Dear Friends,

We're writing to share some exciting news about the Barton Institute for Community Action. The Board of the Barton Institute just approved a plan to expand and grow our scope significantly so that we can serve our current program partners more effectively and increase our efforts to develop safe community spaces.

First, we’re going to enhance our financial capacity to support our rapidly growing program partners (Commún, Colorado Safe Parking Initiative, and Village Institute). To that end, we're thrilled to announce that Dan Lee will be joining us as our new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) beginning May 22. Dan has been the CFO at The Denver Foundation for over 20 years, and he decided he was ready for new challenges with us. Dan will be hiring additional staff to expand our ability to provide comprehensive financial and administrative support to our partners.

Second, we plan to create and support other new programs. Once our new finance staff is up and running, Rebecca and David will focus on strengthening and expanding our programs in the community. When Dan begins work, Rebecca’s title will change to Chief Impact and Innovation Officer.

We also plan to create a new Barton Institute Fellowship program to help community entrepreneurs learn more about developing and running place-based social enterprises. Beginning next year, we also hope to add new Barton Institute program partners who are working to create safe community spaces in Metro Denver. In all of our efforts, we will place a special emphasis on communities of color and leaders who are people of color.

We look forward to keeping you apprised of our growing work. As always, we welcome your advice, comments, suggestions, and questions.

Sincerely,

We're preparing for growth.

The Barton Institute co-sponsored an event with the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs and the Brennan Center for Justice

Colorado Safe Parking Initiative: Expanding to meet the Growing Need