Colorado voters can have a real impact on child poverty in November by electing candidates who makes kids a priority
poverty
Posted inEquity, News
An “invisible population” of Colorado parents in college faces barriers to obtaining degrees
Most weeknights, after her 3-year-old daughter, A’nyah, falls asleep, Molly Clark cracks open her textbooks and studies until her eyes “feel like sandpaper.” “As soon as I feel like it’s not any use anymore, I’ll backtrack a few pages, put my bookmark in, and I’ll go to bed, which is usually around 12 to 2:30,” […]
Posted inColoradans, Economy, Education, Equity, Health, News
In the San Luis Valley, a small town is using civic engagement to improve lives
The town of Saguache lies at the northern edge of Colorado’s expansive San Luis Valley. Flanked by the Sangre de Cristo mountains on the east and the San Juan and La Garita ranges on the west, Saguache spans only 13 blocks and houses around 500 people. The small size of the Saguache community means the […]
Posted inEconomy, Equity, Housing, News
Racial segregation is getting worse in big U.S. cities — except for Colorado Springs
Since 1990, the United States has become more racially diverse—yet during that same period, racial residential segregation has climbed, according to a yearslong analysis by researchers at the University of California’s Othering & Belonging Institute in Berkeley. In Colorado, two cities fall on opposite ends of the spectrum: Denver is “highly segregated” while Colorado Springs […]
Posted inNews
Colorado school finance bill would spare districts from impact of enrollment declines
Colorado school districts would avoid the worst budget hits from losing 30,000 students this school year under a bill that received initial support from the Joint Budget Committee Thursday. The bill sends an extra $60 million to school districts — $41 million to make up for lost local tax revenue and another $19 million to districts […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: The American dream will fade without public investment in health, education
Even before the pandemic, economic prospects for many Colorado families were dwindling into stagnation. COVID-19 has only further widened the gulf between working families and Colorado’s wealthiest. As our state looks to recover (and recover better than before), new evidence published by the Bell Policy Center supports what we have seen throughout American history — […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Growth, Housing, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s stagnant budget isn’t helping the shrinking middle class, report finds
Colorado’s middle class is shrinking, and the lifestyle long associated with it — home ownership, a car, college savings and occasional vacations — is getting harder to achieve. That’s been the economic trend in the state, and across the country, for decades. But new research suggests Colorado’s public investments — or lack of them — […]
Posted inColoradans, Opinion, Politics and Government
Essay: What happened when Black Lives Matter arrived in Colorado’s deeply conservative Eastern Plains
Courtney Jones calls herself a country girl. She was raised in Sterling and she prefers open spaces to cities. She loves classic rock, grew up saving money for the Logan County fair every year, and she voted for Donald Trump in 2016 because he seemed like the honest candidate. She’s the daughter of a Black […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Trump is wrong. Fair housing is social justice, economic justice and welcome in the suburbs
President Trump is attempting to undermine the very fabric of our communities, including the diversity of our nation’s suburbs, by using unfounded, hurtful scare tactics. In comments he made in late July, first on Twitter and then at a Texas rally, he said, “It’s been hell for suburbia” and that “people living their Suburban Lifestyle […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, Technology
In rural Crowley County, a safe return to in-person school is really the only option
What is distancing learning like without a laptop? Without internet? Without parents at home? Without a home at all? This spring, remote education brought on by the coronavirus pandemic raised difficult questions about equity and introduced unprecedented challenges for school districts across Colorado. These challenges hit Crowley County — a small, rural community in the […]