Public Amenities Committee - Regular Meeting

Thanks for joining us for this weekly joint meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. Follow along as the mayor and city council members hear updates from city agencies and projects, discuss important city matters, and hear about what's happening across the Mile High City. Join the discussion with your elected officials starting now.

And I am Deputy Mayor filling in for Mayor Johnston. I have this esteemed privilege today. Thank you. So welcome to Mayor Council. Thank you for joining us this morning. We will start with introductions from our esteemed city council members and then jump into announcements. We'll start off with this distinguished gentleman.

That's awesome. Good morning, Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6.

I'm Ian Sawyer, District 5. Good morning, Serana Gonzalez-Pucheres, I'm one of the council members at large.

Laura Alvidrez, Lucky District 7. Good morning, Diana Romero-Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4. Jamie Torres, West Denver District 3.

Amanda Sandoval, Northwest Denver District 1.

Wonderful, all right. Next, do we have any announcements from our council members that you'd like to share with the public that are here today?

All right, Councilwoman. I just want to share that Levitt Pavilion is kicking off their free Yoga on the Lawn series this Saturday, and they will have a live DJ, and it will be bilingual. So that's very exciting. And then I also, again, just want to shout out our firefighters that are fighting fires across the state of Colorado right now. We have some of our Denver firefighters also across the state helping fight these fires, and my heart is with them and the pilot that we lost over the weekend due to those fires. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that, Councilwoman. And yes, Councilwoman Torres.

Thank you. Just a few announcements. On Wednesday, the Blossom House, which is in Westwood at 3300 West Nevada, is holding a forum with the Citizen Oversight Board. So folks are invited to attend that. It starts at 530. And then on Friday, we're hosting our first movie in the park. It's at Martinez Park. So folks can come and see the newly renovated phase of that park and join us for a movie. I wish I could tell you What the movie? I cannot remember. But we are holding three this summer, so take a look at our social media. And then finally, just Friday, we passed on consent a proclamation honoring the life of Frances Torres, who passed away. She was an Aurarian resident, one of the displaced Aurarian residents. And she's just been an active activist and advocate for that community. So there'll be a celebration of her life at the 9th Street Historic Park this coming Saturday. So thank you so much. Oh, and coming to my rescue, Lilo and Stitch.

Is on Friday. All right. Thank you. Thank you. I want to welcome and introduce Councilman Watson. Thank you. And then Councilman Ramira Campbell.

Thank you. We have a fun putt-putt day. We've done it for the last few years at Kennedy Golf Course. There's a putt-putt golf course there and we're doing a community putt-putt day on this Thursday from 11 to 2. If anyone is interested in playing, contact our office. This putt-putt day also includes cotton chips. So please come and join us for a little day of putt-putt. Sounds fine. Councilman Watson.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor, and so sorry for being late. I biked in and I misread how long it would take me to get through some of the street detours, which are good things. Thank you, Dottie, for doing work on the streets. I'm honored to serve all the residents and find District 9. Two things. I want to thank my colleagues and all of the volunteer supporters, the Honorable Sal Pace, the Honorable Chris Nevitt, as well as the Honorable Elmer Wedgeworth for bringing to City Council last night a proclamation that I was able to sponsor in support of Front Range Passenger Rail District Service, which will go from Pueblo all the way to Fort Collins. We're looking to make sure we have stops beyond Pueblo. Union Station here in Denver, and we possibly have two additional stops that will bring $22 million of additional infrastructure funds to Denver. Exciting! We love trains, we love multimodal transportation, and also reducing carbon footprint and increasing the ability for us to have clean air and reduce the amount of single car trips. Thank you to everyone that's worked on that and talking about fun, fun, fun. We have the Underground Music Showcase that's coming to Denver Five Points, the River North Art District. It'll be from July 24th through the 26th. 200 plus local bands and a few national headliners. About three stages of great music is going to be played between the 24th and the 26th in the Rhino Art District in Five Points. You can get more information at undergroundmusicshowcase.com or you can reach out to my office. Thank you.

That's wonderful. Lots of fun ahead. Councilwoman or Council President Sandoval.

Thank you. So I have. My office is hosting a free yoga series, so it's next Wednesday at Elitch's, the old Elitch's on 38th and Tennyson from 6 to 7. It's bilingual. And then this weekend is the Mount Carmel Bazaar in the north side. If you go, it's delicious. Saturday, Sunday, they have the best food. And then lastly... Right now, or probably in a half an hour, they'll be celebrating Lynn Bartleson's life. And she made a huge impact in Denver and will be greatly missed. Her funeral was yesterday during council. And her other service is during committee, and I'm not able to go to either. So if you've never read Lynn's articles, look them up. She was a great storyteller, and she will be greatly missed. And just sending her and her family all of our prayers. She was only 69 and died of cancer. And so... That's super young to pass away.

Thank you Any other announcements Okay Well, thank you all very much for those announcements and condolences again Next up. I'm excited to invite and please excuse me if I mispronounce your name Paola from the Department of Public Health and Environment, and members from our community partners to present on the Denver Food Summit.

All right, well thank you all so much for having us. My name is Paula Babb, and I'm the neighborhood food program supervisor working at DDPHE, and I'd also like to introduce the rest of the DDPHE food team, so if you guys could just stand and share your names.

Good morning, all. Lauren Howe, she, her pronouns, Program Supervisor for the Healthy Food for Denver's Kids Initiative.

Hi, Carolina Ramirez, pronouns, she, her AIM, the Food Access Program Administrator.

Hi, Leslie Besantz, Food Resiliency and Food Waste Program Administrator. Good morning, Andrea Garcia-Chosol, Administrator. Good morning, my name is Michaela Mullins, use she, her pronouns, and I'm a program associate for the Healthy Food for Denver Skids Initiative.

And today, we actually won't be the ones presenting, but we did want to just introduce ourselves as the DDPHE food team. And if you guys want to learn more, we did create a one-pager that can pass out later today if you guys want to learn specifically about what DDPHE is doing to address the food crisis in Denver. And today's briefing is really meant to brief the mayor's office and all of city council And on the screen you see that we have been really busy planning the Food Justice Summit with a committee of many partners, many of which are here today as supporters, and a lot of them will also be presenting to you all today. And yeah, we really wanted to bring them to share their stories and what they're seeing on the ground around food insecurity. And with that, I'll pass it over to our first presenter, Sydney.

Good morning, everybody. Thanks for having us. My name is Sydney Skilkin. I am with the Southwest Food Coalition. My pronouns are she, they. And I'm the coalition director for this coalition, which brings together community-based organizations, schools, residents, churches, government agencies, producers, and other businesses to improve food access in southwest Denver. We do this through shared infrastructure, convening and capacity building, and policy and advocacy work. Food, as I'm sure you're all aware, is more than nourishment. It is culture, health, connection, and survival. And today we're going to be doing some level setting and alignment on defining and understanding food insecurity, who's impacted, food as essential infrastructure, what funding makes possible, and Food Justice Summit next steps. By the end, we hope that you walk away with a clear understanding of the problem, who it affects, and then the role that we all play. We are going to ask that you save all of your questions for the end. So what brings us here today? For the past three years, the coalition that I lead, the Southwest Food Coalition, alongside other community-based organizations and residents, have been advocating for sustainable investment in Denver's food system through the creation of a food justice fund. That is the name that we created to encompass funding aimed at strengthening the entirety of the food system and community capacity, rather than just funding direct food access. And this work began with lived experience, not a policy agenda. It grew from what we were hearing from residents and organizations about the need for a stronger food system and long-term solutions. In response, the city has allocated funding to DDPG to host a food justice summit. And as we begin shaping this effort with so many of the partners sitting behind me, we recognize that Denver has already built a very strong foundation of community input, data, policy assessments where community voted on funding as the number one priority for this work. Today's briefing will reflect that foundation and we're excited to share that with you today ahead of the summit. So let's start with what is a food system? Because when we talk about food it's really easy to think about it in terms of we grow food and then we eat it, but that would be short changing it because food is an entire system and it's very complicated. The Denver Food Vision defines a food system as involving production, processing, distribution, production, access to food via retail or other forms, and waste. Production and food access often get the most attention, while processing and distribution are more often overlooked. And as with any system, it's really important that we understand the crucial role of each step. A healthy food system, as you'll see by this chart, centers families and communities and ensures food is available, accessible, adequate, sustainable, and grounded in dignity. The agencies and elected officials represented here today all play a role in food system when it comes to policy, planning, land use regulation, economic development, and strategic investment. Next slide, thank you. Throughout the presentation today, we're gonna be using a few different terms that we wanted to define for you. So we'll start with food insecurity. This is when the system around people makes it hard to consistently afford or access nutritious local and fresh food. This issue is often invisible. You cannot see who is food insecure just by looking at them. Food access is when grocery stores, markets, or other food options exist within a reasonable distance and can be reached safely and affordably. And this is more about the physical, economic, and cultural accessibility. Finally, food justice is when communities have the right to grow, sell, and access healthy food that is fresh, nutritious, affordable, culturally relevant, and produced with care. It means communities have the ability to strengthen and shape their own food systems. These terms are very closely connected, but represent very different concepts. When communities face barriers to accessing food, food insecurity becomes more likely. That is why this work cannot only focus on providing food in time of need, but also funding the long-term systems, partnerships, and conditions that allow communities to thrive. And that work must be done in partnership with communities, ensuring those closest to the challenges are also closest to shaping the solutions. And I will hand it off to my colleague, Giselle Ziaz-Campagna.

Good morning, everyone. Providing some context, I guess, for the slides. Great to see everyone here. And thank you, honestly, for being here and partnering in this work. And your curiosity is really important to us. So what does food insecurity look like in Denver? To better understand this crisis, and I'm going to go ahead and call it that, DDPHE surveyed over 3,000 Denver residents across 11 city council districts in November back in 2025. The survey asked residents about food insecurity, barriers to accessing food, use of food assistance programs, which is really important. We want to know who's accessing those. And the survey used nationally recognized validated measures adopted from the USDA. And that question that's really important to us is, in the last 12 months, did you or other adults in your household ever cut the size of your meals or outright skipped meals because there wasn't enough money for food? And I want you to kind of ask yourself that question as a resident, as a household, and what would you answer? Same thing with everybody here. So that's what we asked over 3,000 residents. The findings show that one in three Denver adults reported that they cut the size of meals or skipped meals in the past year, and 68% of all residents that were surveyed identified cost as a top barrier to accessing food. And we all go to a grocery store, right? That's not a secret to anyone in any bracket. It's getting real. Our findings, or the findings of this survey, are consistent with what other Colorado surveys have shown. So this is, we wanted to thread that for you guys. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hunger Free Colorado, our esteemed colleagues, conducted a survey, and it just showed the same thing. They used the same question and they showed the same thing. Actually, back then, during the height of a crisis that we've never seen before, again, one in three Coloradans. surveyed, reported this yes to the same question. And there were only 530 participants in that survey. So this survey actually has many folds that and still reporting the same. So the survey is capturing, what I really want you to hone in is the survey is capturing something that we have known, we can tell you anecdotally that we've seen this in this work, that this isn't a temporary crisis. This is getting worse, I wanna say, because we don't have a pandemic crisis. And it's consistent for these families. Next slide. So out of these 35%, and just sit with that number, because that number is, it's hard to even talk to people about that number because it's very unseen, and that's what I tell people. When your food is a cure, you don't wear a t-shirt that says that, right? You can be a lawyer, you can be a teacher. We see a lot of teachers. in our pantries, so 35% of our residents across all of these districts are reporting that. Food insecurity disproportionately affects households of color, we know that as well, but then the higher incidence of food insecurity is in Hispanic households. Renters are also hard hit, families with children, and the highest rates of food insecurity concentrated in districts two, three, nine, and 11.

Can you raise your hands? Who's here again?

2, 3, 9, 11. You're here. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate that. Nearly half say that this happens every month, showing that food insecurity is not a temporary crisis. It's a recurring reality. It's like an everyday thing. only 32% report using SNAP, and 36%, so of the people that are using SNAP, 36% reported using pantries. So they have to supplement, obviously, and we know that because SNAP keeps getting cut. So of the SNAP users, only 11% are reporting that they were able to meet the needs of their households, of their families. Many food insecure residents do not qualify for SNAP and we know that. We have a lot of families, a lot of constituents, a lot of residents and friends and neighbors that are mixed documentation status. There are new neighbors even, right? People coming to find new opportunities here that do not qualify for these programs. This further highlights the need among food insecure folks to seek out pantries and other food access programs such as the ones represented in this room. Neighbor to neighbor work. And these Denver residents behind the numbers need to be seen because a lot of times they're not speaking for themselves because they're busy in the hustle. They're busy trying to connect their families with sustenance. So we're here to represent them. And so are you. Food insecurity, next slide, yeah. Food insecurity is one of the clearest indicators of Denver's affordability crisis. Like again, everybody's experiencing the pinch right now when we go purchase food. Residents are not just struggling to buy groceries, they are also making difficult economic trade-offs between basic necessities, let's say like household goods, Transportation, utilities, a lot of people are holding back on utilities because they can't afford them so they're running behind on those bills. Medication, people are cutting down on their medications. Actually not just rationing their meals, they're rationing their medication. And this leads to worse health outcomes. Missed rent leads to housing instability. We know that, in fact, if we talk to other colleagues in the mayor's office. And cut in transportation is reduced access to job. And then you close that loop, and then they can't access food for all those conditions. It's just a circle. And food, for me, is the quickest bridge for stabilization. Because everybody can do better with a belly full of food. People feel better. Your children feel more secure and mentally more secure when they know where their meals are coming from. So it's a quick stabilizer. And other people will tell you about what really is the crisis because we have plenty of food. is how to move it. And here's a quote from a colleague. Hunger is rarely caused by a lack of food alone. It is often the result of systems that make it difficult for people to access stability, dignity, and opportunity. And a lot of the organizations here that have benefit from HFDK and other city funding, and other grants, we actually close that loop. In my organization, The Grow House, we are community-led. So almost, I want to say over 80% of our team actually comes from the communities we serve. And many of them found their jobs in their no-cost food access box. As a matter of fact, we have flyers and boxes right now. So neighbor to neighbor. So what does food... Oh, sorry, the last one. Food insecurity, I think, I'm sorry. Sorry, I'm like totally lost. Oh, okay, sorry. I think I am done, but I just wanted to keep talking. I was like, why am I still here? But no, thank you so much. I really appreciate all of you being here as your neighbor and esteemed colleague. I've seen and sat with some of you. Thank you for your interest in this work, and I'm going to leave you with my colleagues, Margaret and Laura, with Kamoon, who do amazing work in Southwest Denver.

Thanks, Giselle. Hi everybody, my name is Laura Engelman. I'm the Food Sovereignty Program Manager at KOMON. Food security is foundational to achieving Denver's priorities. A vibrant, affordable, safe, climate resilient, child friendly, and welcoming Denver depends on residents having reliable access to nutritious food. Food systems work also spans multiple agencies, from public health and economic development to parks, housing, transportation, and neighborhood services. And every dollar invested delivers multiple returns. We see this at Komun, including healthier residents, stronger local businesses, safer neighborhoods, greater economic resilience, and a more connected community.

Thanks, Laura. Hi, everyone. My name is Margaret Brugger. I am one of the co-founders and executive director of Komun. First, I must thank you all for your leadership, time, and talents you share with our city. Who here knows the Loretto Heights just by a show of hands? That's where we are, in the big tower building that looks like a castle. Thanks in part to the city of Denver, Commune has opened a thriving community center on the Loretto Heights campus where we interact with over a thousand people weekly. We meaningfully engage people across race, language, income, generation, and political spectrums who come together to co-create a shared vision. Commune's idea of a community center as a solution to displacement and division is no longer a hypothesis, it is a reality. And food is at the center of it. Food was Commune's first program. When the pandemic started, we realized some of our neighbors were able to stock their pantries while others didn't know how they would afford dinner that night. This clearly caused hunger but also added to the mental stress of the pandemic. Through funding from Healthy Food for Denver Kids, our wonderful partnership with Kaizen Food Share and other partners, we have been serving community fresh produce and staples to over 1,200 families per week for six years. Food is often the reason people come through our doors. Providing healthy food stabilizes children and families and gives people the ability to access other services. Eight years ago, when the Loretto Heights campus sold, I was working as a child and family therapist at the Mental Health Center of Denver on Federal and Colfax. One of the consequences of a changing neighborhood was housing prices were going up. As families worked to afford rent, I am sure it is no surprise to you their food budgets got smaller. And I'm also sure it is no surprise to you it is very difficult to work with a kid on trauma when they are hungry. From here, I got off task. Okay, at this, providing healthy food stabilizes children and, oh no, here we go. Often, I would have children, thanks Laura. You need strong teams, we always need strong teams. Often, I got through that. Okay, meeting people's basic needs is an essential precursor to health and healing. Consistent food access allows families to look beyond their family's basic needs and towards growth and leadership. People who once waited in line at our food bank have become volunteers, contractors, and staff. The committees who are deciding our plans for housing, transportation, and designing our programs we often met through our food program. One woman at DALA was selling burritos out of a cooler with access to stable food for her family of five through our food program and working in our economic vitality programming. She has since opened a catering business and currently sells her food at the Harvey Park Farmer's Market. In addition to providing over 100 community meals on Thursday at our donation-based lunch, At Commune, accessing food is more than just meeting a basic need. It is a doorway to finding belonging, support, and becoming an active participant in our community. Commune would not exist in our current form without funding from Healthy Food for Denver's Kids. Dedicated funding like Healthy Food for Denver Kids allows us to plan, provide stability, and develop robust, sustainable programming that reduces our need for funding long-term. Thank you for your time and your support of this effort. I invite you all to come out, and thank you for those of you who have, and visit us at Loretto Heights during our community lunch on Thursdays, where you'll see in action the central role that food plays at our community center, and bringing people together across differences, providing for basic needs, and creating the circumstances in which a community can come together and thrive. Thank you.

I've been asked to sit, so I'm good. I'm Catherine Ardoin, she, her pronouns. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Common Harvest Colorado. I'll share a little bit more about that in a moment. But I want to talk more about food insecurity and the unfortunate fact that it is going to continue to rise. We know it will. This 35% rate that you heard Giselle speak about is not the result of a single issue. It is the cumulative effect of the economic policies and funding pressures that have intensified over time. Think about your own life in 2019. How was it different than now? We're seeing incredible inflation, approximately 30% increase in food costs since 2020 levels. And at the same time, wages and benefits really have not kept up for most households. Housing, transportation, childcare costs are higher. families who were barely getting by a few years ago are really finding that their budgets no longer cover those basic costs. So in addition, Denver has also seen how fragile the federal supports can be. During the snap delays in 2025 that we all remember very vividly, more than 60,000 Denver households experienced disruptions in benefits. Proposed federal changes are expected to further reduce the eligibility and benefits. This is coming down the pipe now. Further increasing the pressure on the local food providers and city resources. During COVID, emergency investments helped to stabilize a lot of the food access across Denver. That was wonderful. And unfortunately, a lot of that, all of that has expired. and at the same time, Healthy Food for Denver Kids, or HFDK, the city's largest dedicated food funding source, is about to expire in 2028. So we're facing a funding cliff, and it feels very scary. So the world has changed, and many of the policies, funding amounts, and programs designed for a pre-pandemic economy have just not kept pace and no longer match the reality that residents face today. We're approaching a moment where the need is increasing and funding is declining. And I want to really articulate this. The challenge before us is not that the past work has been ineffective. It's that Denver in 2026 is a very different city. And our policies, funding strategies, and partnerships have to change and evolve to meet today's reality. This is my favorite one to talk about, food as infrastructure. So although the direct food access providers and nonprofits are critical, they should not be the primary way people access food. They're filling a gap because of larger systemic issues. There are more than 200 organizations in Denver that help residents access food. And most of the funding that those organizations are receiving goes to direct food purchases, but not the infrastructure needed to move it, which of course includes staffing, refrigeration and cold storage, transportation and distribution, language access, and partnerships. This is really where the big gap exists because there aren't many funding sources to cover any of these general operating expenses. We really can't expect organizations to scale their impact if we're only funding the food and not the system required to distribute it. It's sort of like asking RTD to run buses but only funding the fuel. But that's what we're doing to a lot of these organizations. We're asking them to run a systemic gap, fill a systemic gap with just the fuel, just the ingredients of food. And at the same time, these organizations, I mean, kudos, they are providing tremendous value to the city. And if emergency and charitable food access is part of Denver's strategy for addressing food insecurity, then community organizations are absorbing a significant part of that cost. And even with programs like HFDK, the city is paying only a portion of what it actually takes to operate this system. And so like we said, the city did this survey that was across all districts. I want you to think about some of the folks in your district, a senior in district two, a family in district 11, immigrants in district, immigrant household in district three. They're all facing different barriers to accessing food. So that one size fits all solution really is not gonna work. And if Denver wants a stronger food system, which it says it does, we must invest in the infrastructure that allows the organizations to reach residents efficiently, equitably, and at scale. Like I mentioned, I'm the CEO and co-founder of Common Harvest Colorado. We are a small business, Denver-based local food hub. We're an aggregator and distributor. Our mission is to make local food common for all Coloradans. We're sourcing from over 85 local farmers, ranchers, producers across the state of Colorado, and we distribute to lots of food countries and food access organizations, but also K-12 school districts, restaurants, caterers, cafes, independent retailers, and others. In our work to build a vibrant local food system and one that is rooted in justice and that centers climate resilience, Infrastructure is crucial, but it's often overlooked. And of course, by infrastructure, I'm talking about the hard infrastructure that is the equipment we think of that's required to move the food from the farm to families. But importantly, I'm also talking about the soft infrastructure, talking about the trusted relationships, planning, coordination, all of that that really makes it possible. And those are required to stretch the few food dollars that we have as far as they can go. So what does it look like when food pantries have reliable and predictable funding? And I can answer this because we've seen it in certain periods of time and we do this with K-12 school districts now that we've passed universal school meals. We can work with them to build out plans to secure culturally important food items and then take those plans to the farmers in our network and do crop planning with them. So we're sort of this connector along the food chain that allows us to secure the ingredients but also secure pricing and stabilize pricing. And that stability in pricing is so crucial because it prevents these food pantries and food access organizations from having to make the impossible decision of quality or quantity. And I just want to briefly share an example of some of the wild price swings in non-local food that we've seen since January of 2026. We've been tracking the prices of vegetables, and several of them follow this path. Okay, in January, they start, rise 200%. back down 30%, increase 50%, then drop 75. Okay, and then they're sort of stabilizing to where we were in January. At the same time, the same vegetables from local sources, those prices are incredibly consistent and consistent with last year's prices. We can plan on that. And the planning and coordination is important because farming takes time. The seeds ordered in January may not bear fruit or vegetables until October. So that reliable year-over-year funding for the hard infrastructure and the soft infrastructure means that farmers and food hubs can really dial in our plans to keep our overhead low and prevent food waste. Just like Denver families, small businesses and farms live and die on the margins. With so many variables well beyond our control, I'm talking fuel prices, climate change, federal policy changes, and global affairs, stability is priceless. Denver deserves a food system that supports families, that supports small businesses, and that supports farmers. And so we need the infrastructure to build it. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Jamie Anderson. I'm the executive director of Denver Food Rescue, and I use they or she pronouns. And I'm going to talk about some of the previous and current investments that the city has made or that have come from the city into our food system. So the first one, which has been mentioned a few times, was ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act. This was federal money that came down to the states. And in 2021, we received $308 million in ARPA funding. And of that, $3.3 million was awarded to community organizations in the form of food system resiliency grants. And across 10 projects, these grants funded cold storage, distribution, operational improvements, things like vehicles, urban agriculture. Some really cool examples, one is that Project Angel Heart expanded their cold storage to help them reach their goal of a million meals delivered per year. Denver Inner City Parish was able to purchase some vehicles, which allowed them to greatly increase their food pantry capacity. And these investments demonstrated that funding infrastructure helped to strengthen the entire food system, not just individual programs. Though it's also important to note that the ARPA funding did not cover direct food purchasing. So the next big thing in Denver food funding was healthy food for Denver's kids. This is the result of a November 2018 ballot measure, ballot measure 302. Denver voters approved this. It creates a dedicated revenue stream through a 0.08% sales tax increase. So that's about one penny on a $10 purchase. And this supports healthy food access and food-based education for youth age 18 and under. And these funds will be collected, it was a 10-year period, so it's going to go through to December 2028, and they must be fully spent by December 2029. So since its creation, Healthy Food for Denver's Kids has demonstrated what this kind of sustained, decade-long investment can accomplish. In the first six years that we have data for, so between 2020 and 2025, this fund has invested more than $100 million in Denver communities. It supported 118 different organizations. It served over 100,000 families annually and distributed more than 55 million pounds of food. And it's also created almost 900 new jobs for youth in the city of Denver. Community feedback shows that this is an incredibly popular, incredibly successful program. 92% of the people who benefited from the program consumed more vegetables because of it. 79% reported knowing more about healthy eating. And 99% said it reduced their worries about where their next meal would come from. So Healthy Food for Denver's Kids shows what's possible when communities have the resources to create solutions. At the same time, because it was intentionally designed to focus on youth, there are many adults who are missing out on critical access to healthy food. So for example, at Denver Food Rescue, we work with a building, a Denver Housing Authority building that's for seniors and disabled adults. We're not able to spend any of our Healthy Food for Denver's Kids funding on our program at that building. It also doesn't cover unhoused folks. It doesn't cover adult LGBTQ plus folks. Okay, so now I'm going to talk to you about Denver Food Rescue. You might be familiar with us. You might have seen our bikes around town, which have our logo on them. We also, to my surprise, I discovered last week that we are on page six of the latest CASR annual report. CASR funded our e-bike program and I opened the report and there was a picture of us on page six, which was cool. So, we've been a nonprofit since 2014, and we rescue over 600,000 pounds of fresh food every year. We distribute it to 23 no-cost grocery programs. Those are located at places that people already go, so they're like two Denver health clinics, multiple schools, a Boys and Girls Club, that DHA building I mentioned, two other Volunteer of America buildings, places like that. And they're set up like a grocery store so people can shop for the food that they want. We don't ask for any ID. We don't ask for proof of income. We want these to feel welcoming to everybody in the community. We also focus on fresh produce. So we work with, as far as I know, all of Denver's farmers markets. So they're always popping up. So there might be one I'm not familiar with. We also work with community gardens, produce wholesalers, and then a few sprouts and whole foods. Our volunteers and staff have access to our CASR-funded fleet of e-bikes. Last year, we moved about 35,000 pounds of food using bikes alone. We're grateful to be recipients of four different Healthy Food for Denver's Kids grants in the last seven years. So in 2020, the first HFDK01 grant created my original position, which was program director, which took Denver Food Rescue from a team of three people, one of whom was part-time, to the team of five that it is today. And our funding for our no-cost grocery programs continues with HFDK4, which began in 2023 and will end next year. So we also have another Healthy Food for Denver's Kids grant that I wanted to talk to you about. This is a program that's really close to my heart, in part because it was the first grant I ever wrote, but also because it was funded, or it was created based purely on community feedback. So during the COVID pandemic, we received many requests for assistance getting food directly to people's homes. Even though we bring food to places where people already go, there are a lot of people who are homebound, particularly during that time, a lot of people who are immunocompromised and feel safe leaving their homes, or they have some sort of issue with transportation. You know, owning a car is very expensive. RTD was really cut back during that time and continues to suffer from cutbacks. So people really requested food to be delivered to their home. Um, and this program was originally funded during HFDK 2 to deliver 300 boxes of food every month to people's homes. Um, this program also was Sydney's first job in the food system, was funded through Healthy People's Kids as part of this. Um, glad to see Sydney go on to bigger and better things, but I miss working with you. And that program lasted for three years. As I said, we delivered a box of fresh food every month to 300 homes through it. Many families would graduate from the program. They would ask to pass their spots along to the next person on the waiting list because we've always had a waiting list for it. When that three-year funding cycle ended, we reapplied to continue the program, this time as a collaboration with the Urban Farm and Sun Valley Kitchen and Community Center. That was HFDK05, which started in 2024. That grant was successful, and part of that grant actually goes to purchase food from Colorado farmers through Common Harvest Colorado. Thank you, Catherine and team. That need for home delivery continues to rise, so we really hope to continue this work past the end of HFDK 5 in July 2027. I'm just going to have you pause right here. I'm done.

Oh, wonderful. I wanted to make sure we had time for questions. Cool. I think that's it.

We're just going to have a couple, just two more slides coming through.

We've got a few questions, and I know we have a hard stop at 10 to 30, so I will ask council if you'd like to hear the last portion or if you want to go to questions. Go quick? Yeah. Which one is that?

20. 20. Thank you. Hi, everyone. I'll try to be really fast. I'm the senior manager of community organizing at Metro Caring. Just to wrap up our presentation for today, as we shared earlier, we have worked very close with DDPHE. to shape the food system that we want to live in and the Food Justice Summit that we're working on because we know that the next chapter in our food system needs to be together. Today's briefing was the first step as we build this shared understanding of what the food system is here in Denver and the challenges our communities are facing across the districts and the city. So I want to leave with two asks in three reflections. We have two complimentary sessions following this conversation. We have a facilitated conversation with elected officials, city leadership highlighting the incredible that's already happening, to talk with community members about their experiences with food insecurity and what opportunities we have for collaboration, as well as some larger public-facing events later this summer. Those details will come up as we shape them, but we hope you will be part of that process for planning. And as we move to the summit, I want to leave you with these three invitations. Reflect on what food insecurity looks like in your district or in your role at the city, and how it connects to the work you do here every day. connect with us, go visit our local food access organizations or our local food business before we host a larger summit. And again, we'll reach out with more details on how to do that. And then finally, you are some of the most powerful people in this city. So please reflect on what's within your power to change or champion alongside us. Thank you for your time.

Okay, we'll move right into the question and comment queue. Councilwoman Gonzalez-Gutierrez, I know that you have, do you still want to? No, that's okay. All right, we'll move in to questions, comments from Councilwoman Alvedrez.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you to everyone that came out to share about the work that you're doing. I think it's pivotal that we all understand it. I think as a council member that's not listed on the top, I know that there's parts of my district that are probably part of that, and there's parts of my district where people don't think about when they go to the grocery store, what the cost is. And so one of the things I'm really interested in is in that concentration of areas, is looking at how do we... translate that to the infrastructure needs that those areas need to get access to food and then the one thought obviously with this climate that we're in right now that I had for the common harvest was just how have you seen the impacts of the drought and the fires affect food access right now if you could just speak to that really quickly and then that'll be my only question.

Sure, yeah. We've seen the impacts, I'll just say that. And it starts, I'd say this harvest season really started with the bang of the really warm winter and then a late freeze really decimating so much of our orchards in the western slope. So a lot of the, really all of the apples and pears being wiped out and a lot of the peaches and other tree fruit So that sort of kicked us off, and then, yeah, we're in historic drought. We have seen, I mean, anecdotally, several farms we know of directly who have scaled their production down. One went from 700 acres to 150 because there's not enough water to support the production. and several are trying to bring in water from out of state. I will say that this is highlighting the need for investments in so many of the farms that we do work with who are incredibly climate smart and water conservative. They're very innovative folks who know the landscape literally metaphorically and are preparing for it. The need is incredibly highlighted by it, but yes, we are seeing impacts.

I appreciate that. Hopefully that's something we can talk about during the food justice conversation. My other concern, just highlighted recently by the egg price gouging lawsuit that happened, is thinking about how we fund a justice system that provides legal supports for the work that we're doing, that you all are doing. Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman.

Councilwoman Torres?

Thank you so much. And thanks to all of you. I know my district, food insecurity is one reason they ran for office in the first place. West Denver and District 3, for my entire life, having grown up there, has always had terrible access to fresh food. And through partnerships with you, all of the nonprofits that serve this district, it has made such a difference in people's lives. And the pandemic certainly exposed all of our vulnerabilities, but it also pushed us into some creative spaces, I think. And it was really exciting to start to get to see the push toward mobile food pantry service. making things more locally available. We see today Denver Urban Gardens revision standing up gardens in other neighborhoods other than their kind of primary ones that they were originally working in. Southwest Food Coalition, you are doing immense work throughout the entire district. All of you touch my district in one way or another, and I just can't thank you enough for the role that you play and the relationships that you have with residents. This isn't the first time Council is your champion behind food justice. It has been on our budget priority list since 2023 when we presented alongside you in April and May. to put it on the budget. So the food summit is merely our way of keeping the conversation current and relevant and reminding folks this has not gone away. In fact, it's gotten worse and what can we be doing better? So I thank you for continuing to step into that space and making sure all parts of the city are as aware as we are. of this crisis and what we need to be doing differently. And I look forward to figuring out the next steps, particularly with Healthy Food for Denver Kids with all of you. So thank you all so much. That's it. Thanks.

I know we've got nine minutes left, two left in the queue, so Councilman Cashman.

Yeah, I'll only need an hour and a half. Come on now. GDPHE, I'm wondering about when, I'm not aware yet of an active campaign for the renewal of the healthy food sales tax. What's going on with that?

I'll just say we're scheduled to present to council later this summer, next month, and hopefully we'll be able to share a little bit more information. I don't know if Southwest Food Coalition from the community perspective would want to share a brief update. That's coming from community and not necessarily from the city.

Before additional answers, the other question related to that, so as was mentioned, it's 0.08%, right? Right. Is that enough money? I'm guessing it's not. And as we know, Denver is in a budget crisis. We have no money, but we found $70 million for a soccer stadium. And the mayor just announced tens and tens and tens of millions more for a jobs program, both of which I think are good programs, but we need to find the additional money for these, I think, more critical needs.

Thank you. I'll say really quick, so the Southwest Food Coalition has been facilitating along with other partners in the room the building of a coalition of folks to hopefully expand both the amount of money and the scope of healthy food for Denver's kids. We have an executive committee formed, so it is happening. We are doing this in partnership with community. If you want to see the data on the funding gaps, Paola and DDPG have immense evaluation, very important information that's really helping guide what changes we think we'd like to see in that. But the short answer is no, it's not enough money.

And the last thing I'll say is, you know, my district is in many ways among the more fortunate districts in the community, but not everyone in my district is fortunate. And I forget whose presentation talked about those hidden needs. You look at a nice house on a tree-lined street and they can't afford groceries. Exactly. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you, Madam Dickman.

Just quickly to speak to that piece. I'm in conversation with the executive committee that's been formed in community. I would like to bring that reauthorization through council for a November ballot measure and happy to take sponsors of that. And I do want to make sure that... And I want to make sure we're hearing from them what an appropriate amount should be, how to broaden the scope or the applicant pool. So willing to take that on over the next year. And I feel like we all feel a particular way about healthy food for Denver kids in support. And just want to know what exactly that's going to look like.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Sawyer. That was actually my question Torres for you since I know that you have been leading this work on the city side was I'm truly grateful for the community partnership and it's going to be incredibly important to have community partners as we go into this campaign but it has to be referred by City Council is that correct? Correct.

So, and so originally a community petition to go on the ballot, but reauthorization, like, it's easiest for us to do it rather than for them to do petitions again. So that's, I think the easiest path.

Okay. That's great. Fantastic. So, um. Is the food summit going to be kind of the kickoff to this next phase of putting together what that bill is going to look like then?

I think it might come from two different places. One is the executive committee that's convened. The food summit may be talking about what could be funded, like what are additional needs beyond what Healthy Food for Denver Kids currently is constrained to fund. So that will feed into that. What changes? Okay. Yeah.

Okay. That's great. That's really good to know. So if there's anything you need, please let me know. Like Council Member Cashman, I have areas of my district where food insecurity is a real challenge. And we have some incredible organizations like Augustana Church and George Washington High School that have food banks associated with them. My fear is that we... Because we are seen as a more fortunate district. We don't get the attention or the support in district 5 We see this happening at George all the time for people who need it because The near it doesn't fit the narrative It doesn't fit the equity goals of the city and that's not acceptable because I have people starving in my district, too I think it's an equity and an equality piece right and what exists in every district.

Yeah, great. Thanks Councilman Watson

Very quickly, I thank you all so much. I know that most of you do work within District 9 serving residents. Make some of you know my story. I grew up in the projects facing food insecurity and food and housing insecurity as part of my story. I wanted to make sure that within the Food Summit, and I don't think there's time for you all to maybe speak on this, but I know during some of the changes within the federal government, when dollars from the state were provided to an entity, the transportation from that food to be distributed to all the good spaces that you all are in, was a little bit haphazard. And my hope is that part of our food summit discusses transportation in not just simply in times of crisis, but throughout. Having a warehouse by Denver International Airport and bringing food down to Clayton Early Learning doesn't make sense. And so finding ways to have microtransit options and not just simply one big wholesaler doing it, I think is something I want to make sure we elevate in that summit. Thank you all for your good work and for saving lives.

Thank you, Councilman. And then, Council President. I just want to say thank you all. In northwest Denver, we have Bienvenidos, and I would love to see them part of this. They've been looking for a new home, and I think hopefully we have secured one in the upcoming Denver Housing Authority site on 47th. And Northwest Denver is very prominent, but in my lifetime, it's changed. I grew up with people who have food insecurity, and I feel like the Quig Newton projects just get looked over all the time because we have houses in my neighborhood selling for $3.6 million. Mm-hmm. But literally seven blocks away, 10 blocks away in Quig Newton, we have people who have food insecurity. If you go to Aslan Rec Center, you have the healthy food for kids, feeds those kids. Twice a day twice a day right now in the summer and so I know the grow house you provide stuff over to the Sunnyside neighborhood but just want to say for those neighborhoods that don't meet the mark right because I have Gentrification so rapid in my community if you all go to be in Benito's on the Thursday You're gonna see the people waiting and lying down the whole entire street. So just don't forget about how we can partner and with other people, and we also have Leprinos. And Leprinos has a huge foundation, and one of their pillars on their foundation is food. It literally, and I've worked on that, and I've gotten pooled money from Leprino to North High School to help feed the kiddos and actually pay off, because oftentimes you can't graduate if you have... money owed for your lunch. And so Loprino has actually helped us pay those quite clear so kiddos can get their diplomas. So if you need resources in Northwest Denver, please reach out to our office because we do have lots of resources. And thank you all for your advocacy and happy to support a referral ballot measure. I worked on the Denver preschool program so that it doesn't have a sunset anymore because that's, you know, a tax sales tax so that we have preschool. We have education for our kiddos. So happy to work on that as well. Thank you all.

That was a captivating and powerful message, so thank you all for sharing. I'm going to conclude so that you guys can get to your 1030 committee. Thank you so much to DPHE and all of the sponsors and all of your work in this advocacy for our neighbors and our children. Thank you.