Past Partners & Programs
Over the course of its history, the Barton Institute has been fortunate to work with numerous outstanding community organizations.
Colorado Safe Parking Initiative
Colorado Safe Parking Initiative is a community-driven organization working to provide safe overnight environments for people experiencing homelessness in the Metro Denver area. They know that without intervention and support, many who are sheltering in vehicles fall deeper into homelessness and may eventually end up on the streets.
Colorado Village Collaborative
The Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC) exists to create and operate transformational housing communities in partnership with people coming from homelessness. With an empowerment-based and anti-oppressive lens, CVC reaches across sectors to address the current housing crisis. Together with their partners, they design and produce housing that is affordable, quick and easy to build, community centric, and environmentally friendly.
From 2017 – 2023, the Barton Institute provided evaluation, communications, and financial support to CVC as it launched and grew its work.
Lifespan Local
Over several years, Lifespan Local has been deeply listening to resident community leaders and neighbors in Southwest Denver about what would make the Westwood neighborhood stronger and more resilient. The answer that they kept hearing was that “we need a place.”
Guided by the community-driven process that Dr. Lydia Prado undertook at Dahlia Campus for Health & Well-Being, Lifespan Local replicated the framework of deep community listening in Southwest Denver to ensure that what is built in Westwood is truly aligned with what the community has advocated for.
In February of 2021, Lifespan Local purchased the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Southwest Denver one block south of Alameda Avenue on Irving Street. The renovation of Westwood Redeemer is underway and Lifespan Local is very excited to welcome the community to the center sometime in 2024.
From 2018 through 2022, the Barton Institute provided back-office and fiscal sponsorship services to Lifespan Local in support of its work.
Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Warm Cookies of the Revolution engages community members in crucial civic issues by creating innovative and fun arts and cultural programs. They are a Civic Health Club, making the questions “What do we want?” and “How do we get there?” necessary, participatory, just, and fun.
In 2022 and 2023, the Barton Institute supported Warm Cookies as they worked on civic engagement in Aurora.
Restorative Practices
The Barton Institute invested in the expansion of restorative practices in Denver Public Schools (DPS). From the 2017-18 school year through the 2020-21 school year, the Barton Institute worked closely with DPS to bring restorative practices to scale within the district.
Social Enterprise Fellowship
For three years, starting in 2017, the Barton Institute hosted the Social Enterprise Fellowship program through generous funding from CiviCO, a Denver-based community leadership program.
The Fellowship engaged a total of 36 outstanding University of Denver graduate students from different programs with 18 projects in partnership with Colorado-based social enterprises. The program was designed to connect the young leaders with insights about how their area of focus could contribute to social enterprises and then put interdisciplinary teams to work solving real-world problems.
“The Barton Institute’s Social Enterprise Fellowship was one of the most insightful and educational components of my DU experience.”
— Social Enterprise Fellow