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CAP Logistics Holiday Party - JORDANS Gillette, WY
Over 150 people gathered to celebrate at JORDANS, one of Gillette, Wyoming’s premiere eateries on a frigid December night. Hosts CAP Logistics, John and Jordan Fischer, along with the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce welcomed partygoers and Christmas revelers in from the negative temperatures for food, dancing and cheer.
As supporters of Gillette’s economic vitality and its town culture, the hosts celebrated individuals along with businesses intrinsically tied to Gillette’s successful industries, which include but are not limited to mining as well as oil and natural gas. While others may have been frozen in their tracks, this bunch truly enjoyed the festivities and helped usher in the celebratory Christmas season giving thanks with peers in their town.
See and share the photos on our facebook album here
Happy Photoshop Phriday
With the recent snow here in Colorado, ICOSA is getting pumped up for some of that sweet pow pow. For this week's Photoshop Phriday, we present Slalom Cat.
Do you have photoshop skills and an "out-there" sense of creativity? Like us on facebook and post your creations for a chance to win prizes and be featured next Friday! You can also send your submission directly to TimB(at)icosamedia.com
The America Cup helps adaptive anglers
The America Cup International Fly Fishing Tournament is a catch and release, fly-fishing tournament with International, U.S., Men's, Women's, Youth and Adaptive anglers competing on the best trout waters in Colorado. 5 person teams compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals and The Cup. The tournament is organized and operated to promote U.S. and international competition in the sport of fly fishing and to provide program and monetary support to Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, whose mission is to assist in the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active duty military personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying education and outings. [youtube width="600" height="400" video_id="2oLMhgBTz1E"]
Connect & Collaborate - Camp Experience
If you've ever wondered if there's a summer camp for grown-ups, there is. It's even better because there is no exposure to mosquitoes, you don't have to row a canoe, unless you want to, and you don't have to sleep in a tent. It's called Camp Experience, and it's targeted at professional women who don't necessarily care to get any nature on them! This week on Connect & Collaborate, Jan Mazotti talks with Betsy Wiersma, Founder of Camp Experience, an Educational Retreat for Women.
The camp is a weekend of education, inspiration and connection at the Keystone Resort where "campers" can expect to be pampered and plied with gifts, and wine. Ready to sign up?
While it's a great opportunity to get away, relax and unwind with other professional women, there is ample alone time, and lots of activities. Whatever suits your mood. There is a full schedule of keynote presentations, workshops, networking activities, shopping, and spa services, as well as amazing adventures.
Activities include sewing, jewelry-making, and painting. Adventures include Fly fishing, hiking, self-defense and sport shooting. All the while, building friendships with other brilliant women and making connections. Proceeds from all on-site Bow-tique sales and donations benefit charity partners, raising $209,000 for charities the past eight years.
Camp Experience 2013 runs October 4-6, to register for camp, visit their website. ICOSA listeners will receive a $100 discount by contacting [email protected] - just mention RADIO. (Discount not available through online registration, contact Niki via email.)
To learn even more about the empowerment of taking a breath to relax and be open to what the world can teach you, listen to the entire program Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine.
Connect & Collaborate - ARC Anniversary & Doing Good
Here at ICOSA we believe in doing well by doing good - and this week's guest has that concept down to a science. ARC Thrift Stores do so much more, beyond supporting organizations that assist the intellectually and developmentally disabled. They do it by employing the disabled, by keeping 20 million pounds of waste from going into landfills, and by serving the 3.2 million people who shop at ARC's 22 stores in Colorado. To be fair, that's only part of the story. This week Jan Mazotti talks with Frances Owens, former First Lady of Colorado and now the Community Relations Director for ARC Thrift Stores.
ARC celebrates their 45th anniversary this year, culminating in their signature Starfish and Dreams Fundraising Gala, Friday September 20th. This special event honors the many ARC Ambassadors and will feature a fashion review, showcasing ensembles curated only from ARC clothing donations. Mark your calendars for a great celebration!
In the realm of donation based thrift stores, ARC is a gem. Conceived as a great social enterprise to fund programs for the disabled, ARC benefits the community in a myriad of ways. Primarily, ARC's mission is to raise money in their retail stores, which is then distributed to support agencies for the intellectually and developmentally disabled. ARC is also one of the largest employers of people with disabilities in the state of Colorado. By collecting donations of unwanted clothes and household items, ARC is able to divert millions of pounds of waste from Colorado landfills - taking the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra to heart.
ARC also encourages other businesses to hire the disabled for simple job positions. Frances Owens tells us that without these employment opportunities, many disabled adults would be sitting at home, frustrated and watching television. Instead, even the simplest job, provides them a sense of purpose, pride in their work, and the benefit of the socialization that working provides.
To support the disabled in their careers, last year ARC University was established, which offers both fun and educational courses for ARC Ambassadors, on topics such as Financial Literacy, How to Navigate Public Transportation, Music Appreciation, Yoga Classes and even how to tie-dye t-shirts.
Learn more about the services connected to ARC and how you can help just by shopping! Listen Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine
Kimbal Musk Interview
Kimbal Musk discusses:
- Starting The Kitchen
- Space X
- The Learning Gardens
- His secret to success
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Kimbal:
Starting a company and making it successful is like chewing glass and looking into the abyss. It is the hardest thing you could ever do.
My joke is; if not for the physical trauma, I highly recommend a psychological awakening.
If you do something you love, there is no such thing as failure.
Okay Startup People~ We want to hear from you! Are you doing work you love? Does it feel like chewing a glass sandwich? Can you relate to Kimbal's advice? What's the best bit of advice you've ever heard?
If you enjoyed this interview, please share it with your friends & colleagues and make sure to check out lots of other great interviews and articles on our blog. www.Icosa.co
Connect & Collaborate - Innovative Solutions
In this week’s Connect & Collaborate we talk with Connie Williams, the General Managing Partner and Chief Knowledge Officer for Synecticsworld which studies how people really create and invent things, what makes them successful and what doesn’t, to develop a clear problem solving approach. Synecticsworld helps others See with New Eyes to gather insight for marketing and innovative strategy.
Synecticsworld works with organizations and businesses to unleash creativity, enabling them to explore the possibilities of the Synectics Process. There are more than 50 years of research behind Synecticsworld’s innovative thinking.
Connie says she studies studies how people create and invent things and then helps them to be successful.
By learning about the motivation and of those customers and consumers, she then ties words to that motivation . To understand them and their needs, anticipate what their needs are, before they are consciously aware of it.
Connie describes it as code-cracking – gathering input to get underneath and find out what they really want from a solution and look for new combinations in the day to day.
Tune in for the entire episode to hear Connie’s anecdotes from working with companies like Duracell, Staples and Subway and Synecticsworld’s ability to get a competitive advantage. Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine
Adoption Options Wine Tasting
There are approximately 700 children without families in Colorado.
More than half of the children waiting in foster care for adoptive homes are over 8 years old. Each year, nearly 30,000 children linger in foster care and leave the system as an adult without a permanent family. If a child emancipates from the foster care system without a family, they are 48% more likely to become homeless within 18 months.
In 32 years of operation, Adoption Options has placed over 1,500 children in safe, loving homes, but not without friends and supporters like you. Please join us at our Fall Wine Tasting Fundraiser on Thursday, September 12th at Balistreri Vineyards. All proceeds will go to Adoption Options’ Foster to Adopt program to ensure Colorado kids waiting in the foster care system find their forever families.
Every child is adoptable and every child deserves a safe, loving and permanent family.
We need you to help us make this change, register http://conta.cc/19kuOPW
Connect & Collaborate - Providing Necessities
Providing clean water and proper sanitation to villages in Africa is no small task. In 1995, Charles Banda dedicated himself to the cause, founding Freshwater Malawi to serve his people by supplying safe drinking water and preventing disease among the poorest in his country. Jan Mazotti had the honor of meeting and interviewing Mr. Banda last October. This week, we learned that Charles Banda died unexpectedly, after a recent diagnosis of liver cancer. He leaves behind his wife, three children and a legacy of many lives that were saved and changed by his efforts with Freshwater Malawi.
In his honor, we bring you the interview once again. We hope you are inspired by his passion and the incredible work being done to bring clean water to the poorest countries. The organization is widely respected throughout the country, where 24 out of 28 districts have conducted water and sanitation projects. Freshwater Malawi focuses their efforts exclusively in the country of Malawi and Freshwater International helps with support to Malawi and eventually to bring the same efforts and success to other countries. The goal is to address one country at a time, learn from each effort and move on until all of Africa is supplied with safe water and sanitation.
We hope you'll listen this program and if you are moved, donate to help Freshwater Malawi sustain their efforts.
If you would like to learn more about the Freshwater Malawi project, look for the documentary film Water First: Reaching the Millennium Development Goals which highlights the importance of clean water in relieving poverty and empowering people. You'll also find an article in ICOSA magazine about Freshwater Malawi and maternal/child health.
While many people take safe drinking water for granted, 884 million people worldwide do not have clean water. 40% of rural Malawians rely on unsafe water.
In our second half hour of Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA we return closer to home
It's the start of a new school year which means parents are scrambling to buy school supplies - and teachers are scanning their budgets to buy school supplies. Many teachers end up spending close to $1000 of their own money each year to supplement classroom supplies. That's why, in the second half of today's show we're talking with Stephanie Welsh, the Executive Director of RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching).
While RAFT doesn't necessarily supply pencils and erasers, it is a source for all kinds of materials that inspire hands-on teaching and learning. 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 Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine
GLI Opens Entusi Resort Center in Uganda
PRESS RELEASE
On August 6th, 2013, the Global Livingston Institute officially opened and launched the Entusi Resort and Retreat Center along with 28 students and community leaders from the United States at Lake Bunyonyi in Southern Uganda. Over 250 local residents and community leaders including over 70 leaders from the Entusi Women’s Association attended the opening celebrations.
Entusi Resort and Retreat Center: GLI at Lake Bunyonyi acts as a forum for the growing dialogue in social and economic progress within the local and international community at large while providing the space for everyone to experience the natural beauties of Uganda. Consistent with the GLI Mission to positively impact the health and vitality of communities in East Africa and inform GLI participants through research, exchange of ideas and knowledge sharing, Entusi creates a space for this to happen for both the local and international community that it serves.
Jamie Van Leeuwen, Executive Director of the Global Livingston Institute, said “We built this center to create a space for everyone. We are building reciprocal relationships with our partners in East Africa and are eager to change the dialogue on international development.”
Modeled after the Rockefeller Bellagio Retreat Center, the concept is to provide a creative and innovative working space in the Bunyonyi region for travelers, students and community leaders from all around the world to convene to address complex social issues. More importantly, this retreat center is designed to serve as an incubator for learning where the students, community leaders and local partners will work together to reinvest in the Lake Bunyonyi community through education, health, public management and arts and culture. Regan, a local Ugandan who manages the center said, “Never before has our community been so excited for something. Everyone knows about Entusi and they know that this is our project led by our own community.”
The center is funded through support from private foundations, corporations and individuals. The entire project was developed using local labor and supplies, employing over 150 Ugandans in the building of the center and providing 18 local Ugandans with fulltime employment to operate the center. The Executive Director of the center and a native of Pueblo Colorado, Matthew Bravo, speaks to the impact that Entusi is having on the local community. “The people who live and work in this rural part of Uganda know that there is something different and innovative about how this center is engaging and activating the local community. Everyone is welcome and they want to be a part of it,” Bravo said.
Built in less than nine months through the generous support of the Colorado foundation community and local philanthropists, Entusi hosted a Women’s Leadership Retreat in June along with the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver, the Buechner Institute for Governance and Makerere University where 33 participants engaged in a dialogue around investing in women’s leadership in East Africa. The State Department recently awarded a grant to Entusi to convene Fulbright Scholars and Hubert Humphrey Alumnae in October 2013.
According to Peter Beaupre, President & COO of PCL Construction and a strong supporter of the Global Livingston Institute, “We are excited about the way this unique organization is engaging students and community leaders from Colorado and Uganda to think differently about how we identify innovative solutions to poverty and impact change.”
Other key sponsors include the Anna and John J. Sie Foundation, the Bohemian Foundation, the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, FirstBank, Hewlett-Packard, the Kenneth King Foundation, the Morgridge Family Foundation, the Schaden Family Foundation, and Suncor.
About the Global Livingston Institute
The Global Livingston Institute (GLI) is rapidly growing and developing collaborative partnerships in both East Africa and in the United States. The Global Livingston Institute (GLI) is named after Johnston R. Livingston, a visionary, entrepreneur and philanthropist from Colorado. The Institute was founded in 2009, by Jamie Van Leeuwen after he traveled to Uganda and Rwanda as part of the Livingston Fellowship he received from Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. The mission of the GLI is to positively impact the health and vitality of communities in East Africa and inform GLI participants through research, exchange of ideas and knowledge sharing.
To achieve this mission we believe we must: Listen. Think. Act. For more information or to support the work of the Global Livingston Institute, contact John Pirkopf ([email protected]) or visit www.GlobalLivingston.org.
Media Contact
Jamie Van Leeuwen
Executive Director, Global Livingston Institute
720.272.4886
Connect & Collaborate - Right Person, Right Job
Imagine you're at work, doing a good job by doing your best - and one day, someone walks into your office and suggests you should be in a different position. You're an engineer and they want to put you in marketing. Would you think they flipped their lid? Or would you consider it? The real question is, "What do they see in you?" Possibly something you've never considered.
Michael Simpson, Founder and CEO of Pairin, made that suggestion to an employee. It seemed a bit crazy, but that employee admits it was a fitting change! That situation led Simpson to realize he can help people be placed in the right job, where they feel fulfilled and valued, which is best for their employer as well.
This week on Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA, Jan Mazotti and Kelly de la Torre talk with Micheal Simpson about how Pairin helps companies find the right employees.
"One of the things I've discovered in coaching people over the last decade is that businesses and individuals really compromise too much." Simpson says, "They believe that there just isn't a job out there that is right for me. Every job has it's negatives, but what we find is that when a person is connected into their position and into the company and the values of the company, that passion erupts within them. And they don't get as tired, they have actually better health, they have much better relationships and the domino effect that occurs when someone's work is better suited to them is that their relationship with their family is better, their health , all of these types of things. Most of all the business's bottom line is (better)."
The catch is, the applicant can't necessarily make that decision for themselves, because they don't know the dynamics - the strengths and weaknesses of the company. As Simpson says, "The company needs to be responsible to keep someone out of a job they are not well suited for."
As if it's not complicated enough to sift through more than one hundred resumes trying to determine what's true and what is too good to be true. That's why many companies turn to Pairin to qualify candidates and help with the interview process.
You'll have to listen to the entire Connect & Collaborate program to hear how they do it, and how Pairin can help prevent employee turnover and often millions of dollars in training costs for some companies. Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine
Connect & Collaborate - Supply Chain Transparency
Every bit of technology and modern convenience we find in our daily lives - from the internal parts of our coffee maker, or clock radio to the precious metals inside an electronic tablet, has a history. A history in the supply chain that leads each part to your home, from such varied and far off distances and circumstances, that if you knew the details, you might have made an entirely different decision. But how can you ever know the story? How can you know whether the ingredients that make up your cell phone, for example, came from dangerous places around the world where people die over conflict minerals, or are the minerals are mined in unsustainable ways, or support regimes that are responsible for genocide?
We've talked about Corporate Social Responsibility before on Connect & Collaborate - but today's program focuses on CSR in the electronics and technology field, something we all can relate to as consumers if not as corporations. Join Jan Mazotti and Kelly de la Torre for a conversation with Joe Verrengia, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Arrow, a global provider of electronics and solutions.
Verrengia explains that Arrow doesn't actually make any particular products. Instead, they source parts to hundreds of thousands of manufacturers and other clients who make the products we purchase. As such, Arrow has an obligation to report the supply chain of the metals and rare earth minerals that make up each component.
They may come from places that are not friendly to the United States, or that are competitive to us. Or from countries where people have been subject to genocide,
"We have to make sure the money you spend isn't going to support those regimes." says Joe Verrengia.
Every sourcing detail must be reported to audit and accounting companies. Beyond that, Arrow maintains self-reporting efforts that examine sustainability efforts through a Global Reporting Initiative.
Recycling initiatives have their own complications. Much illegal electronics recycling is done in third world countries where young children break components apart with hammers, and melting the precious metals out of the components over open flame which is dangerous for both the environment and those children's health.
The efforts to uncover the source of all these parts is not only to foster goodwill, but to save lives as well thwart evil regimes. In the end, we the consumers can rest assured that our desire for first world conveniences have not inflicted great cost in third world countries.
Arrow's efforts are spread here in the U.S. as well - to supporting STEM curriculum and education and funding kits for Boy Scouts who want to earn science and technology merit badges, but can't afford the materials for those projects. Involvement in these programs helps kids who are interested in STEM fields while they're learning, getting them ready for the work force in the future.
To learn more about Corporate Social Responsibility and Arrow's efforts toward transparency in the supply chain, listen to the entire Connect & Collaborate program this Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine
Connect & Collaborate - Building Your Personal Brand
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.
This week, we're pleased to bring you a repeat performance of our interview with 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 tune in Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – or download our podcast – available this coming Monday – you’ll find it embedded at the top of this article or on the KNUS podcast page.
Lida's book - Reputation 360 - is available in the LIDA360 Store on her website.
Cimco Cares, Armed Forces Family Fun Day
CIMCO Cares Presents Armed Forces Family Fun Day
A day of thanks for the service & sacrifice of our veterans & active duty personnel to enjoy with their families & friends.
Saturday, June 15th, 2013
12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
The Streets at SouthGlenn
University Blvd. & Arapahoe Rd. in Centennial, CO
In front of the South Metro Denver Chamber Center
Entertainment includes The Bluzinators, and a very , very special guest duo...
ALSO
Face Painting, Sno Kones, Balloon Animals, Food, Cotton Candy, Bounce Castles, Games, Prizes & Surprises
RSVP required to Mona McConnell
[email protected] or 303-577-8230
Connect & Collaborate - Sanctuary for Refugees
Here in the United States, some of the greatest challenges we face amount to suffering through unemployment, or worse... having our home wiped out by a tornado or hurricane. But even in such circumstances we're quick to recover. There's government assistance, charitable contributions. At some point, we build a new house or finally find a new job. Our trials are not insurmountable. By contrast, in other countries, citizens may risk their lives simply by speaking out against the government or expressing religious preferences, or suffer the travesty of ethnic cleansing. It's no surprise that those people would flee their countries and start a new life somewhere else.
Some of those refugees end up here in Denver where they are welcome, and greeted with support systems.
On this week's Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA radio program, you'll meet Jennifer Gueddiche and Matt Watts of the African Community Center, Joe Wismann-Horther of the Colorado Department of Human Services and Sisay Teklu of Community Enterprise Development Services.... all organizations the help settle refugees starting over in Denver.
The African Community Center opened in Denver in the Spring of 2001, and began resettling refugees from the Sudan. Since then they have welcomed refugees from other countries, helping them rebuild safe and sustainable lives here, through the support of networks of people, services and community activities.
From the moment they arrive at DIA, there are five years of services, support and programs to help them make a smooth transition. This includes access to education, government services and employment training.
Jennifer's most poignant memory goes back to the first family she ever picked up at the airport, back when we could meet travelers at the gate. "I was sent out to meet a family, and it didn't quite hit me what I was doing." she recalls, "I just saw the look in her eyes, of complete fear, and then when she saw me and saw the sign with her name on it, I saw the relief in her eyes. To this day, it's why I do this work. That could have been me."
Together with the Colorado Department of Human Services, which also coordinates integration services among multiple agencies, and Community Enterprise Development Services which helps refugees to obtain financial independence through home and business ownership, entrepreneurship and business loans - many families are able to settle into a new life and work toward the American Dream.
To hear more, 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.
World Refugee Day activities run extensively from June 11 - June 23 - go to www.ACC-DEN.org to view their calendar and find out how to get involved with the celebration as well as how to become a First Friend.
Connect & Collaborate - Women Helping Women
A beautiful solution to a life-long challenge in Afghanistan. How to provide sustainable income to Afghan women with few skills and fewer options. Enter Connie Duckworth.
Shortly after she retired from a distinguished career, a friend called Connie to say she’d put her name, “…in for something.” Something was a bi-partisan commission for Afghan women, and the State Department was looking for a business representative. Connie was inspired.
It took some stops and starts, but eventually it was clear that they should capitalize on the Afghan women’s incredible rug weaving skills, which just happens to be the only culturally acceptable paid work for women there, and target a socially-conscience consumer market. ARZU Studio Hope was born.
Duckworth talks about the challenges, successes, and flat-out serendipity surrounding this wonderful organization, on this special repeat presentation of Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA.
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.
You’ll also find Jan Mazotti’s interview with Connie Duckworth in the Winter 2012 issue of ICOSA Magazine (V0lume 4 Issue 4 /Page 86)
Learn more about Arzu Studio Hope and the beautiful work they do - visit their website at www.ArzuStudioHope.org where you can order beautiful rugs for your home or business with confidence that your money is doing good.
Connect & Collaborate - Sustainabity for SMEs
Sometimes sustainability practices can seem a bit out of reach for smaller companies. Without staff dedicated to researching energy efficient light bulbs, or employee-friendly health plans, some of the efforts a business would like to make, must be pushed aside just to get business done. Martha Young and Graham Russell are creating a blueprint of sorts for small and mid-sized companies to manage their own sustainability without reinventing the wheel. They've created Sustainabilty4SMEs.com to gather and share some of the best practices for sustainability.
As our guests for Connect & Collaborate this week, they explain that sustainabilty is not philantropy. Rather, it's looking after the things upon which your business depends, as well as making a contribution to conserving the natural resources we all depend upon.
Sustainability means organizing and conducting business activities in such a way that the negative impact is reduced to a minimum or eliminated entirely. It starts with using resources more effieceiently, trying to use fewer natural resources and raw materials to achieve the same level of output.
Learn more about sustainability for SMEs by visiting www.Sustainability4SMEs.com, take the survey and look for results.
And of course, 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 - Cultural Exchange
When Denver was settled from the wild west, as the gold rush made it's way through uncharted territory, it was likely inhabited by some rough and crusty characters. Some folks probably still think our city is rough around the edges and uncultured. But they would be wrong. Sure, we love our time in the mountains and our many professional sports teams - but Denver is also home to one of the largest performing arts centers in the country, highly esteemed museums and a bustling art culture. Beyond that, everyone in Denver is from someplace else - which speaks to our diversity. So in this week's Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA Radio program, we take a look at two incredible cultural programs.
Jan Mazotti and Community Matters Co-host Cristin Tarr speak first with Denise Gliwa of I Sing Beijing, a vocal arts organization bringing new experiences, new languages and new talent to the world from Denver.
It's a relatively new program, now in it's third year, which originated from Asian Performing Arts of Colorado. Before long it was recognized that opera and music was booming in China but not in the West. Soon, I Sing Beijing became the first program ever, bringing western singers to China for training in lyrical Mandarin. The organization brings Chinese and Western singers together singing songs from both cultures. It's a true cultural exchange program.
Each year, they audition singers, who then enter a full scholarship program to train in Shanghai, along with an intensive Mandarin language study. The program is now in it's third year and the performers are invited all over the world to sing. You'll have to listen to the radio program to find out how some ended up singing and studying with Placido Damingo.
In the second half hour we talk to Andrea Barela of Newsed - a community development corporation that started as New Westside Economic Development in 1973. Newsed's mission is to promote and develop economic arts, cultural and community programs that revive incomes, education levels and political engagement for Denver area residents. This is accomplished in part, by reviving neighborhoods. Specifically the Santa Fe Drive business corridor, which eventually became a state designated art district, thanks to efforts to improve the blighted area with beautification projects, renovation and architectural guidelines.
Those improvements, taken on 40 years ago, lead to a vibrant community and thriving business district. In 1985 the Santa Fe Drive business corridor began hosting an annual Cinco de Mayo event - which in turn became so popular and well attended, that it moved to Denver's Civic Center Park in 1995. Now it's the second largest two-day Cinco de Mayo festival in the nation. Most attendees are return visitors from years before, and the event draws nearly 400,000 visitors regionally and from around the country.
These developments are a great example of investment in cultural diversity, where people unite in celebration.
Don't forget - Denver's Cinco de Mayo event is this weekend at Civic Center Park. Visit www.cincodemayodenver.com for more information on events and music.
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.
A Message from Peter Yarrow to the Rotary International Members of Colorado
© Photo by Darryl Watson Peter Yarrow, the prolific singer/songwriter who found fame with the 1960's trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, is now pursuing a initiative to combat violence and intolerance in schools with his program entitled Operation Respect. His curriculum incorporates the Don't Laugh At Me Program, which teaches children tolerance and respect for each other's differences. ICOSA had the pleasure of hosting Yarrow for a live in studio session where he spoke to the Rotary International Members of Colorado.
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