Dear Commander Calo and Brother Jeff,

 

Thank you! Thank you for the most informative, eye-opening and touching INC Safety committee co-presentation I have ever attended!  I have been involved with the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation for over 10 years and I have never been so moved. 

 

Commander Calo showed us that District 2 Denver police are stepping up to help and Brother Jeff gave us a picture of life and death in Northeast Denver which will stay in my memory forever.

Your tragedies are about today, but they are universal and travel across neighborhood boundaries without regard to race, religion or occupation.  I briefly recounted to you the murder of a 17 year old youth next door to us on South Fox Street in a drug deal gone bad and the murder of a Policewoman in front of her home a street over on South Galapago. This Officer’s photo still is displayed at the downtown DPD HQ, with the sorrowful reminder that this crime has never been solved. Both lives are lost to the dismay of their families and communities.

 

My own RNO is Overland Park and we are in Southwest Denver. Economically, Southwest Denver is approximate to the Northeast and are also multi-racial and multi-lingual. Our problems are very similar with gangs, graffiti and senseless violence as a direct byproduct of aimless and angry young people. When school is out the problems multiply.  However, the needs and solutions are mutual and applicable for any section of Denver.  We also require safe passage for children and youth to libraries and recreation centers. We need more programs of encouragement and continuing education. Some of our neighborhoods are food desserts.  The kids often are missing role models and need help to counter the loneliness and fears natural to children with working, single or missing parents.  So, here as there, it falls to the will and determination of our neighbors to make a difference for these young folks. We need to help them choose between angry resignation and believable hope.  If we can make our case, we can turn aimlessness and anger into a purpose in life for even the saddest child.

 

Your Rec Center and library have counterparts in the Southwest.  The SouthWest Improvement Council (SWIC)  provides meals for seniors and has a food bank for families in need. Within SWIC’s building there is a public library and next door is a Rec Center. Brother Jeff’s Friday program for youth appears to be a model for a similar program here.

 

As you now know, the INC is a umbrella non-profit which seeks to give voice to the many neighborhoods in Denver, whether they are long running Registered Neighborhood Organizations (RNOs) or new start up groups wishing to bring together local residents for the betterment and inclusion of their citizens in city processes and decision making.  We at the INC strive to give opportunities for neighbors’ voices to be heard. Our strength lies in our diversity and different points of view.

 

You are well aware that Northeast Denver already has a history of activism and mutual co-operation. Your RNOs, in cooperation with faith based and other non-profits, havemeetings, events, and sponsor senior and youth activities which bring your neighborhoods together in peace and friendship. This is the formula and the basis for the INC’s most valued members and I ask those of your RNOs which are not currently members of the INC to join us, to strengthen our city-wide reach.

 

Besides our regular 2nd Saturday of the month INC Delegates meetings, (which are held at different locations around Denver and are hosted by local RNOs), we also have individual standing committees such as Parks and Recreation; Transportation; Zoning and Planning; Education; as well as the Public Safety committee which you allowed us to meet at your District 2 Police station. We encourage citizens to go to our website: <DenverINC.org> to find meeting times and dates for the different committees.  A neighbor from any part of Denver can become a member and after demonstrating continuing attendance and interest can become a voting member of any standing committee.

 

You may recall that the INC has for the last 19 years raised money for a Dollar Dictionary Drive. This has resulted in presenting a dictionary and thesaurus to every 3rd grader in Denver Public Schools, oftentimes the first real books the child has ever owned. Rising costs and aging have finally brought this project to an end, but we are instituting a Charities committee to take over and try to reach newer projects. Perhaps such  organizations as Brother Jeff’s and SWIC can become our new beneficiaries.

 

We encourage your RNOs to register as member RNOs with the INC and send two delegates to the regular monthly Delegates meetings to participate, learn from presentations and speakers to take back to your RNO members and also to vote for our officers. Departments such as Denver Planning and Zoning, Parks & Recreation Department, Denver Health and Environment are featured as well as local historians, architects, Walk Denver and Denver Arts and Venues for a few examples.

Again I wish to thank Commander Michael Calo, Geneta Mohan, and all of your welcoming staff who stayed longer hours than they should have, in order to facillitate and inform us. Thanks to those working with Brother Jeff for making this an event to share with our neighbors and friends across Denver. Especially, we must thank Nolan Ware’s Aunt Tina for attending and standing as a witness and testimonial to bravery in the face of violence. There are so many of us who can relate to the ongoing turmoil and unrest that results from disenfranchised young people and know neighborhoods with dangers immanent from block to block, but presently your Northeast neighborhoods are on Denver’s front line. Please know that we at the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation are with you and willing to help.

 

Yours truly,

 

Ray Ehrenstein

INC Vice President

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