Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation/INC presented two $500 cash awards to two Denver-based youth groups.  Awards were recognized at INC’s Annual Neighborhood Awards Dinner held January 23 at the Holiday Inn Cherry Creek.  This was the first year INC has issued this award, developed to foster youth-driven civic engagement projects.

A cash award of $500 was presented to ARTS STREET located in La Alma/Lincoln Park for a project called Journey 2 Unity (J2U): Breaking the Silence of the Unheard.  ARTS STREET youth used a variety of creative vehicles such as story-telling in podcasts to document a variety of immigration and life stories. The objectives were to promote empathy and understanding for those who have little or no voice in the overall immigration issues in America.

Receiving the honor: Jody Chapel, Umutesi Karinganarie and Zharia Leach on behalf of ARTS STREET. 

INC presented a second cash award of $500 to Colorado High School Charter Osage Campus also located in the La Alma/Lincoln neighborhood.  The school focus is to not only provide challenging core academic courses, but also reflection exercises to develop character and preparation for post-secondary options including college. Students from CHS Charter are often on the receiving end at Christmas and other times of giving. The school director felt it was important for students to also learn the satisfaction of giving back and service to others. To achieve this, students participated in a Santa Claus workshop which assisted in providing over 13,000 toys to children in the Denver area.

Receiving the honor:  Rigo Tostado and Chris Villalta on behalf of CHSC

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For more information about the JU2 documentary, please visit http://journey2unity.weebly.com/

For more information about Colorado High School Charter, please visit https://www.coloradohighschoolcharter.com