INEQUITIES

FROM PAGE 7 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 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

20 cities, towns or rural counties have a larger proportion of White residents than the national rate and 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 of that. In 2019, the median White family in the country had about $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 per- 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 son’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 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.” 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 families. In 2010, the median singlefamily home price in metro Denver was about $200,000. It was roughly triple that as of 2022. an e ort to remedy language barriers, which can add challenges for potential homebuyers who do not speak English.

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.

“ 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 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.

FROM ese new studies attest to a shift in public attitudes. Rob Ament of

Wildlife. e Craig and Meeker areas have lots of high priority roads, but so is much of I-76 between Fort Morgan to Julesburg has many high-priority segments.

Some jurisdictions are diving deeper. Eagle County has completed a study of wildlife connectivity, and in the Aspen area, a non-pro t called Safe Passages has secured funding to begin identifying highest-priority locations in the Roaring Fork and Crystal River valleys.

Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute says wildlife connectivity is becoming institutionalized in how we think about transportation corridors. Instead of an extravagance, he says, crossings are becoming a cost of doing business. is is happening internationally, too. “My world is just exploding,” he said while reciting crossings for

If in some ways a long time in coming, we are rede ning the relationship between highways and wildlife.

Check out other work by Allen Best about climate change, the energy transition and other topics at BigPivots.com.

Thu 1/26

EP Ballet Folklorico -Perform ages - 8-17 (Wed)

@ 12:30am

Jan 26th - May 31st

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

University of Denver Hockey vs. Colorado College

@ 7pm / $25-$100

Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver

Ski & Ride

@ 2pm

Jan 28th - Jan 29th

Bison Ridge Recreation Center, 13905 E. 112th Avenue, Commerce City. 303-2893760

Full Cord w/ Elle Michelles

Grateful Holler "Live on the Lanes" at 100 Nickel (Broom�eld)

@ 7pm

100 Nickel, 100 Nickel St, Broom‐�eld

The Wizard of Oz

@ 7:30pm / $15-$20

Broom�eld Auditorium, 3 Commu‐nity Park Road, Broom�eld. mariejose@danseetoile.org, 720938-3030

Friday Bingo at Eagle Pointe 1/27 @ 8pm

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Sat 1/28

Colorado Avalanche vs. Anaheim Ducks

@ 7pm / $55-$999

Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver

Fri 1/27

50+ Weight Room Orientation

@ 12:30am

Jan 27th - Jan 26th

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Recess Games

@ 1:30am

Jan 27th - Jan 26th

Bison Ridge Recreation Center, 13905 E. 112th Avenue, Commerce City. 303-2893760

Potluck (1/27)

@ 6pm

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Winter Bingo Potluck

@ 7pm

Fort Lupton Recreation & Parks De‐partment, 203 S Harrison, Fort Lupton. 303-857-4200

Bald Eagle Walk @ 9am / Free

Barr Lake State Park, 13401 Pica‐dilly Rd, Brighton. 303-659-4348 ext. 53

Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues

@ 1pm / $99-$999

Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver

Colorado Mammoth vs. San Diego Seals

@ 7pm / $20-$999

Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver

River Spell @ 8pm

Odde's Music Grill, 9975 Wadsworth Pkwy N2, Westminster

Mon 1/30

Book Bingo - January @ 11pm

Bison Ridge Recreation Center, 13905 E. 112th Avenue, Commerce City. 303-2893760

Dinner Out Salt Grass Steak House (1/30) @ 11pm

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Tue 1/31

Crackpots & Panera @ 4:30pm

Fort Lupton Recreation & Parks De‐partment, 203 S Harrison, Fort Lupton. 303-857-4200

2023 Travel Film Series: Germany and Switzerland

@ 10am / $22

Parsons Theatre, 1 E. Memorial Parkway, Northglenn. mstricker@ northglenn.org, 303-450-8888

Parent/Tot - Artic Animals

@ 8pm

Feb 1st - Feb 22nd

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Discovery Kids- Kids on The Move

@ 9pm

Feb 1st - Feb 23rd

Bison Ridge Recreation Center, 13905 E. 112th Avenue, Commerce City. 303-2893760

Thu 2/02

Family Makerspace

@ 1am

Feb 2nd - Feb 1st

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Boot Camp Feb 2023 @ 1am

Feb 2nd - Feb 27th

Fort Lupton Recreation & Parks De‐partment, 203 S Harrison, Fort Lupton. 303-857-4200

Parent/Tot - Farm Animals (Bilingual)

@ 4pm Feb 2nd - Feb 23rd

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Science Saturday

@ 2pm

Anythink Wright Farms, 5877 East 120th Avenue, Thornton. mhibben @anythinklibraries.org, 303-4053200

Intro to DJI Robomaster

@ 5:30pm

Anythink Wright Farms, 5877 East 120th Avenue, Thornton. mhibben @anythinklibraries.org, 303-4053200

Denver Nuggets vs. New Orleans Pelicans

@ 8pm / $10-$3410

Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver

Wed 2/01

World Class Train Series-The Train De Luxe Rail Safari (2/1) @ 8pm

Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, 6060 E. Parkway Dr., Commerce City. 303-2893760

Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors @ 7pm / $54-$6705

Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver

Anavrin's Day: Thurdsay Night @ Hoffbrau @ 9pm

Hoffbrau, 9110 Wadsworth Pkwy, West‐minster