Shirley “Billie” Bramhall

For a Lifetime of service to our neighborhoods and our city

Shirley Bramhall, better known as “Billie”, has been a strong advocate in Denver for more than 40 years.  She is recognized for listening to, involving and empowering citizens and neighborhood organizations in Denver, which has been a major goal of INC since its inception in 1975. She has done this in various capacities – as a Denver city planner, a foundation program officer, a professor, a private consultant and a citizen volunteer and advocate.

Billie began to lay the foundation for this work when she obtained a degree in economics, with a minor in political science, from the University of Colorado. She then worked as a research associate in housing and urban renewal issues for a consultant in Baltimore and later worked as a neighborhood planner and deputy planning director in Pittsburgh.

She was hired by Denver Planning Director Alan Canter, with the approval of Mayor Bill McNichols, as chief of the small area planning division of the Denver Planning Office. While there, she helped to prepare and implement the Registered Neighborhood Organization Ordinance in 1979. Then she worked as the chief planner of the Denver Community Development Agency and later became a program officer for the Piton Foundation in designing housing and economic development loans and grants in Denver’s older inner-city neighborhoods.

She did private consulting work before returning to the city government to become the Deputy Director of Planning and Development in Mayor Federico Pena’s administration, where she continued to support meaningful citizen involvement.

Between more consulting jobs and teaching, she was an active neighborhood volunteer in Greater Park Hill and the Golden Triangle Association.

She and her husband David now live in a senior community near Union Station. She says that she is “technically retired,” but she continues to consult with various non-profit organizations and is a vigorous volunteer and advocate for Homeless Out Loud, a grass-roots organization for homeless persons.

Denver’s neighborhoods are very fortunate to have had her working with us for all of these years. INC is proud to award “Billie” Bramhall a Lifetime Achievement Award.