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of James R. Wade, a/k/a James Robert Wade, Deceased Case No. 2022PR31710

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representatives or to the Denver Probate Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado, on or before May 22, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Sarah W. Swank Co- Personal Representative 12482 N. Lost Canyon Trail Parker, CO 80138

Katherine W. Swabey Co- Personal Representative 12 Cold Spring Rd. Williamstown, MA 01267

Legal Notice No. 82039

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of EDGAR JOSIAH HARPER, II, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR31685

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Frances M. Mukaikubo

Personal REpresentative 7373 East Iowa Avenue, Unit 1072 Denver, Colorado 80231

Legal Notice No. 82035

First Publication: January 19, 2023

process. At the end of the training, agents are given feedback.

According to Alexia Smokler of the National Association of Realtors, the organization decided to pursue the simulator after a Newsday investigation revealed alleged housing discrimination on Long Island, New York.

“We wanted to show how discrimination plays out in real life scenarios and so we drew on real fair housing cases and frequently asked questions from our members to create these simulated scenarios so they could see how discrimination looks,” Smokler said.

Scenarios in the simulation are based on true stories. ey include testimonials to show discrimination from the perspective of race, disability and LGBTQ+ identities.

“We’ve had people tell us watching these videos — they’re very emo-

Deceased, Case No.: 2022PR31235

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the the Probate Court, City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before June 16, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Doreen Steffes, Personal Representative c/o Siffring Law, P.C. 2049 Wadsworth Blvd., Suite K-157 Lakewood, CO 80214

tional videos — that they are in tears, that they’re angry, that they’re going to stand up for their clients and also we’ve had folks say ‘I wasn’t aware of these sorts of things are going on’ and ‘this has really opened my eyes,’” Smokler said.

Brian Arnold, who used to work with clients at Aurora Warms the Night, said training like Fairhaven could help combat discrimination. But he noted that since the Fairhaven simulation is not a mandatory step in real estate agent licensing, it is challenging to ensure people who need the training actually do it.

“For your … real estate agents that are doing well, that are maybe using discriminatory practices, how are you going to get those people to use it?” Arnold said. “Unless it’s a mandatory (program) ... then it’s just a nice program that’s out there that could help.”

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023 or the claims may be forever barred.

Evan Scott Meredith

Personal Representative 10821 Trotwood Way Highlands Ranch, CO 80126

Legal Notice No. 82034

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Vicki Lynn Powell, deceased Case Number: 22PR664

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Kristin C. Hewett Personal Representative 107 Blackwood Court Vacaville, CA 95688

Legal Notice No. 82028

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023 Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Mary Ann Merrill, Deceased Case Number 2022PR31440

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Keith D. Tooley, Esq.,

Personal Representative WELBORN SULLIVAN MECK & TOOLEY, P.C. 1401 Lawrence St., Suite 1800 Denver, CO 80202

Legal Notice No. 82029

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of GILBERT A. MUELLER, a/k/a GILBERT MUELLER, a/k/a GILBERT ANTON MUELLER, AND TONY MUELLER, Deceased

Case Number: 2022PR31645

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 26, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred. The Gasper Law Group

Probate 128 S. Tejon Street, Suite 100 Colorado Springs, CO 80913

No. 82041 First Publication: January 19, 2023

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 26, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Christopher Mueller, Personal Representative 434 35th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122

Legal Notice No. 82045

First Publication: January 26, 2023

Last Publication: February 9, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 26, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Traci Sanchez, Personal Representative 3071 S. Quince Way Denver, CO 80231

Legal Notice No.82046

First publication: January 26, 2023

Last publication: February 09, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Charlie Franklin Smith, aka Charlie F. Smith, aka Charlie Smith, Deceased September 7, 2022 Case Number 2022PR31501

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 20, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Linda Jones, Personal Representative 16337 County Road 94 Elbert CO 80106

Legal Notice No. 82037

First Publication: January 19, 2023

Last Publication: February 2, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Public Notice

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of Julie Ann Lewis, AKA Julie A. Lewis, AKA Julie Lewis, Deceased

Case Number: 2023PR30043

All persons having claims against the above named estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to the Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 26, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Jacquelyn Sue Connelly

Personal Representative c/o Mollie B. Hawes, Miller and Steiert, P.C. 1901 W. Littleton Blvd. Littleton, CO 80120

Legal Notice No. 82043

First Publication: January 26, 2023 Last Publication: February 9, 2023 Publisher:Denver Herald-Dispatch

Personal Representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before May 19, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Helen M. Peros, Personal Representative C/O Joyner & Fewson, P.C. 3100 Arapahoe Ave. Ste. 410 Boulder, CO 80303

TO

of Gloriajo Fox, a/k/a Gloria Jo Fox, a/k/a Gloria J. Fox, a/k/a Gloria Fox, a/k/a Jo Fox, Deceased Case Number: 2022PR031387

All persons having claims against the abovenamed estate are required to present them to the personal representative or to Denver Probate Court of the City and County of Denver, Colorado on or before June 1, 2023, or the claims may be forever barred.

Deborah Hall, Personal Representative c/o Davis Schilken, PC 7887 E. Belleview Ave., Suite 820 Denver, CO 80111

Legal Notice No. 82056

First Publication: February 2, 2023

Last Publication: February 16, 2023

Publisher: Denver Herald-Dispatch

Children Services

(Adoption/Guardian/Other) Public Notice IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF MERCER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA JUVENILE DIVISION IN RE: MARLEY MATTHEWS DOB: July 28, 2020 3 DP 2022 LEGAL NOTICE

TO: BENACIO MATTHEWS, JR. -Putative father

On July 28, 2020, a child was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania to Susan Garnder. On January 26th, 2022, said child was adjudicated a dependent child and placed in the care custody and control of Mercer County Children and Youth Services. Please be aware that there is a Permanency Review and Goal Change Hearing scheduled in the interest of this child on February 16th, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom #4 of the Mercer County Courthouse, Mercer, Pennsylvania. Please contact Mercer County Children and Youth Services if you are the natural father or know the identity or whereabouts of the unknown father. Mercer County Children and Youth Services 8425 Sharon-Mercer Road Mercer, PA 16137 (724) 662-2703

You have a right to be represented at the hearing by a lawyer. An attorney has been appointed by the Court to represent you. Your attorney's contact information is as follows:

John Alfredo, Esquire P.O.Box 246, Sharpsville, PA 16150 724-962-2980