Voice
LONE TREE 2.7.13
Lone Tree
February 7, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 4
Telecom firm moving to Lone Tree TW announces relocation from Greenwood Village By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com TW Telecom will move its national operations center from Greenwood Village to Lone Tree. The company will replace Aurora Bank in a Park Meadows Drive building south of the underconstruction Kaiser Permanente medical center. TW Telecom, which provides business Ethernet and other telecommunications services, has about 1,200 Colorado employees. Most of them will move to the new building between now and 2015, when the company’s Greenwood Village lease expires.
“These are relatively high-paying jobs, and this is a really strong employer,” Deputy City Manager Seth Hoffman said. “The more strong employers we attract, the better our restaurants and retailers do. “We think the development activity in Lone Tree is some of the best anywhere in Colorado. This is another indicator of that.” TW Telecom’s corporate headquarters already are on Park Meadows Drive in a separate building, and will remain there. “It made good sense for us to move our employees closer to our corporate headquarters,” said TW Telecom spokesman Bob Meldrum. “We pride ourselves on having the best customer experience in the industry. Part of that is providing excellent work facilities and opportunities for our employ-
ees.” In addition to national operations center employees, TW Telecom’s customer care, call center and general office support staff will move to the Lone Tree address. The company also has a sales office in Aurora that will not move. The ParkRidge Six office building that TW Telecom will lease is now in unincorporated Douglas County and will be annexed into Lone Tree. ParkRidge Six, the Marriott Hotel and Chili’s are among a pocket of buildings south of the Lincoln and Interstate 25 interchange that fall within the county. The city’s long-term goal is to annex them all, Mayor Jim Gunning said. “We provide safety, road and plowing services to that area,” he said. “We really feel like we should incorporate the businesses in that
TW Telecom will move its national operations center to Lone Tree at 10350 Park Meadows Drive. Photo by Courtney Kuhlen area into Lone Tree. And we feel there’s an advantage (to the businesses) to being in Lone Tree.”
The Marriott and Chili’s identify themselves as Lone Tree already, he noted.
IB program aims to open students’ minds Helps prepare youths for global market By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
Tina Douglas gives Elijah Ibarra, of Castle Rock, a free haircut Jan. 29 during a Douglas County Community of Care Network resource and service fair. The evening, at Jubilee Fellowship Church in Lone Tree, offered those struggling with housing or finances free services and information about resources in the county. Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
Homeless invited to ‘Come in from Cold’ Douglas County survey doubles as outreach By Rhonda Moore
rmoore@ourcoloradonews.com Douglas County took advantage of Colorado’s Point in Time survey, counting the statewide homeless population, with a safe haven for at least one evening. The Douglas County Community of Care Network participated in the state’s yearly homeless head count by reaching out with free immunizations, bicycles, food, clothing, a hot meal and more. The event included nearly 30 service providers whose efforts serve the county’s homeless and at-risk communities throughout the year. The Jan. 29 event moved to the Lone Tree campus of the Jubilee Fellowship Church as a more central location for those facing transportation challenges, said Rand Clark, Douglas County community of care navigator. Clark worked with about 100 church volunteers and about 15 community volunteers who served a meal of chili
with sides, drinks and treats for families and individuals invited to “Come in From the Cold.” Campus pastor Marcus Piller was on hand working the volunteer network. “I’m all about opening the doors to reach out to those in need as well as providing them with an opportunity to get a leg up,” Piller said. “It’s really about raising awareness and gives us a way to have our finger in the community we serve.” The homeless community included about 28 families who were provided free haircuts, medical checks, diapers and bags filled with food, personal hygiene products and makeup. Total individuals served: 56. “We wanted to include some fun things you can’t get on food stamps or at a food bank,” Clark said. “For the ladies it’s something to make a difference.” Natalie Ibarra, 28, of Castle Rock, attended with her two children and headed straight for the temporary salon in the church basement. It had been a while since Elijah, 8, and Mizhka, 3, had received a trim,
Ibarra said. Ibarra is a single mom and 2003 graduate of Douglas County High School who in 2012 moved back home with her parents. “For the first time we’ve felt the recession,” she said. “I lost my job and I had to move back in. (This event) is amazing, it’s awesome.” The county’s “Come in From the Cold” outreach doubled as the Point in Time survey of homelessness. The annual survey is required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to track how residents in each community are assisted through federal grant programs, Clark said. The 2012 survey showed Douglas County had a homeless population between 156 and 164 people, while the Douglas County school district in the 2011-12 school year identified 764 students as homeless. Of those students, 242 identified general financial hardship as the primary reason for their homeless status. For more information about the county’s Community of Care Network and its participating agencies, visit www.communityofcarenetwork.org.
Language describing the International Baccalaureate program echoes the Douglas County School District’s explanation of its world-class education curriculum. But IB is only a piece of the district’s relatively new approach, officials say. “IB is one of the programming options we have available to us, but we never believe one size fits all,” said Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, the district’s chief academic officer of secondary education. “As we try to personalize and customize education for students, we have to offer choices,” she said. “Our world-class education is the broad umbrella for all the other programming options that are available. IB is one of those stems in the umbrella.” The curriculum is designed to keep pace with a rapidly changing world, so “students will be able to compete against students across the nation and the world for the most sought-after careers,” according to the DCSD website. It emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, civic responsibility, global awareness, ethics and civic responsibility. IB, a European-developed program with tiers aimed at specific age groups, helps “develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world,” according to its website. It places a strong emphasis on foreign language, cross-cultural understanding and research. “Most of the tenets of IB are part of a world-class education,” Jefferson-Jenkins said. “But there are other models of instruction that get to the same world-class targets that IB does. “Some students and parents in Douglas County may not want that much emphasis on a foreign language. They may want an emphasis on something else.” STEM-specific, career-focused and technical education programs offered in IB continues on Page 7
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