Arvada Chamber CEO and president named Outstanding Woman in Business

BY LILLIAN FUGLEI LFUGLEI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Arvada Chamber of Commerce’s CEO and president Kami Welch has been named an Outstanding Woman in Business by Denver Business Journal.

Each year, Denver Business Journal chooses 34 women from across the Denver metro. e area’s top executives, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and in uencers who are women are honored at an awards dinner on Aug. 3, and in a special issue of Denver Business Journal on Aug. 4.

For Welch, the award is a result of her work in Arvada’s Chamber of Commerce. Welch has worked in the Chamber industry for 14 years, 10 of those at Arvada’s Chamber.

“What I love about working in the chamber sector is the ability to help a community thrive,” Welch said. “And to ensure that all the various components (of a community) are working as they should together. So that’s been a really rewarding experience.”

For Welch, being a woman in business has often been an opportunity to support the women around her.

“I have felt very lucky throughout my career because I have been able to surround myself with people that are supportive,” Welch said. “I think that one of the things that I value is continuing to spread that spirit and making sure women across our community on my team are feeling that same level of support because it can be hard.”

Being named an Outstanding Woman in Business represents not only an acknowledgment of Welch’s work but the work of those around her as well.

“I truly have the best team here that I get to work with the Chamber sta , my board and members of the community,” Welch added. “So it is wonderful to be recognized. But I would not be recognized if it weren’t for the amazing people that I’ve had in my life through my whole career and certainly today that have made the accomplishments possible.” ones emancipating and going out into the real world had horrible outcomes,” Varnell explained. “Many were finding themselves on the street or without a place to live. No job. Lots were pregnant. Lots of those youth were involved getting involved with criminal activity and finding themselves incarcerated.”

Varnell said that Jefferson and Gilpin counties were not the only jurisdictions where this was happening. Other CASA offices across the country were experiencing this.

“It became evident to me and us here at CASA that that wasn’t right,” Varnell said. “We put so many resources into helping these kids from zero to 18.”

They worked on this issue for years before determining that CASA and the juvenile justice system needed to provide what Varnell described as a “continuum of care.” She and others in the system struggled to find a way to bridge the teens’ transition from foster care to independent living as young adults.

Varnell and others in her field decided that housing would be the focus of their work with the teens.

“I think we realized early on that we couldn’t just provide the housing,” she explained. “We had to deal with the other part of this.”

The other part was sustaining the youth and giving them the tools to survive adulthood.

CASA soon partnered with Foothills Regional Housing to provide housing for 30 young adults who aged out of the foster care system. This came after a false start where Varnell said she tried to envision purchasing property to build a space for the youth. That process was long and complex.

Somewhere amid her struggle to bring a housing program together, Varnell found out that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had green-lit funding for programs similar to the one she wanted to start. She connected with them and things accelerated from there.

She initially wanted to build a program for 10 young adults. The HUD funding called for 30.

“So fast forward, we get to the beautiful place of having a collaboration with Foothills Regional Housing Authority,” she said. The housing authority provided “project-based vouchers” designed to support projects furthering affordable and accessible housing initiatives. That was in 2019.

In 2023, the YA (Youth Alliance) at AVi program started at the development AVi at Old Towne. “In February, we moved 30 of our older youth into a brandnew beautiful development in Arvada,” Varnell said. “And, those 30 youth will have about three years to finish our program, which will include housing provided by the housing authority. And then they’ll have the wraparound services that CASA will be providing.”

According to Varnell, the CASA services include a volunteer coach, which is a court-appointed advocate. However, they will not assume the advocate role for the youth in the new program.

“There is no court case for these youth,” Varnell said. “They have exited the court system, so we are calling those volunteer coaches there.”

The coaches are there to be like the advocates — a constant in the lives of the young adults. However, their role shifts from a court focus to a life skills focus.

According to Varnell, those skills include, “job and job training, education, financial literacy, budgeting, life skills, mental, physical and emotional health.” She said things like dental care and “social connectedness” are also important duties of the volunteer coach.

That social connection is vital, Varnell believes, to help the youth transition to living alone as well.

“These youth, you know, a lot of them have been in many foster homes, group homes, they’ve had a lot of people around them,” she said. “And so to move out on your own, it’s pretty isolating, right?”

The 30 youths thus live in a complex that also houses veterans and families in the other 70 units.

“Ten units that were set aside for vets, veterans, and then the other 60 are families and single people,” she explained. “We wanted this to

Varnell said that CASA remains an advocate, not a surrogate parent or supervisor for the youth.

“We aren’t the landlord,” she said. “Foothills Regional Housing is providing that service. They get the young adults all qualified. The housing authority does all the stuff related to the leasing, and who can qualify for the lease. And that’s first and foremost. Because if you can’t qualify for the lease, then you can’t live there. And then you couldn’t be a part of our program. So we do we let them do

CASA does form a partnership of sorts and the youth have addition-

“We come along with our Youth Alliance program commitments,” Varnell said. “They have to agree to certain expectations and certain things in the contract. They have to agree that they will work with a volunteer coach, and then they will make progress toward goals and that they will complete an independent service plan that has short-term and long-term objectives and goals.”

Arming the former foster kids to thrive in adulthood is the focus of the program. Varnell described other services that they provide, which include for example parenting classes for the teen moms in the group. “The goal is stopping the cycle and making sure that those young adults can provide what they need for their children. So those children don’t end up back in the system, which many do, Varnell said.”

The program recently received an award for its work—an award from the housing sector. With the combined efforts of CASA Jeffco/ Gilpin and Foothills Regional Housing, AVi at Old Towne won the Eagle Award. It’s known in the housing sector as one of the highest achievements for the Colorado housing community. The Eagle Awards are presented to Colorado organizations that exhibit extraordinary accomplishments and leadership in housing and support services.

“We are honored to win this recognition for our work with Foothills Regional Housing to provide critical housing and support to youth aging out of foster care,” said Leah Varnell, executive director of CASA of Jefferson and Gilpin Counties. “We hope to provide a better, safer start to their future and we look forward to this program making a difference in people’s lives.”

Find more information about YA at AVi on the CASA webpage for AVi at Old Towne.