Coast to Coasters

Find out how a small thrill ride manufacturer in Logan, Utah found new markets by engineering excitement and exporting its product globally. With 95 percent of potential customers living outside of the United States, there is no better time to grow your small business, like S & S Worldwide, through various government export assistance programs. Click this link to play the video: Coast to Coasters

Connect & Collaborate - Personal Branding

Marketing, branding, corporate image - they've all become buzzwords in business. But now it gets personal. Yep. Personal Branding. Sure, it sounds like one more thing to worry about - but Lida Citroën tells us it's vitally important not just for your business and career, but in your personal life as well. Saturday, April 13th, Jan Mazotti and co-host Kelly de la Torre interview Lida Citroën of  LIDA360 - an expert in personal branding. She explains the difference between the corporate brand and the professionals who move the corporate brand forward. One is the business, the other is the business of being a professional. Identifying your personal brand gives you a sense of control, and actually allows you to control how other people perceive you.

"If there is a disconnect between how I want to be seen and how I am seen, that's where the opportunity really lies, to build a strategy that is intentional. So it gives me the tools from how I present myself, to how I interact with other people to move in the direction that I want." ~ Lida Citroën

To identify what your personal brand should be, first you must see feedback as a gift. You need to know how other people see you. Are you the go-to source of information? The team leader? An encourager? Maybe you're the type who doesn't put too much stock in what others think, until you consider that the image you think you're putting out, and the image others see, could be worlds apart. No one wants that.

Let's say you see yourself as a team builder, a motivator, driven to be successful - but the people you work with see you as difficult to deal with, non-collaborative and pushy. Now it's clear why you don't seem to get buy-in on your ideas and support from your team. Some people discover these disconnects by accident - or you can ask a trusted colleague how they think you are perceived in the marketplace. Good or bad, the answers will surprise you. But if you don't know, you are giving up power and control of your desired reputation.

Once you have feed back, you'll recognize if your behavior has been in line with your intention, and really assess where you are today.

Lida recommends identifying that gap and make changes to effect that gap. If you don't, you don't have power or control. Wouldn't you rather feel like you're in control of how others are going to judge you?

Values + Action = Credibility

You build credibility when your values and your actions match.

To learn more about building your personal brand be sure to listen this Saturday at 10:00AM on KNUS 710 - or download the podcast (you'll find it at the top of this page).

Lida's book - Reputation 360 - is available in the LIDA360 Store on her website.

Connect & Collaborate - Community Partnerships

Whether you want to make the most of your charitable giving, or your business wants to create meaningful partnerships that make a difference - this week's program on community partnerships will inspire you. So many great non-profit organizations need support, whether it's financial or volunteer man-hours. When they can partner with businesses, it becomes a mutually beneficial way to gain funds or recognition for their great work.

This week Jan Mazotti, along with Cristin Tarr of Business Service Corps, talks with three great organizations that have great relationships with area businesses.

First up is Listen Foundation -- helping deaf and hard of hearing children to realize their full potential by emphasizing listening and practicing speech. Without the benefit of this program, most deaf children are never able to communicate fully with their own families, teachers and friends. As a result, those deaf students who sign, by age 17 have typically reached only a third or fourth grade reading level. Forty-five percent of deaf children who sign don't graduate from high school, and only five percent go on to college.

Listen Foundation's goal is to for everyone to know that this method exists, since it's imperative to reach deaf children in infancy through age three, the most critical years for brain development, language development and forming the connections for future learning. Without knowledge of Listen Foundation's program, the first exposure to a hearing professional is someone who promotes sign language - bypassing the opportunity for learning oral language.

Auditory Verbal Language training is so effective that it needs to be available to all children, not only those children whose parents can afford it.  That's why donations are so very important to the program.

The Audubon Society of Greater Denver -- helps bring nature to urban schools through education programs, both in schools and on site at the nature center. The Audubon Society delivers supplemental content to classrooms, including nature, biology, and ecology, helping teachers to teach science. They also arrange field trips to the nature center for hands-on learning and time actually spent outdoors.

Getting children to the nature center from some urban schools can be costly. Donations help to fund bus trips to the center located in South Denver - a good distance from many metro schools.

The Audubon Society would also like to partner with different businesses and corporations for expertise in marketing, accounting, and publicity efforts -- as well as board member and volunteers for the nature center.

Denver Kids Inc. -- is a great partnership program in the Denver Metro, established to work with kids from Kindergarten to twelfth grade who face personal challenges and high risk environments to help them complete high school.

The program focuses on students who live at or below the poverty line as well as those coming from single parent homes, which make up 82 percent of kids in the program. Denver Kids Inc. students are matched with an educational counselor who helps them overcome any barriers they may have to success, and a volunteer mentor who also helps them through the program.

Compared to Denver Public School's 56 percent graduation rate, students in the Denver Kids Inc. program have a 91 percent graduation rate. It's even more impressive when one considers, the demographic Denver Kids Inc. serves has a typical 36 percent graduation rate.

The program needs volunteers willing to make a commitment. Although Kids Inc. requires only a one year commitment, most mentors stay with the program for five years. Surely that proves, it must be very rewarding to help kids succeed.

Listen to the entire Connect & Collaborate program this Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – or download our podcast – you’ll find it at the top of this article.

Connect & Collaborate - Organizational Sustainability

Learn how sustainability efforts can improve your business or non-profit organization. Sustainability goes far beyond just recycling to examining environmental practices and their impact. There's a lot to understand, so we're bringing together three great guests to enlighten you, our audience:

Christopher Juniper of CORE,

Kara Peck of YR&G and

Stephanie Welsh of RAFT Colorado.

Christopher Juniper is the Executive Director at CORE, an organization dedicated to helping companies understand and implement sustainability practices in their operations. The key is to align your business with your values, and do the best for the environment at the same time.

Juniper says, "Sustainability implies protection of the next generation from this one. It really is a multi-generational concept. We need to respect the next generations need to inherit from us, enough ecological and social health and capital that they can meet their own needs.  We have a consensus amongst humanity that we should protect the next generation from this one. The question is how do we do it."

You can find out more about sustainability practices through CORE at www.COREColorado.org, they help to provide practical experience for small companies that don't have the bandwidth to do it on their own and don't have the money to pay for consultants.

The 8th Annual Sustainable Opportunities Summit is coming up soon, April 9, 2013 at History Colorado Center - where you'll be able to celebrate and learn from Colorado's sustainability leaders. Featured speakers include; Shawn Mills of Greenhouse Data, and Phil Washington of RTD Denver... people who are doing things no one else is doing.

If you're interested in the summit, start at the CORE Colorado website to learn more. It will be a great opportunity for networking, inspiration and education. spend time with exhibitors, speakers, panel discussion.

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Kara Peck, Business Development Manager at YR&G - has an interesting perspective on how to approach sustainability and drive value at every level. Their approach is to align sustainability with a company's strategic goals and values rather than as an additional business requirement.

"We see it as something at is going to align with an organization's goals and objectives and then figuring out how to tie sustainability in there so that it's not, "Lets figure out how to make this project energy efficient on the back end.", or figure out how to use recycled materials but figure out how sustainability can drive increased value." Peck says.

A prime example is the ability to identify how sustainability plays into healthy living. In one case, working with Denver Housing Authority to create communities that emphasize active design, like prominent staircases that promote movement instead of elevators - and creating community gardens to encourage people to come together in community and to promote healthy eating.

When sustainability efforts align with a company's goals and values, that when things really come together. Find out more by visiting www.yrgxyz.com

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Stephanie Welsh, the Executive Director of RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching), an organization that inspires hands-on teaching by unlocking the magic of materials. Although at it's core, RAFT is about education, sustainability factors in by partnering with other organizations to up-cycle their unwanted materials. In order to stock the RAFT warehouse with items for every conceivable project, they ask us all to look at things we no longer have a need for and find a use for them beyond their intended purpose. Teachers then transform those items to hands-on activities for students.

If you're wondering what they could use, the answer is everything! They'll take anything from paper tubes, fabric, foam core to scratched CDs, jewel cases, water bottles and file folders... any standard items that are easily duplicated and sorted. Welsh says, "We haven't met many things we can't use."

As part of her job, Welsh visits various companies and organizations to determine what might be useful...

She says, "When I go out to different companies to see what they could donate they say, "Oh no, we don't have anything you would want." and I say, "Well can we just look around your warehouse? Would you mind giving me five minutes? ...  People think I'm crazy when I come out, they're like, "Really? Are you that excited about our trash? I say, "Oh yes! I am!" because it's not trash. It's something that has great educational value. We just have to step back and take a different look at it. "

With these assorted supplies, RAFT has created more than 600 activities to inspire teacher and students. RAFT also offers classroom space for professional development, and their mission is to support teachers in common core standards.

That's meaningful sustainability.

Any educator in the state of Colorado can shop the RAFT warehouse and purchase items at 80% - 90% all the time. Membership is $25 per individual per year,  Groups of ten or more registering at the same time can join for $20 each. A day pass for those uncertain if they'll be back in Denver is $15.  Reasonable pricing, considering most teachers spend at least $500 of their own money on classroom supplies each year.

Learn more at www.RAFTColorado.org

Listen to the entire Connect & Collaborate program this Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – or listen to our podcast – you’ll find it at the top of this article.

StartUp Life Interview Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor

Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor talk about their new book: Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur.

Follow Us on Twitter @StartoTV

Like us on Facebook StartoTV

Subscribe to us on iTunes Starto-The Show for the Worldwide Entrepreneur

Send us your suggestions for upcoming episodes- [email protected]

Love, Passions and Startups with Lori Cheek from Cheek'd

Lori Cheek from the amazing NYC Startups talks Love, Passion and Startups! [youtube width="560" height="315" video_id="PABbvRIeKqo"]

Safety Rant

You Oughta Know!I get a little spun up when something hits the national news cycle, and no one points out the obvious.

How does all of America report on twelve people crashing through the ice, and not talk about the right way to rescue?

Driving Force Radio - The Responsible Generation

Starting about ten years ago, there were suddenly four generations in the workplace for the first time in history. Never before have the generations had such differences in work ethic, priorities and loyalty. It's a culture clash within a culture. This generation gap leads to frustration and resentment among everyone in the workforce; Baby Boomers, who carry on their parents' sense of loyalty, respect and hard work; Generation X-ers the first generation not to out-earn their parents; and Millennials who believe they can change the world through philanthropy, technology and sustainability efforts.

This week on Driving Force Radio, we take a look at the expectations of those entering the workforce - and talk with one business owner who can vouch for the success of embracing Millennial ideals in the workplace.

We start with Rena Dulberg, Director of Community Service and Leadership at Johnson & Wales University who explains that the up and coming leaders expect to blend their personal goals and values with their professional persona. That's something past generations didn't even consider, under the instruction of "checking your personal life at the door."

She says Millennials won't stay at an organization that doesn't meet their needs, or support their ambitions. This idea leaves other generations, who have found employment hard to come by, shaking their heads in disbelief.

The Millennial generation is prepared to start their own businesses in order to have the lives they want.

Becky Lindberg, a Senior in the Culinary Nutrition program at Johnson and Wales, says she hopes to work for an employer who cares where the food came from, in terms of local and organic. Recycling and composting efforts are important to her as well.

Fashion Merchandizing student, Naja Walker cares about labor conditions in garment factories, and wants to give back to her roots when she's seen enough success to do so.

One of the most popular breakfast spots in Denver is a model of these ideals. Adam Schlegel, co-owner of Snooze Eateries believes that he can relate to multiple generations. As such, he has a better understanding of why the younger generation doesn't want to climb the ladder and break through ceilings.

"I think I am smack in the middle of Gen X and Gen Y.  I can relate to it more. I worked in the consulting business for a while and I put up with it. I just did it. I put my nose to the grindstone and worked hard. But the Gen Y in me is like, "I don't have to do that. I don't want to do that."

Instead, Adam and his brother run an independent chain of breakfast cafes, that break the rules while recycling, composting and embracing originality.

"We've all come from the corporate restaurants and what we've learned is that khaki pants are lame. And uniforms and polo shirts, you know? We want you to have tattoos."

Listen to Driving Force Radio Saturday Morning at 10:00 on KNUS 710 - you can find the podcast here, or watch our video version below.

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Part One - Johnson & Wales Perspective

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Part Two - Adam Schlegel, SNOOZE

Dressing for the Job You Want

There's an old saying; Clothes make the man (or woman), and while this may not be technically true, it is true that the clothing you are wearing will influence how you act and your confidence in yourself.  There are many situations where this extra confidence is helpful, and none more so than in a job interview.

"Your resume is flawless, but that tie says substitute math teacher"

Job interviews are high stress situations and often times without the proper clothes, a person's confidence can suffer leading to a poor performance and no job.  But fear not, one organization is taking aim at this problem and helping less fortunate women with an astounding success rate. Dress for Success helps less fortunate women get access to the clothes and the tools they need to become successful leaders.  They not only provide dress clothes, but work through the interview process and provide skill mapping services to help the clients realize their full worth.  By training and helping dress women, Dress for Success give them the confidence to go out and finally take control of their lives and become leaders in their community.  We were able to sit down with Dress for Success Executive Director, Donna Deteau to discuss the organization in depth.

Brilliance in Benchmarking

When an industry or work place wants to improve performance – they must look outside of their own institution to do so. Often, we look to other, similar institutions for best practices – they can be great examples. One hospital might look to another hospital for examples of efficiency or great patient care. But then, you can only be as good as the best hospital. What if you want to be better?

When health care professionals want to know just how good they can be – they look beyond other health care systems.

I recently heard about a local hospital comparing their Operating Room turnaround practices to the pit crews at NASCAR. 

Apparently, this comparison is so tried, they consider it cliché in the health care industry, but to me it’s an inspirational example of benchmarking.

Consider it. NASCAR pit crews train to maintain or repair a vehicle in under ten minutes. They do it by isolating duties, and then combine those duties with cooperation. One guy jacks up the car and removes a tire, another worker puts on the replacement tire and lug nuts. Order, attention and speed.

Not dissimilar from workers who clean an operating room between surgeries. It’s a messy job.  Hazardous materials must be disposed of properly, surgical instruments accounted for and cleaned, and the room thoroughly disinfected. In most hospitals, they are aiming for a ten-minute turnaround, just like the pit crew.

As a result, many hospitals bundle the OR supplies, then once the room is cleaned, the bundle is unfurled and the division of duties ensues: the surgical technician drapes the instrument table, a nurse opens sterile supplies while another nurse sets up the prep table then leaves to collect the next patient. (source)

Done with exact precision and preparedness, the time between surgeries is minimal, and each operation can start on time.

Hospitals also employ standards from Ritz Carlton Hotels, and Disneyland – as models of guest service. That’s quite a leap from the mantra of “Thinking Outside the Box” to really stretching one’s concept of learning from the leaders in all industries.

Tell us how your company or start-up benchmarks against other BESTS in the business.

Driving Force Radio - Visit Denver

No one comes to Denver to stay inside. The folks at Visit Denver, Colorado's Tourist and Vacation office, know that for certain. There's so much to enjoy in Denver, that they can't even be limited to one website. There are two great things, in particular that Denver has going for it (us?) One is Denver International Airport. Being centrally located, DIA puts Denver four hours from anywhere - making our city an ideal destination not only for tourists but for the crowd that supports the Number Two Thing, the Colorado Convention Center - which is blessed with a host of eminities, including 8,000 hotel rooms within walking distance, and countless dining options - oh and shopping, and a view of the Rocky Mountains.

With so much perfection, you'd think the city almost promotes itself.  What it really means is, Visit Denver has a lot to keep track of.

For more on all the great events and attractions, listen to this week's Driving Force Radio, Saturday morning at 10:00 on KNUS 710.

You can also listen to the podcast here, or watch our video version below.

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This week, our second segment features Senator Alan Simpson, of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform - talking about the myriad implications of balancing the nation's budget. But funny. Don't miss it.

Bolstering the Economy Through Art and Culture

Denver has a mission, according to the City and County of Denver, Mayor’s Proposed 2013 Budget, “to enhance Denver’s quality of life and economic vitality through premier public venues, artworks, cultural programming and entertainment opportunities.” The estimated budget for 2013 allotted to the convention and visitor’s bureau is $14,669,400. VISIT DENVER is the city’s contracted convention and visitor’s bureau. VISIT DENVER also is the official and contracted marketing agency for the City and County of Denver. The bureau is a private nonprofit that markets metro Denver as a convention and leisure destination. It is funded publicly and privately. Public sources include a voter-approved lodging tax. Specifically, the 2013 proposed budget states, “The 2013 lodgers’ tax forecast is projected to total $15,658,700, representing an increase of $456,100 or 3.0 percent over the 2012 revised estimate. This forecast incorporates Visit Denver’s 2013 projected lodgers’ tax growth rate.”

The success of VISIT DENVER is striking. “In the last seven years tourism in Denver has grown 40 percent, while the national average is 7 percent,” states Richard Scharf, president and CEO of VISIT DENVER . VISIT DENVER is a leader and collaborator in Colorado’s tourism success. Collaborators include: the city, transportation, hotels, recreation, voters and visitors. Tourism in Colorado also provides 136,900 jobs. Job growth is a serious issue for 2013. The tourism industry can help alleviate the issue.

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) and VISIT DENVER are collaborating to draw in tourism this winter. The much-anticipated Becoming Van Gogh exhibit will feature 70 paintings and drawings by Vincent Van Gogh as well as artists who inspired him. This exhibition is solely in Denver until Jan. 20, 2013. To paint Van Gogh’s formative story, Timothy J. Standring, Gates Foundation Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the DAM, and Louis van Tilborgh, Senior Researcher of Paintings at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, borrowed from more than 60 public and private collections. Now that’s collaboration. The highly priced fine art on loan, securing loans, ensuring the trust to properly handle Van Gogh’s work, and putting in place an exhibit of this caliber all adds up to a great accomplishment.

The website www.vangoghdenver.com is provided by the collaborative effort of DAM and VISIT DENVER, which connects people to exhibit information, ticketing, booking, hotel packages, promotional offers, images, group tours and resources. The VIP exhibit tickets and theme-inspired accommodations include offers at the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa; Comfort Inn Downtown Hotel; Grand Hyatt Denver; Hilton Garden Inn Denver; Hotel Monaco, a Kimpton Hotel in Denver; Hyatt Regency Denver; Sheraton Downtown Denver; the Curtis: a Doubletree Hotel; the Ritz-Carlton, Denver; and the Westin Denver Downtown.

DAM and VISIT DENVER’s collaborative effort serves and brings to Denver a world-class exhibit and economic growth. As Governor John Hickenlooper said, “The story of tourism in Denver is also the history of our city and people.” Enjoy Denver this season; it benefits us all.

Relief for Sandy's Furry Friends

The impact of Super Storm Sandy isn’t over. Not by any stretch. Thousands of people are still without homes, trying to recover from losing everything. When people are displaced, they don’t get much say in what they get to bring with them… or leave behind. In many cases, families had to leave their pets behind.  Now, months later, their pets are still waiting.

Nassau County put together a shelter in an old gymnasium, in response to the emergency. 514 animals have passed through those doors.  Today they’re down to 125. Some animals have been reunited with their owners, when their owners were able to find pet-friendly living situations.  Other pets transferred to foster care, with hopes of returning to their forever families.

Most situations are still temporary. The shelters were underfunded to begin with, and certainly unprepared for the influx of displaced animals.

Hearts as Big as Trucks

The situation is truly heart-wrenching.  But hearts are big as trucks, and trucks can be filled with pet treats and toys.  JAKKS Pacific, a toy company in Los Angeles, through its JAKKS Cares program, has donated four pallets of goodies to go to the shelter in Long Beach, Long Island, New York. Often, donations like this are faced with prohibitive transportation costs. But big hearts have intervened.

CAP Logistics, ICOSA’s parent company, is arranging the transportation of this 1,700 pound donation through Land Air Express.  Land Air has offered to move the shipment from LAX to JFK at no cost, doubling the generosity of JAKK’s Pacific.

CAP Operations Specialist, Lori Mantia says, “We have an innate responsibility to help people. People there have lost everything, their homes, the personal effects of their entire lives.”

This isn’t the first donation CAP has helped deliver to the hurricane victims. Lori, a native New Yorker, headed a donation drive that resulted in a truckload of cleaning supplies, food, tools, clothing and toys arriving in Long Beach in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The team at CAP Logistics also helped coordinate another shipment of toys from JAKK’s Pacific to Long Beach, so parents would have a chance to ‘shop’ for free before Christmas. Each of those shipments were moved at greatly reduced costs, or for free.

You Can Help

There are more ways to help. The Nassau County Emergency Pet Shelter is looking for more volunteers to foster pets until their owners can take them back. They’ve had a good response for canine foster volunteers, and are in need of more people willing to foster cats.

Any support is welcome, if you can send gift cards for pet supply stores, or a donation of any kind, contact [email protected].

We would like to express profound thanks to Land Air Express for their part in transporting the latest donation. Your kindness is changing lives and CAP Logistics is proud to partner with you.

Social Giving in 2012 (Infographic)

2012 social giving represented in an infographic illustrating the impact that social media has on charitable donations.  Good news for the non-profit world!  Check out the original post at mdgadvertising.com.  

Infographic by MDG Advertising

Driving Force Radio - Global Citizenship

In today's world where teenagers are nose-to-gadget with their smartphones, iPads and social media everything, it may seem like they're connected to everyone on the planet.  In reality, they're only connected to the people they have encountered in their family, school and small social circles. In fact, it may be harder than ever for young people to become Citizens of the World, especially because they are Citizens of the WWW. Cristin Tarr of Business Service Corps is one mom who understands the importance of navigating the world with a sense of compassion, understanding, and an open heart. How do you instill that in your children? We at DFR are thrilled to explore that topic on this week's radio program - as Cristin introduces us to Children's International Summer Villages (CISV).

Think of CISV as summer camp with a passport. The program was founded in 1951 by Doris Twitchell Allen, a child psychologist who, at the time of the Cold War, was concerned about global unrest and threats to peace. She felt the only way to build peace was to reach children before bias and prejudice could be engrained.  She identified 11-year-olds as the age where kids are old enough to travel without their parents, and young enough to be free from prejudice. In an effort to promote intercultural understanding, she brought children together from around the world for a four-week summer program to learn from each other and encourage international friendships.  Today, CISV hosts about 50 villages each summer, as well as additional programs for older kids.

Our guests are two young people, Ian Tarr (yes, he's Cristin's son) who participated in his first Summer Village in Luxembourg this past summer, and Taylor Garner, who has traveled to Guatemala and Prague. They tell us about their experiences, bonding with their host families, camp activities, living and eating together with friends who become family.

Ian tells us, he is now Facebook friends with his CISV friends in other countries and even FaceTimes with some of them - sometimes while making brownies! More importantly, when there was a recent bombing in Israel, his immediate concern was for a friend he made last summer. That is the true meaning of Global Citizenship, to make the world a little smaller and our hearts broader.

You can listen to their stories this Saturday on Driving Force Radio, KNUS 710 at 10:00am.  (this episode airs January 5, 2013)

A Podcast is also available: http://www.talkzone.com/shows/199/icosa.html

Or watch our video version here:

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Colorado Gives Day: The Grow Haus

Everyone deserves a healthy meal. But in some communities, healthy food simply isn't available. The GrowHaus is a non-profit urban farm and education center dedicated to solving this problem.  Their mission is to create a community-driven, neighborhood-based food system by serving as a hub for food access, urban agriculture, education and job training.  

http://youtu.be/vScoKLeKXuA

Colorado gives Day: Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center

Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is a non-profit organization that is devoted to the rehabilitation and release of orphaned and injured wildlife. They are the largest wildlife rehabilitation center of this kind in Colorado, each year treating approximately 2,200 animals representing over 135 different wildlife species. http://youtu.be/3VBiUxVvWas

Colorado Gives Day: Flobots.org

Flobots.org is a site dedicated to helping at risk youth turn their lives around.  They are committed to bringing their proven methods of empowerment and behavioral modification through music to youth in Colorado who need it the most. Each year, they serve over 500 students in their for-credit and elective courses in Colorado high schools and youth residential treatment centers. http://youtu.be/Kjt1m6pBXxU

Colorado Gives Day: Bike Denver

BikeDenver is Denver’s bicycle advocacy organization and the leading non-profit to promote and encourage bicycling as an energy efficient, non-polluting, healthy and enjoyable transportation alternative in and around Denver. A group of Denver-based bicyclists responded to the identified need for a Denver-focused advocacy group to improve conditions and access for bicycling and increase the number of people who bike in the Denver community. The group formed under the name BikeDenver, and became the voice for resident and community needs. http://youtu.be/kzEdMci5POE

Colorado Gives Day: Big Brothers, Big Sisters

The Mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.  By partnering with parents/guardians, volunteers and others in the community we are accountable for each child in our program achieving, higher aspirations, greater confidence, and better relationships, and avoidance of risky behaviors. http://youtu.be/UFcsrnjMDsE