Successes and Accomplishments

2006

• The City of Denver’s 2006 budget includes funding to create more equitable library hours, significantly increasing hours of operation in MCD neighborhood libraries.



• A new bi-lingual, results based report card has been implemented in primary schools district wide following a push by MOP/MCD parents.



• Student and parent leaders conducted over 250 face-to-face visits with previous Cole Middle School families to educate and secure pledges of students’ commitment to graduating from high school. Mayor Hickenlooper has promised full college tuition for every 2003-2004 Cole Middle School student who graduates from high school. Parents and students created a new organizing committee to ensure that the City fulfills it college promise.



• MOP members at St. Anthony of Padua (Westwood) influenced the passage of a new policing strategy called “broken windows policing”. Westwood has been the first test case for this strategy and has had a significant reduction crime .



• 25 parents are running Parent Watch on the playground during recess at Harrington.



• Parents wrote and distributed a parent contract to provide more opportunities for volunteering in the school.



• Parent participation at reading nights and back to school nights has doubled at three schools: West High School, Fairview Elementary School and Whittier Elementary School.



• As a direct result of Mitchell's Parent Liaison's work, all parents and especially Spanish-speaking parents, have a much better understanding of how they can support their children’s success in after school programs and in school. Parents are monitoring quality of after school programs, holding program staff to high expectations in terms of student work, activities, etc.



• MOP piloted a “relational culture” model in three DPS schools, including the early excellence pre-school programs: Harrington Elementary, Mitchell Elementary, and Bruce Randolph Middle School (Cole). The model utilizes a parent liaison in each school to facilitate healthy and transformative interactions between parents, faculty and administration, creating a culture of working together effectively in the best interests of the children.



• Sun Valley residents secured commitment from Sal Carpio, director of Denver Housing Authority, to build two laundromats for Sun Valley residents.



• Mitchell Elementary Parents (Cole) secured a number of traffic safety measures for their school including new signage, increased police patrols and a traffic safety education plan for the school.

2005

• Fifth grade reading scores at Fairview Elementary School in Sun Valley rose from 10% proficient in 2002 to 41% proficient in 2005.



• Denver’s 2006 budget will include funding to create more equitable library hours, significantly increasing hours of operation in MCD neighborhood libraries.



• Parent participation at reading nights and back to school nights have doubled at four MCD neighborhood schools: West High School, Manual High School, Fairview Elementary School and Whittier Elementary School.



• A new school-based health clinic opened at Bruce Randolph Middle School, which serves Cole neighborhood, resulting from a collaborative effort between MOP leaders and Denver Health.



• Mayor Hickenlooper has promised that the city will pay full college tuition for every 2003-2004 Cole Middle School student who graduates from high school.



• Sun Valley and Wyatt Edison organizing committees organize and distribute 350 backpacks and school supplies for every child.



• After two years of effort, the DPS district forms report card committee with commitment to create universal, parent-friendly report card to be implemented by start of the school year in August 2006.



• Recycling program implemented by youth leaders at West HS.



• Parents at Cole Middle School develop and use a rubric that helps their community effectively evaluate a quality charter school.



• MOP parents influence Colorado’s charter conversion process for failing schools. They request and get interpretation and translation that enables non-English speaking parents to join the discussion, and they create a model for community participation in the charter conversion process.



• Voices Heard Youth Organizing Committee secures City and School commitments to increase student parking at West HS.



• City of Denver’s Office of Economic Development engages MOP to assist in holding and sponsoring two focus groups to help the city in shaping a new set of policy recommendations regarding Denver’s strategic plan for impacting low income neighborhoods.



• MOP provides organizing training (outcomes, model and lessons learned) to senior staff of Rose Community Foundation.



• City Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, an ordinance that MOP leaders worked for two years to pass (successfully in August 2002) has resulted in the building of 647 affordable housing units in Denver to date.



• Cop Shop opened in NE Denver, serving Cole and other Neighborhoods.



• Sun Valley leaders collect 150 petitions against cabaret license for neighborhood bar. Win withdrawal of license.

2004

• Launched Teacher Home Visiting Program at three Denver schools.



• Swansea Elementary parents secured commitments by City and Union Pacific RR officials to fix the very dangerous RR crossing near the school.



• Cole Middle School parents led public meetings resulting in new conflict management and restorative justice measures which have significantly reduced incidents of fights, harassment, and bullying at the school.



• MOP and DU worked together in 2004 to conduct and complete a study of voting trends in Commerce City which has very low voter turnout.



• MOP leaders secured an agreement by the current owner to sell the Dahlia Shopping Center. Plans have moved forward with the completion of a re-development plan for the shopping center, which ncludes housing and small retail; a contamination clean-up plan with money secured from the EPA; and a major commitment by the Mayor during his state of the City address that Dahlia will be re-developed and that the city is close to a deal with a developer to buy the property.

2003

• Launched a teacher home visiting program in Denver that connects teachers with their students.



• Sun Valley saw the completion of a comprehensive traffic plan for neighborhood. Engineers describe current traffic flow in conjunction with high population of children, as one of most hazardous traffic environments in Denver. Phase one plan completed in 2003 will result in a complete restructuring of Decatur Street with a series of bulb-outs and traffic islands, fundamentally altering street safety near densest population of children.



• New Police sub-station installed at Decatur Place increasing community policing in the community.



• Created Community Land Trust and secured 501-c3 IRS status. Land Trust provides vehicle for residents to create permanent affordable housing in the neighborhood.



• His Love Fellowship secured construction of new bulb-outs for a dangerous intersection on Kalamath Street. HANDS and Traffic Engineering partnered in this effort.



• Over 100 resident leaders from La Alma Lincoln Park, Sun Valley and other District 9 neighborhoods, held the largest city council candidate forum at His Love Fellowship.



• West High School Voices Heard Committee led a public meeting with 1500 youth in attendance. The meeting and prior work resulted in:
  •  Reinstatement of AP and X classes
  •  Commitment by school personnel to provide adequate toilet paper, towels and soap in student bathrooms.
  •  Commitment by student body to create an adopt a hall program to improve school cleanliness, decrease graffiti and increase school pride.



• Swansea Elementary: Increased police patrols, new security cameras in the school and cleaned up vacant lots. Commitment by City of Denver and Union Pacific RR officials for $2.4 million to fix the very dangerous RR crossing near the school; after-school programs and parent involvement in literacy.



• Harrington Elementary: After school programs, new fence separating the play area from the adjacent park.



• Cole Middle School: School safety plan, increase police patrols, Restorative Justice; water quality in drinking fountains



• Garden Place Elementary: Pedestrian safety, English as a Second Language classes for adults.



• Wyatt Edison: Safety, Cultural Awareness training for faculty.

2002

• Worked to secure passage of a Denver Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance that requires developers to build affordable housing units in new housing developments of 30 or more units.



• Helped to shape and win passage of the country's first city Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program which will match federal EITC dollars, giving working poor families in Denver up to $800 of extra income.