This week, Liz Polizzi Oertle handed over her baby to another female founder. Not her real babies. Her kids are 8 and 10 now. It’s her other baby, her startup Nanno, which she cofounded in 2016 when her children “were tiny and I really needed babysitting,” said Polizzi Oertle, whose company provided vetted babysitters on […]
Gary Community Investments
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Proposition 119, which would have raised Colorado marijuana taxes to pay for out-of-school learning, fails
Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal to increase taxes on recreational marijuana to pay for out-of-school support services for students like tutoring and therapy. Supporters of Proposition 119 admitted defeat at about 8:30 p.m. With more than a million ballots counted at 10 p.m., the measure was failing with 54% rejecting the initiative and […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Proposition 119: Colorado voters will decide whether to raise marijuana taxes to pay for out-of-school learning
Colorado voters will decide next month whether to raise taxes on recreational marijuana to help fund a new state program aimed at providing Colorado students with out-of-school learning opportunities. The program, called Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress, or LEAP, would pay service providers, like private tutoring companies or even public school teachers looking for extra […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, News, Politics and Government
Colorado education groups split over proposal to raise marijuana taxes to boost out-of-school learning
A battle is brewing over a proposed marijuana tax increase to provide tutoring to mostly low-income students even before it makes the November ballot, dividing educators, lawmakers and community organizations on the best approach to help Colorado’s most vulnerable pupils make academic gains. Advocates are touting Initiative 25 as a solution to closing learning gaps […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Access and information, not hesitancy, are the biggest challenges in getting more Coloradans vaccinated
As vaccination rates decline across the country, a story has taken hold that “hesitancy” or “resistance” are the barriers we must clear to stop the pandemic. We surveyed thousands of Coloradans recently and heard a different story: Our neighbors want this life-saving vaccine — they either don’t know how to get to it or face […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Drool for school: Colorado schools add saliva testing to slow spread of coronavirus in the classroom
Elementary school students in Cherry Creek School District are getting a bonus lesson this year: While studying reading, math and science, they’re also learning the best way to drool into a test tube. It’s not a typical part of the curriculum, but collecting students’ saliva has become another critical step in keeping schools open safely […]
Posted inElection 2020, Politics and Government
Top spenders on Colorado ballot measures all claimed victory in 2020 election, new reports show
Dark-money nonprofits, a discount tobacco company and wealthy donors fueled the costly ballot initiative contests in Colorado, and the side that spent the most won all the contested races. The most expensive ballot measure was Proposition 115, a proposed ban on abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy that voters soundly rejected, 59% to 41%, at […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, Health, News
A Colorado school is taking coronavirus testing beyond its students and teachers
A COVID-19 testing network that is already testing about 40,000 teachers across Colorado school districts and higher education institutions has expanded to test some of Denver’s youngest learners and their families, who are among the most vulnerable. COVIDCheck Colorado, a network developed by Gary Community Investment Company and The Piton Foundation, is partnering with Clayton […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Aurora will offer its 4,000 teachers two coronavirus tests a month come fall. Will other school districts follow?
Gary Community Investment Company and The Piton Foundation on Tuesday said they will invest up to $1 million in testing every Aurora Public Schools teacher for COVID-19 every two weeks during the school year, the foundation of a sophisticated new tracking system that could dramatically improve the district’s ability to monitor the potential of a […]
Posted inBusiness, News
As society changes, Colorado investors want to make more impact with their money
Back in 2014, the Colorado Health Foundation made an unusual decision. The philanthropic organization, known for helping nonprofits, put its money into a for-profit startup, myStrength, a behavioral health app. It was neither a grant nor a donation. And it wasn’t quite venture capital, where multimillion-dollar investments often aim for tenfold returns. Technically, it was […]