Imagine our Impact in 2023

On Wednesday, June 7th, 93 Impact100 Metro Denver members gathered, along with guests and nonprofit representatives to Imagine Our Impact and announce our 2023 grant awards.

Yolanda Webb, Impact100 Metro Denver President, opened the evening with an appreciation for the generosity of Impact members and the recognition of founding members.

Accelerator Grant
In Lak’ech Denver Arts and Roots Family Center

Accelerator Grant Pilot Brought Learning Along with Organizational Support

Impact100 Metro Denver selected Southwest Denver for the focus of its pilot Accelerator Grant with the intention of supporting work in that community with $25,000 each year for three years through an organization grounded in that community with a budget under $500,000. When the three final organizations were announced, one of those organizations stepped out, stating they felt the funds were needed more by the other two organizations. Then, those two organizations asked to split the grant rather than compete against each other.

In Lak’ech Denver Arts and Roots Family Center will equally split $25,000 for each of the three years.

In Lak’ech Denver Arts is an after-school program that increases access to free high-quality community-responsive arts education for 5th-12th grade BIPOC youth. In Lak’ech students grow their skills in dance, drama, music and visual arts while learning how to use the arts as a tool to broaden their social awareness, create cross-cultural connections, and inspire positive social advocacy within their communities and beyond.

Roots Family Center provides two early childhood, evidence-based home visitation programs for young children: Parents as Teachers (PAT) and Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY). These programs are consistently shown to be effective home-visiting models to help ensure that parents can serve as their child’s most valuable teacher, trainer, and mentor. Additionally, national studies report that these programs are especially effective with Spanish-speaking families who face the challenges associated with poverty. They improve parenting skills, childhood academic outcomes, and behavior in school.

2023 Transformational Grant awarded to The GrowHaus

The GrowHaus is a non-profit organization in north Denver providing food access as an entry point to building community health and wealth. The organization was founded in 2009 in Globeville/Elyria-Swansea to serve as a hub for food access, education, and economic opportunity.

The GrowHaus provides low-cost food boxes (‘El Mandadito’ or ‘The Essentials’ boxes) to 1,000 families each week. The GrowHaus distributes the boxes directly to family homes in the Elyria-Swansea neighborhood and through partnerships with 14 Denver Public Library branches and seven Boys and Girls Clubs, using the food boxes as the starting point for further support in the community. Currently, the boxes are delivered using a third-party delivery service which limits The GrowHaus’ ability to build relationships with families experiencing food insecurity and connect them with other community resources. Furthermore, The GrowHaus is interested in expanding its reach to other neighborhoods lacking food access.

The GrowHaus will utilize the $100,000 grant to purchase two food access vehicles: a refrigerated van and a tow trailer (El Mandadito Mobile). These vehicles would transform how community members access fresh food and connect with health and wellness programming. El Mandadito Mobile would save The GrowHaus approximately $134,000 annually on delivery expenses. These funds would be used to strengthen existing programming and invest in leadership development opportunities for staff members.

“We are thrilled our membership voted to award this grant to an organization that thinks creatively about the best way to increase food access to its community.” said Yolanda Webb, president Impact 100 Metro Denver. She continued, “Our foundational grant provides organizations with pivotal funds to build infrastructure, start a new program, or expand existing programs to new areas or individuals. We are thrilled to support the work of The GrowHaus.”

“Impact100 saw us, and by seeing us, told us they’re rebels too,” stated Giselle Diaz Campagna. “We want to do something transformational, and we want to do it together – give people a place to connect, to give people dignity, and a place to be human. . . and it all starts with a food box. Thank you, members of Impact100 Metro Denver.”

The other finalists, Southwest Improvement Council and Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute each received a $51,908 grant.