Reporter
Just like in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, Justice Ramos was given a name that intertwines with his destiny.
The 29-year-old grew up in Cortez to a mom who spent her childhood on the Navajo reservation, in the town of Rock Point, Arizona (Tsé Nitsaa Deezʼáhí in Diné) about 90 miles southwest of Cortez. Ramos’ grandparents were both teachers in Rock Point, which also influenced his fate.
After graduating from the University of Colorado, he had plans to join the Peace Corps. But the pandemic ruined that, so he had to change direction.
In 2020, he turned to helping people on the Navajo Nation, and with some assistance from his family, founded the nonprofit Fundamental Needs, which helps address critical gaps in accessing clean drinking water, electricity, education and vocational opportunities in underserved communities. The idea is that community-led approaches combined with practical solutions can empower individuals and families to overcome systemic barriers and, hopefully, create lasting change.
During the pandemic, Fundamental Needs delivered relief to Navajo citizens in lockdown, including water, food boxes, firewood, clothing and personal protective equipment or PPE. These were critical back then but they remain a scarcity for many, with 30% to 40% of households on the Navajo Nation lacking access to running water in their homes and around 10,050 to 13,000 households lacking electricity on the 17.5-million-acre reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
Ramos also wanted to help kids living in Rock Point, Cortez and Kirtland, New Mexico, another town just outside of the reservation that sits along the San Juan River.
“We wanted to build towards something more long term, so we started building off-grid water systems,” he said. They partnered with DigDeep, an organization that believes everyone deserves water, and built their first three systems in 2021. A year later, Ramos started a high school program dedicated to doing the same at Rock Point Community School.
Now both Rock Point and Kirtland have school-based programs in which Indigenous students build and donate these systems to needy households within an hour and a half of their schools. To date, more than 240 systems have been installed, Ramos said.
The project trains and hires local high school students to build and install those systems themselves, turning infrastructural work into a pathway toward future careers. Students learn plumbing and electrical/solar installation and study topics like agriculture and financial literacy before receiving hands-on experience working in the field. They’re paid $100 stipends for every install and $50 for every repair.
“From there, the work grew,” Ramos said. “Food delivery, firewood distribution, and the planting of apple trees in the Rock Point area all followed. But the thread connecting everything was the same: Find the need, find the people and build something that lasts.”
He also created a youth entrepreneurship program in Cortez that teaches high school students how to develop their own business plans and lets some test their concepts in internships through the organization.
And last year, he let students identify the next big issue that they wanted to solve and build a big project around that, he said.
“The kids in Cortez wanted a place to hang out that was safe, a place where they could learn new skills, and something that would give them more opportunities. So we translated that to opportunities for higher education or in industry, and that’s what the newest project is.”
To support the program’s participants, Fundamental Needs built Cortez Makerspace, a 14,000-square-foot building at 209 W. Main St. adorned with a beautiful mural of workers harvesting baskets of bright orange peaches. Inside is access to creative tools, technology and shared workspace. The center has 3D printing, laser cutting, textiles, silversmithing, virtual reality programs, large-format printing and digital design resources, along with space for workshops, classes and collaborative projects (see this video for a walkthrough).
Ramos’ latest endeavor is launching a creative contest that he hopes will raise money for Fundamental Needs. Artists, inventors and other creatives living within 150 miles of the Four Corners can “build anything. Robotics, wood, steel, cloth, paint, sculpture, sound, code, an invention, a thing nobody has a name for yet,” he said, and submit it
The creations are viewable on Fundamental Needs’ website. People can vote through the online portal. Come awards night, in late October, one maker will take home $5,000 and Ramos says the top creation, displayed for all to see, will become a community treasure.
Section by Tracy Ross | Reporter
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Sun economy stories you may have missed
➔ A cloud-seeding company claims it added 2 billion gallons of water in Utah. Experts have their doubts. Communities in the struggling Colorado River Basin looking for ways to shore up water supplies after decades of drought are turning to new forms of cloud seeding. Is it snake oil or science? >> Read story
➔ Colorado regulators take swipe at Xcel Energy’s claims that increases aren’t that impactful. Xcel Energy uses “share of wallet” to argue customers don’t feel its rate increases. Regulators say the case is weak because Colorado’s median income is so high. >> Read story
➔ Colorado River hits “bleak” new low in Palisade, straining water supplies for fish and farms. The river, which supports millions of people across the West, saw its lowest flows in over a decade this week >> Read story
➔ How Aurora Water uses surveillance tech to crack down on lawn-watering violations. The Colorado city’s smart meters issue a warning when homeowners water on a third day. Denver has relied on neighbor complaints. >> Read story
➔ Environmentalists can sue Suncor for its Commerce City pollution if they can prove it, US Appeals Court rules. 10th Circuit overrules US District Court and says environmental groups can seek tougher state action >> Read story
➔ Cargill workers in Fort Morgan reject tentative contract to end lockout. More than 1,700 meatpackers haven’t been to work since May 20 after negotiations for higher wages and benefits broke down. >> Read story
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Other working bits
➔ Native Roots stores have new owners; non-retail side faces 141 layoffs. Verdant Capital Partners announced Tuesday that its purchase of 15 Native Roots dispensaries in Colorado was completed on July 31. In the news release, Verdant said it’ll retain the Native Roots brand and counts Josh Ginsberg, a co-founder of Native Roots, among its principals. Verdant also plans to continue expanding the company through acquisition. Terms were not disclosed.
Verdant didn’t acquire the entire company. What remained was the cultivation and manufacturing business, said Myles Peck, Verdant’s chief strategy officer. That part, called NR ParentCo, notified the state labor department on Aug. 3 that it will close the facility at 4990 Dahlia St. in Denver, which will result in the permanent layoff of 141 employees by Oct. 2, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter.
Many of the roles were administrative or operations. According to the Denver Business Journal, one of the affected employees was Native Roots CEO Jon Boord, who holds the license for the Dahlia Street grow facility. Boord also sent the WARN letter to the state.
Peck, with Verdant, said no layoffs are planned for the newly acquired retail stores. “Our immediate priority is successfully operating the Native Roots retail platform while building our corporate operating team into the foundation that will support future acquisitions and long-term growth,” he said in an email. Verdant’s Native Roots operation will continue to be based in Denver, he added.
➔ Water control company joins state’s Rural Jump-Start program. Colorado’s incentive program for smaller companies and startups gained a new member this week. SteadyFlow LLC, which designs and makes equipment to better manage water in irrigation and stormwater systems, will call Fremont County home and add 20 employees in four years.
As part of joining Colorado’s Rural Jump-Start program, SteadyFlow will receive $15,000 in grants plus tax benefits for four years. Eligible employees also get a personal income tax credit from the state. The company’s stormwater headgate needs no electricity and can regulate water flow without human intervention. That’s crucial during heavy storms when downstream areas are getting pounded with rain and don’t need excess water from reservoirs. The company, which spun out of 3 Rocks Engineering and Surveying in Cañon City, explains how it works in a video. >> Details
➔ New tariffs attract ire of Colorado AG and 24 other states. As temporary global tariffs of 10% ended July 24, the Trump administration instituted new ones of 10% to 12.5% on imports from more than 60 countries. On Monday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a coalition of 25 states to file its third lawsuit against the Trump administration to challenge the new round. The first two lawsuits had already ruled the tariffs were unlawfully based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Section 122 the Trade Act of 1974.
The new tariffs are based on Section 301, the same policy used in Trump’s first term to crack down on potential Chinese cybertheft of U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property. But this time, any “unreasonable or discriminatory” policies of trade partners wasn’t evident, and the “purported investigation of 60 different economies in record time … that just so happen to mirror almost exactly the now-expired Section 122 tariffs — confirms that the Tariff Action is pretextual, arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to Section 301’s statutorily constrained purpose,” according to the lawsuit.
Colorado joined AGs from California, New York and several other states that are mostly led by a Democratic governor except in Nevada and Vermont. >> Read lawsuit
➔ City of Denver has a one-stop source for small business. It’s called the Denver BizHub and it’s part of the city’s Economic Development and Opportunity department. Links to business advising, events, small business certification and where to find free office space (the Park Hill Innovation Hub) is all in one spot at Denvergov.org/BizHub. >> Check it out
Section by Tamara Chuang | Business/Technology Reporter
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