Community Engagement Archives

Meet Tina, Stand Advocacy Fellow

Community Engagement | 11/22/2023

Stand for Children

Stand for Children Colorado advances educational equity and racial justice in Colorado through meaningful partnerships with families, educators, schools, and policymakers. One of the ways we uphold this work is through our annual Advocacy Fellowship.

Stand for Children Colorado Advocacy Fellows are community leaders advocating for policy solutions towards racial justice and equity in education.  With the support of Stand staff, advocacy fellows will deep dive into issues affecting Colorado communities today, co-create solutions, democratize knowledge back to their communities, work to break down barriers to power and access decision makers, and, in the process, build long-lasting relationships and invaluable skills.

We are excited to introduce the 2023–2024 Fellows!

Meet Tina

What are you most excited about in this year’s fellowship? I can’t wait to see the impact and stand behind all the noise that this year’s fellows will make for change.
What is your favorite children’s book? The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
What do you love most about Colorado? I truly enjoy the weather and food here in Colorado!

Meet Lauren, Stand Advocacy Fellow

Community Engagement | 11/20/2023

Stand for Children

We are excited to introduce the 2023–2024 Fellows!

Meet Lauren

Lauren is a queer and non-binary alternative high school counselor and private practice therapist on a mission to drive innovation and foster cultural humility in the educational landscape. Armed with a B.S. in Sociology and an M.A. in Counseling Education, she is an advocate for change, driven by a profound desire to create a more equitable and just educational system. Beyond her professional roles, she volunteers as a Career Services Specialist at The Gathering Place, a daytime drop-in center for women, children, and members of the trans community experiencing poverty and/or homelessness. She is also deeply engaged in collaborative efforts with Stand for Children, working on policy initiatives and community organizing to advance educational equity and racial justice in Colorado.

1. What are you most excited about in this year’s fellowship?

I am the most excited about being allowed to continue learning from such impressive advocates and community organizers!

2. What is your favorite children’s book?

My favorite children’s book is Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall.

3. What do you love most about Colorado?

I love the fall and spring in Colorado!

Meet Lorelei, Stand Advocacy Fellow

In Their Own Words | 11/17/2023

Stand for Children

We are excited to introduce the 2023–2024 Fellows!

Meet Lorelei

What are you most excited about in this year’s fellowship? I am most excited to continue working with Stand members to get a better understanding of Colorado Law processes and procedures, as well as learning more about communication efforts regarding outreach and support for legislation.

What is your favorite children’s book? My favorite children’s book is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. I loved butterflies when I was younger. I even had a Monarch Butterfly Habitat that I was obsessed with, spurred on by this book.

What do you love most about Colorado? I love that city life is just a hop, skip, or jump away from the mountains. It is nice to have the great outdoors and mountain activities so close to my house without having to live in the mountains full time. I get the amenities of a city with the joy and adventure of the outdoors in one location.

Language Justice in DPS-Where Are We Now and Where Are We Headed

Community Engagement | 10/5/2023

Vallerie Bustamante Digital Organizing Manager

Our team continues to prioritize policy that advances language justice in Denver Public Schools. In May, the board adopted an ENDS statement that provides a long-term goal for the district around equity, that included language justice. Our language justice work in DPS has centered around improving the way that schools in Denver engage with families so that everyone –no matter their native language—can support their child’s education by engaging with their child’s school and teacher. Read about language justice below and learn about what may be next.

Please Weigh In: DPS Public Comment

Community Engagement | 10/4/2023

Natalie Perez DPS Parent and Community Organizer

My 7th grade son, Roman, and I went to the last Denver Public Schools board meeting to ask them to reconsider their recent change to limit public comment to two hours during their regular meetings.

You may have heard that the board announced that they would immediately start limiting how long parents, educators, and community members may address them during public comment sessions while they develop a policy for public comment moving forward.

Share Your Thoughts

We are asking YOU to share your thoughts on how you want the board to engage with their constituents.

We believe there is a solution that ensures there is time and space for the community to connect with their elected representatives and addresses long working hours for DPS staff. This feedback will be shared with DPS Board representatives so that YOUR voice and opinion can help them create an inclusive and equitable policy for public comment sessions.

Our Work Together Next Year -Please Weigh in!

Legislation | 09/22/2023

Krista Spurgin Executive Director

We spent time this summer in conversation with parents, educators, policymakers, and community members. Now our team has identified goals that build upon our impact in recent years and act on what we heard in listening sessions. Will you please weigh in on our plans?

Our Goals for Next Year:

Early Literacy
- Understanding how to better support educators to use the science of reading and evidence-based curriculums and practices in their literacy instruction.
Ninth Grade Success
- Expanding funding for the Ninth Grade Success Grant program.
Supportive Schools
- Promoting educator diversity by securing continued funding for policies that create equity in teacher preparation and alternative pathways to enter the workforce.
Justice System Reform
- Helping prevent recidivism in our justice system by updating probation and parole supervision to include remote check-in options.
- Expanding access to criminal record sealing for non-violent offenses, helping to remove barriers to housing and employment.
- Reducing unjust fees for incarcerated individuals and their families.

We cannot do this work alone – we need your help! Read more about our priorities and let us know which ones you are interested in working with us to advance.

A Parent’s Perspective on This Year’s Impact Agenda

Legislation | 08/22/2023

Stand for Children

As a Stand fellow, I have been able to gain insight on how the Stand team works with the community to ensure that the policies they advocate for are ones that make schools and the overall community a more equitable and just environment. I appreciate that Stand has been a conduit for advancing policies that families and educators have input on.

As a recent graduate of a master’s in social work, I have witnessed the shift within the Colorado education system to include a focus on a holistic approach where physical and mental health is seen as a crucial component of child development. I understand the intersectionality of issues and inequities our education and court system play, thus I am excited to tell you more about what the team has set out to accomplish this year.

In the upcoming school year and legislative session, Stand is prioritizing work that will:

Early Literacy | Understand need so we can better support educators to use the science of reading and evidence-based curriculums and practices in their literacy instruction.
High School Success | Expand funding for the Ninth Grade On-Track grant program, to see continued growth and improvement in on-time high school graduations
Justice System Reform | Help prevent recidivism in our justice system by updating probation and parole supervision to include remote check-in options and expanding access/increase eligibility for criminal record sealing
Justice System Reform | Reduce unjust fees for incarcerated individuals and their families.
Supportive Schools | Promote educator diversity by securing continued funding for policies that create equity in teacher preparation and alternative pathways to enter the workforce.
Supportive Schools | Continue the work for the Language Justice policy of Denver Public Schools to be fully realized in school buildings
Supportive Schools | Promote community engagement and participation in the creation of a transparent and informative dashboard in Denver Public Schools

Each time that I’ve participated in legislative sessions, I feel well supported and the folks at Stand make the process much less intimidating. So, I encourage you to learn more about the work that interests you the most, by filling out this form. I hope to work with you as we fight for educational and youth justice in our community.

Tell us what interests you

Pamela Kaspar

Advocacy Fellow

What We Heard From Our Community Listening Sessions

Community Engagement | 08/21/2023

Stand for Children

[This photo is from a Stand community conversation in 2019]

The Stand team wholeheartedly believes that to create meaningful change, we must LISTEN. We hear and feel time and time again that decisions are made without consulting with the community that will be impacted the most, therefore we try to provide spaces for our community to speak and raise their questions or concerns about their lived experiences and what they witness in education and more broadly in our communities.

After digesting our legislative and local wins, like every year the Stand team took a step back and hosted listening sessions for the community to inform the impact we want to make in the future. Participants/Attendees consisted of educators, families, current students, alumni, and higher-ed educators from all over Colorado.

There were three questions posed to guide the conversation:

When you think about education in Colorado, what worries you? What would you want to see improved? What is working?

Some of the concerns raised about education in Colorado were teacher burnout, lack of social and emotional learning in the classroom, inequitable use of funds and lack of family engagement.

“What worries me is the teacher turnover rate and the fact that they are being asked to do things in addition to their teaching jobs.”
Pamela, parent and Stand fellow, raising her concern on why she thinks teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate

Community mentioned that what is working is the hard work and effort teachers are demonstrating as they juggle everything to provide the best educational experience for all students.

“What is working is our schools, our teachers, and our staff at schools really care about our kids– like really, really care. The people that are there are working so hard.”
Leah, parent, giving praise to our educators and staff for their work

When you think about education, what can be improved in your school climate? Think about things like do you feel welcome, how are the discipline practices and do your kids have access to mental health services?

Community called out the need to minimize class sizes to improve school’s climate for families, students, and teachers. They also stated the need for more multi-lingual/bilingual school personnel to ensure families and students feel welcome. An abundant of community members also named that the mental health providers in schools tend to not have capacity for students that are facing mental or emotional challenges, so although the resources are present— they are not accessible.

“When they [paras] are not there, the wheels come off, then we start pulling people for coverage all over the place and the whole deal is to get through day and to becomes a survival game and not a productive game.”
Ryan, Elementary School Educator talking about her concerns with large class sizes with little to no support or resources

“Se que mamas no van a las reuniones cuando les dicen pero estan bien por eso porque tal vez tienen temor que le vayan a hablar en ingles y no vayan a entender lo que van a decir. | I know that moms don’t go to the meetings when they are told, and for good reason. Maybe they are scared they will only be speaking in English and they won’t understand what is being communicated to them”
Maybelline, parent and Stand fellow expresses her concern about language barriers being a real reason why families do not get involved

When you think about safe community and our criminal justice system, what worries you? What would you want to see improved? What is working?

There were concerns mentioned about Colorado’s criminal justice system and the approach on safe communities by addressing gun violence and bullying.

“There is a lot of focus in safety in schools [right now], but I wonder if what we are doing is something that makes us feel better or if it’s really going to work, like SROs—is bringing them back going to make us feel better or going to work?”
Tami, parent of DPS student and PTO member of her student’s school

Other concerns were raised such as lack of technology or internet access, rural schools and their dire need for educators, school funding formula, the discipline matrix, and implicit bias in educators. Some concerns will be directly addressed in our policy goals, while others we will address with partner with organizations experienced in addressing bullying or technology issues.

Nonetheless, we are excited to announce that we will be working towards making impactful changes this upcoming year through our impact agenda. We will be posting more details about our plans, so keep an eye out!

Language justice win in DPS

Safe and Supportive Schools and Communities | 06/30/2023

Vallerie Bustamante Digital Organizing Manager

Language Justice is defined as a commitment to ensuring all voices are heard and understood in the process of community engagement. It is more than having access to translators and interpreters, it is a practice to create inclusive and equitable spaces so that community, families, students, and staff can participate in the language of their heart.

Language Justice has been a practice Stand for Children strives to deliver in all spaces we hold for community. We believe that if people communicate and understand content in the language of their heart, power is secured to make meaningful change. Even though Stand works hard to attain all resources, like interpreters, translators, translations, and equipment to deliver a language just space, we recognize that there are other spaces that families attend that might not uphold the same practice. To ensure that we are promoting positive and equitable changes in institutions that surround our community, the Stand team set their eyes on securing a policy add-on about language justice in Denver Public School (DPS) policy.

We are thrilled to announce that after months of collaboration, learning, and relationship-building, Language Justice was added as a priority as an ENDS statement that talks about equity in Denver Public Schools (DPS). ENDS statements are “description of the long-term goals for the district”. This statement was approved by the DPS board of education on May 18, 2023.’

ENDS 1 – Equity
DPS will be a district that is free of oppressive systems and structures rooted in racism and one which centers students and team members with a focus on racial and educational equity, enabling students to ultimately become conscientious global citizens and collaborative leaders.
DPS has a collective responsibility to uphold the practice of Racial Equity, and Educational and Language Justice in all of its forms by honoring language and culture as fundamental human rights. We will achieve equity when we identify and remove deeply rooted systems of oppression that have historically resulted in inequitable access and distribution of opportunities and resources for those who represent marginalized identities, including but not limited to race, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language and ability.
DPS ends 1.0 policy

Although this was a clear achievement, and we applaud the board for their leadership, we will be working to ensure the promise of this statement is reached and felt by the community by holding DPS accountable in practicing their policy. We are still working on the implementation factor to address the inequities we see and hear about so much when it comes to language accessibility.

We would like to thank the DPS staff and Board members that guided and advocated for Language Justice and look forward to monitoring and improving the practice in all spaces DPS holds. Sign a thank you note to the board!

Thank the DPS Board

Top Legislative Priorities Now Law

Legislation | 06/8/2023

Bri Buentello Government Affairs Director

Yesterday marked the end of the 30-day period for Governor Polis to sign into law the bills that were passed during the 2023 legislative session. We are thrilled to tell you that all of our top priority bills have been signed into law.

Below you will find updates on the policy priorities we shared prior to the legislative session focused on advancing educational equity, youth and racial justice in Colorado, and making our schools and communities safer and more supportive.

We would be remiss if we didn’t, once again, thank the many advocates, partners, and policy makers we worked alongside to bring these policies to fruition.

Parents, educators and community leaders participated in listening sessions to identify needs and policy solutions, engaged with lawmakers, testified before committees and shared their experiences with members of the media. Hundreds of advocates sent thousands of emails to policymakers and 27 shared their lived experiences in testimony before committees nearly 60 times.

These impactful policy changes will mean more and better support for Colorado students and educators. They represent steps toward safer and more supportive schools and communities for all Coloradans.

Stand’s 2023 Top Legislative Priorities

Updates on our 2023 top policy priorities:

Expand funding for the Ninth Grade On-Track Program.

HB23-1231, Math in Pre-Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade, supports math educators with evidence-based training and interventions to help K- 12th-grade students struggling in math. Importantly, this bill includes $1.6 million for the Ninth Grade Success Grant program to help ensure that more Colorado students finish their 9th-grade year on track and graduate high school prepared for post-secondary success. Status: Signed into law!

Remove barriers to support teaching candidates, expanding and diversifying the educator workforce.

HB23-1001, Expanding Assistance For Educator Programs, a continuation of HB22-1220, expands eligibility for financial assistance and offers loan forgiveness to a larger pool of educators who qualify for state programs. Status: Signed into law!

HB23-1064, Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, creates a compact to make it easier for active-duty military spouses to transfer their teaching licenses without further testing, thereby allowing them to teach in Colorado classrooms faster. Status: Signed into law!

SB23-087, Teacher Degree Apprenticeship Program, creates a teacher degree apprenticeship program as an alternative route to teacher licensure and helps to alleviate the educator shortage. Status: Signed into law!

Ensure equitable school funding.

SB23-099, Special Education Funding, increases Special Education Funding by $40,203, 671. Status: Signed into law!

Eliminate the practice of lying to juveniles during interrogation.

HB23-1042, Admissibility Standards For Juvenile Statements, increases funding for interrogation training for law enforcement, as well as improves the general reliability of confessions by requiring all juvenile interrogations to be recorded. Status: Signed into law!

Cap the cost of phone calls from prison or jail.

HB23-1133, Cost Of Phone Calls for Persons In Custody, mandates that the Department of Corrections (DOC) provide communications services to persons in DOC custody in a correctional facility or private prison. Status: Signed into law!

OTHER KEY BILLS WE WORKED TO ADVANCE THAT ARE NOW LAW

HB23-1003, School Mental Health Assessment, creates the sixth through twelfth-grade mental health assessment program.

HB23-1168, Legal Representation and Students with Disabilities, requires CDE to create and maintain a list of attorneys qualified to represent a parent in a due process complaint and creates a fund to pay attorneys defending parents against due process complaints filed by an education provider.

HB23-1223, Task Force to Prioritize Grants Target Population, creates a task force to establish shared goals and guidelines for prioritizing new and existing grant money to reduce youth violence, suicide, and delinquency risk factors.

HB23-1249, Reduce Justice Involvement for Young Children, funds the expansion of existing local Collaborative Management Programs (CMP) statewide to serve 10-12-year-old children that come into contact with law enforcement and child victims with support from the Department of Human Services.

HB23-1263, Translating Individualized Education Programs, permits the multidisciplinary team that creates an individualized education program (IEP) for a child, who may be eligible for special education services, to translate the IEP draft documents into the dominant language spoken in the home of the child’s parent, guardian, or legal custodian.

HB23-1290, Proposition EE Funding Retention Rate Reduction, refers a ballot issue to the voters at the November 7, 2023, statewide election to allow the state to retain and spend state revenues that would otherwise need to be refunded. If voters approve the ballot measure: the money set aside will be transferred to the preschool programs cash fund and the general fund and the nicotine tax will stay at the rates required by proposition EE.

HB23-1291, Procedures For Expulsion Hearing Officers, addresses due process rights for students by mandating the sharing of evidence during an expulsion hearing, prohibiting conflicts of interest for the hearing officer, as well as requiring annual training regarding student development, restorative justice, and special education and the law.

SB23-004,  Employment Of School Mental Health Professionals,  authorizes a school district to employ health professionals, who are not licensed by the Colorado Department of Education but hold a Colorado license for their profession.

SB23-039, Reduce Child And Incarcerated Parent Separation, requires the Department of Human Services to prioritize and facilitate communication and family time between children and their parents who are incarcerated.

SB-23-287, Public School Finance, increases the statewide base per pupil funding for the 2023-24 budget year by $598.25 (to account for inflation) and creates a public-school finance task force.

HB23-1100, Restrict County Jail Contracts with ICE, prevents the state from contracting with a private company to detain individuals for federal immigration purposes and begins a review process of these contracts over the next two years.