University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

RESIDENT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

The Resident Leadership Council (RLC) is a grassroots group of dedicated community leaders working to improve the well-being and quality of life for individuals in Aurora, Denver, and surrounding areas by advancing equity in education, healthcare, safety, and economic development. Founded in 2014, the RLC emerged as an initiative in partnership with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC) to represent and empower individuals, particularly those from under-served communities. By working collectively to identify pressing issues, organize educational events, and drive community-led change, the RLC strives to empower those in greatest need. The council is made up of a diverse membership, including young professionals, parents, older adults, and leaders from local congregations.

For more information or to get involved, contact:

Gabriela Jacobo, Program Director

Nicolás Cusi, Program Coordinator and Community Connector

Email: rlc-community@cuanschutz.edu

Phone: (303) 724-5395

The strength of the RLC is that its membership reflects the broad cultural array of the surrounding community. Another strength is that it is 100% leader led. The Resident Leaders use a consensus decision-making model that focuses on gathering the perspectives of all members before taking any formal action.

The RLC believes in building personal one-on-one relationships with Aurora residents. The RLC's first major responsibility was to conduct a Connection Campaign in the community. In a Connection Campaign, RLC members meet with their respective networks to learn about their priorities, hopes, concerns and other issues of importance. Between 2015 and 2017, RLC members conducted three major Connection Campaigns, meeting and listening with over 800 residents in Aurora. These campaigns revealed issues related to education (chiefly quality schools and educational attainment) and economic development were in the top three of over 20 priority issues identified overall. The priority of improving education and economic wellbeing led the RLC to develop two action-oriented initiatives to address the concerns expressed during the first two Connection Campaigns.

RLC Initiatives

Education Work
El Alba Cooperative

Improving educational attainment was identified as a key community priority in the RLC's original Connection Campaign. As a result, the RLC organized and facilitated more than 30 public community meetings from 2016 - 2018 to which they invited a variety of school and district leaders and candidates for the Aurora district of the State Board of education to engage with Aurora residents on a variety of school issues. This effort drew significant interest from the North Aurora community, and in addition to the RLC members themselves, over 45 residents participated in one or more of these community learning sessions.

The RLC hosted a public forum for the State Board of Education candidates for the Aurora district which was attended by over 150 community members, providing interpretation services for five different languages. The purpose of the candidate forum was to further the community members' knowledge and understanding of how the State Board of Education is related to education issues, actions, and policies at the local level. The candidate forum was a great success and the RLC has since been able to build a strong relationship with the eventual winner, Rebecca McClellan.

Along with the candidates forum, the RLC trained and guided parents for public comment at monthly Aurora Public Schools board meetings. The board meetings give parents the opportunity to publicly share what they have learned and demonstrate their support for establishing quality school options in North Aurora. Through the efforts of the RLC, there are now a significant number of residents ready with the knowledge and capacity to collaborate with school leaders and other community organizations to build a broad, sustainable community organizing effort to improve academic achievement across North Aurora.

The RLC's education work has been supported by many important collaborators including:

Colorado State Commissioner of Education
Colorado State Board of Education
Colorado's Sixth Congressional District
Aurora Public Schools
Community College of Aurora
Climb Higher Colorado
Rocky Mountain Prep
Academy of Advanced Learning
Vega Collegiate Academy
A+ Colorado
Young Aspiring Americans for Social and Political Activism
2040 Partners for Health
Community Language Cooperative

This initiative began in 2017 when Aurora residents contacted Gabriela Jacobo, the Community Connector from the CU Anschutz Office of Access and Engagement. They wanted to start a catering business but did not have access to commercial kitchens or start-up financing. Residents stressed the lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate business development services in the area. To address this, Gabriela and other community leaders brought stakeholders, non-profit organizations, and entrepreneurs together to establish El Alba Cooperative.

El Alba's mission is to support, incubate, and nourish Aurora-based food entrepreneurs and small business owners. It offers culturally appropriate business incubation, shared business services via a co-op model, and shared access to a commercial kitchen and food truck to economically disadvantaged business owners. Co-op members are primarily living in Aurora with 90% identifying as people of color.

El Alba represents a powerful alternative to current norms of economic development and combats harmful gentrification of North Aurora. Worker-owned cooperative businesses are widely recognized as a powerful model that supports community wealth building and economic stability. By combating gentrification and creating economic opportunities for current residents, El Alba is preserving the rich diversity of Aurora and building wealth in immigrant and refugee communities.

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