Our mission is to cultivate partnerships for thriving Edgewater families, schools and community. We do this through providing tools and forums for connection, communication and collaboration. Most of the time this work is behind the scenes so we thought we would give you an idea of what we’ve been working on over the last few months.
Jefferson Success Pathway
Last year we put a lot of energy into getting the right stakeholders to the table to develop goals and indicators so we could measure our progress in helping all kids in the Jefferson Area succeed from cradle to career. This school year we are focused on connecting and empowering parents with the help of our Spanish speaking Community Liaison, Germán Zárate-Bohórquez. We started the fall with a Family Resource Fair to bring partner organizations to the families in our area. Now we are collecting and organizing data on our pathway goals and indicators for a Community Report Release on November 12. It is very important to understand the reality of student achievement and the challenges for families in our area. Then we can move together to scale up strategies that work and empower parents.
At the Family Resource Fair, we handed out a survey to parents asking them what types of classes they would want to see offered in our area. A large majority of parents wanted to attend classes about how to start their own business and manage their finances. German is working with our partner organizations to start business classes in October and finance classes in January. These classes are focused on skills and knowledge that will empower parents to continue taking steps out of poverty.
Enhancing Community Communication
Each summer the City of Edgewater provides the resources and insurance for residents to organize block parties throughout the city. This year we talked to Joyride Brewing Company about donating a keg of beer for each block party and they accepted! Our hope was that this would encourage more residents to organize block parties and connect with their neighbors. We also gave the organizers flyers for the Edgewater Echo to encourage residents to be informed on what is happening around Edgewater. The foundation of a thriving community is connected neighbors.
We also organized an Edgewater Tech Meetup for residents who work in the technology sector. The hope is to work together to use technology to connect residents and inform them about what is happening in Edgewater. This group is meeting every few weeks to further develop the Edgewater Echo website with more information that residents want. We are even dreaming of coming up with an Edgewater app that would include Edgewater Echo articles, alerts about community events and business information.
Resourcing Citizen Led Initiatives
This is the second year for the citizen led initiative Edgewater Walks. Lee Stiffler-Meyer and Myra Keeble have taken the lead on this exciting project to encourage walking and physical activity in Edgewater during the month of September. Edgewater Collective’s role is to work behind the scenes to communicate with participants on the Edgewater Walks Facebook page and in the Edgewater Echo. We also developed the website for Edgewater Walks and keep it updated. Our goal is to help citizen led efforts like this succeed and give all credit to the leaders.
Will You Join Us?
We picked the “Collective” name because we knew that for our work to succeed it would take all of us working together around a common vision of a thriving community for all. Inspired by the success of the Edgewater Tech Meetup, we are creating more opportunities for people to join us and create new opportunities for our great city. Stay tuned for more of these meetups around other interest areas!
Another way that you can partner with us is by donating money to support our work. Our desire is that Edgewater Collective would be funded by residents who believe in our mission. We have supporters from all around the United States and the Denver Metro Area, but given our community based focus, we want to partner with more Edgewater residents.
Would you consider a donation of $50 or $100 to support our collective mission and sustain this work in Edgewater?
