GPHC

By LaDawn Sullivan
Strengthening Neighborhoods
Denver Foundation

The Holly Area Redevelopment Project (HARP), which consists of a group of community members from Northeast and North Park Hill who are working to restore the former Holly Square Shopping Center at East 33rd Ave. and Holly St., met on December 6 at the Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center to hear about new developments in the nearly three-year old effort to redevelop the Holly and the surrounding area.

By Bob Boyle

Game on the Move

The world’s most popular game is on the move. Following decades of epic false starts and relative obscurity on the American professional sports scene, savvy forecasters of all stripes are plotting positive upward mobility for soccer in the United States. Case in point, for the 2011 season just completed, Major League Soccer (MLS) logged its highest viewership and attendance numbers since its inaugural season in 1996. The soon-to-be 20-team US-based professional league averaged nearly 18,000 fans per game, with the Seattle Sounders leading the pack at over 38,000 fans per game (over 64,000 Sounders fanatics filled its stadium to capacity on October 15, 2011, to watch legendary US Goalkeeper Kasey Keller play his final regular season home game).

By Sandra Henderson
Food Pantry Manager

Wow! December was an incredible month. I decided to put together (with the support of GPHC Executive Director Heather Leitch) an Adopt-a-Family program for the holidays. I approached families as they came in to the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Food Pantry to see if they would be interested in getting help for Christmas.

We received an overwhelming response to the Adopt-a-Family program and requests for hams, turkeys or gift cards. Messiah Community Church adopted a family. Within 20 minutes of the e-mail request to sponsor the program, Park Hill Congregational Church made a generous donation of $200. Rev. Ian Gregory Cummins from Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church was simply amazing. Montview Presbyterian’s congregation adopted 13 families AND raised an additional $3,000. This money will be used to purchase hams, turkeys and other items for food baskets, and other needs in the Food Pantry. The generosity of the churches has been overwhelming. Temple Micah continues to support us as well.

Last month I traveled to Washington D.C. with my 78 year old mother Catherine Williams. The holiday spirit was in full motion in the nation’s capitol as we journeyed to a holiday reception at the White House.

Invited by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, my mother and I attended the reception on Tuesday, December 13. The reception began in the foyer of the White House with a local high school choir greeting guests with songs of the season. We then toured the White House to admire the beautiful decorations. In the East Room refreshments of many varieties were served. Mid-way through the reception we were escorted to the Map Room where the President and Mrs. Obama greeted us and the other guests. I shared with the President that I and many in my home state look forward to his visits and a successful campaign in Colorado.

By Deborah Snyder

Entitlement and Engineering Solutions, Inc. (EES) was selected as 2011 Small Business of the Year from the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. EES is a civil engineering company founded by Park Hill native, Amanda O’Connor (née Freeman). EES was selected as the recipient of the prestigious award for cultivating a workplace environment that supports women in their career pursuits and encourages leadership roles professionally and in their community. Of the ten staff members at EES, eight are female engineers. EES encourages a comfortable, supportive, non-competitive, cooperative atmosphere to allow each employee to strive for excellence in their work. By allowing flexible schedules, alternative work-weeks and telecommuting, EES is keeping talented and successful women continually engaged and employed within the civil engineering industry.

By Roberta Locke

Do you want:

• a window into your infant’s or toddler’s mind?
• a way to reduce frustration and temper tantrums?
• your child to communicate using more than points, grunts and cries?
• an accessible and fun way to connect with your child?

By Taliah Abdullah
Senior Librarian
Pauline Robinson Branch

Introduction

During the week of November 14 to18, the Denver Public Library hosted award-winning author and illustrator Javaka Steptoe. While in Denver, Javaka visited seven Denver Public Schools locations and Denver Public Library branches. Two schools in Park Hill had the opportunity to have Javaka visit and work with students in first grade. Park Hill and Stedman Elementary schools were selected by the Senior Librarians at the Park Hill and Pauline Robinson Library branches.

The past year has been a busy one for the city and Council District 5. We have a new mayor, six new council members, a new police chief, and a host of opportunities ahead. In 2012 Council District 5 will see the conveyance of the Buckley Annex to the Lowry Authority and the re-zoning of that site, the opening of a new park at 13th Ave. and Xenia St., businesses opening on Colfax such as the Phoenix on the Fax Apartment Complex and Ace Hardware at Colfax and Pontiac St., and breaking ground on the redevelopment of the Hospital District between 8th and Colfax on Colorado Blvd.

It is my privilege to serve as your At-Large Councilwoman and I thank you for the opportunity to work with you to help move Denver forward, together. I sought this responsibility because of my passion for and experience with the bigger picture forces impacting Denver, such as transit, housing, and economic development, that uplift all members of our community. My committee appointments, including chairing Denver’s Government and Finance Committee, serving on Denver’s Welfare Reform Board, and as an alternate to the Denver Regional Council of Governments, are opportunities to exercise this broad focus.

By Arthur Rosenblum

Chris Daniels couldn’t help commenting on the sunny day when we met to talk about his 40 year career in the music business, what it’s like to teach a new generation of music students as an assistant professor at UC Denver, his eighteen years as a Park Hill neighbor, and his experience with an acute form of leukemia.