The LWVD Newsletter
May 2022 | Annual Meeting
Saturday, May 14
9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Join by Zoom
Please join us for our third (and hopefully final) Zoom video conference Annual Meeting.
Our guest speaker will be:
Dawn Davenport, PhD
Vice President, Child and Family Services
Mental Health Center of Denver
Dr. Davenport has worked for the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) for over a decade, and in her latest role, she oversees Child & Family Services. Her office is located at Dahlia Campus for Health & Well-Being.
Child & Family Services has been the focus of Dr. Davenport’s work throughout her time at the Mental Health Center of Denver. She has held the role of psychologist, program manager for home-based services, and the director of clinical services. “I’m passionate and motivated to provide children and families with the best services we possibly can as an organization,” she said. “We have an incredibly talented and committed staff with the ability to provide excellent care across the life span.”
We have asked her to speak about MHCD's current work with families and children, the highest priority of unmet needs in our city, and any plans for applying for new federal and state funds on behalf of Denver's children and families.
The business part of the meeting will follow our guest speaker and is a chance for members to learn more about our organization and fellow Leaguers. The 2022-23 budget will be presented for approval as well as a proposed by-laws change, and the Nominating Committee will present their slate of Board of Directors for the coming year. Our annual awards are always a highlight.
The Annual Meeting booklets will be sent by email prior to the meeting. Plan to stay to the end of the meeting for a special drawing for all attendees!
Marge Fisch and Pam Hovik, Co-Directors of Organization | Time to Do Your Part for the Bulb Sale
 Our website is all set up for you, friends, family, neighbors, anyone you know to see our beautiful bulbs for sale. Look at the three options below and send out an email to encourage others to choose what works best for them. Bulbs are starting to look great in Denver, so don’t let this opportunity pass by.
If you are a member of an organization in which members might buy bulbs, Barbara Mattison has a flyer and materials to send to groups that might be interested. Our team is hard at work with Andrea Mitchell getting all the computer work set up, and Roger Mattison planning to help me with some of the paperwork.
Please do your part.
Marty Sloven, Bulb Sale Team | 3 Ways to Order Bulbs
1. Use our brand new automated storefront where members and non-members can purchase bulbs using a credit card or PayPal. This site works just like any other catalog website. You can also make donations to Beautify Denver or LWV Denver using the automated storefront.
2. You can download and print the Bulb Sale Order Form and Bulb Photos, fill out the form and mail it (as you did last year) with a check for the total amount to:
League of Women Voters of Denver
1980 Dahlia Street
Denver, CO 80220
3. If you would like a packet with bulb photos, order forms, and instructions that you can distribute, please contact Marty Sloven. A limited number of packets are available.
All orders are due by June 10. | A New Internship Fund has been Created
 In April, two anonymous donors saw the need for occasional help in our office during times when we need someone to supplement the usual computer input or other tech support. The donors set up a fund to pay the intern. The intern will also gain insight into how the League of Women Voters works. We thank these donors for their generosity and invite others to donate to the fund now or in the future. The fund has been included in the proposed 2022-2023 budget.
Bobbie Heisterkamp, Treasurer
| More from the PSG
The Public Safety (formerly Police) Study Group (PSG) took pleasure in conducting encores of two of the many very interesting interviews we had this year. Next month, we will publish tentative findings in the LWVDenver Annual Report. In the March VOTER we presented a summary of our standout interviews with all of the Denver City Council membership. Now we wish to highlight some other important undertakings in the two years following the protests surrounding the George Floyd murder.
Many of you have followed the recent trials of the Denver Police Department performance and their outcomes. The trials centered, in part, on the findings of the Office of Independent Monitor (OIM), written by former Independent Monitor Nick Mitchell, in December, 2019. Subsequently, the OIM findings were accepted by the Denver Police Department. The OIM Report and the DPD acceptance were some of the early investigations of the PSG. In conjunction with these reports, the Citizen Oversight Board (COB) of the OIM also filed a report. Beyond these reports, many voluntary and paid groups have dedicated untold time and money to investigate Denver’s law enforcement activities. As our membership processes what they heard at our April briefings, the PSG in this article would like to provide summaries of two particularly momentous outcomes as acknowledgement of the significance attached to the concerns of so many citizens and governmental leaders.
The Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety (The Task Force)
On June 4, 2020, the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance (GMDMA) met with Mayor Hancock and discussed the idea of a committee that would help reimagining the entire concept of how we do public safety, not just addressing certain aspects of policing practices. Mayor Hancock agreed to support such a community-based approach and the idea to convene a task force was born.
The Task Force is a team of over 40 different community organizations along with elected officials, faith leaders and youth coming together over the course of several months, to build relationships, have effective dialog, and create solutions surrounding policing and public safety in our city. This is an inclusive coalition, including African American, Latino, Asian, indigenous American, Jewish, Caucasian, LGBTQ+ members, individuals with disabilities, and those with lived experiences with the criminal legal system. Members come from a variety of organizational backgrounds, including civil rights organizations, community activists, direct service providers, faith-based organizations, policy advocacy organizations, and youth-serving organizations.
The Task Force greatly benefited from the participation of Denver’s youth, as many have had negative experiences with public safety. In an effort to reduce harm, the youth developed a rubric that graded these recommendations on their ability to promote healing.
The Task Force also secured collaborative partnerships with the Center for Policing Equity, Vera Institute of Justice, Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, Dignity & Power Now, and Fraternal Order of Police Transportation and Infrastructure as well as Denver’s community organizations.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver City Council have both responded to the recommendations of the Task Force. The Mayor’s response can be found on the City of Denver website under the Department of Public Safety. The City Council formed its own Task Force to formulate a response and is conducting on-going meetings. City Council Policing Task Force has held numerous meetings at which Task Force representatives have been present. The Task Force website and report is located at http://www.denvertaskforce.org/.
Denver’s 2022 PUBLIC SAFETY ACTION PLAN
At the Mayor’s direction, the Department of Safety, the Department of Public Health and Environment, the Department of Finance, the City Attorney’s Office, and senior members of the Administration with public safety responsibilities have developed an action plan for 2022. It is not intended as a static document. Going forward, the Administration anticipates working with City Council and other community stakeholders to add best practices and other ideas to achieve common goals.
Particularly, there is also an emerging consensus that the opioid crisis, cheap fentanyl, and newer, deadlier versions of methamphetamines are at the center of an explosion of drug addictions and violent behavior fueling crime on our streets, making it necessary to frequently revise and update plans to respond to the environment.
Denver has led on use-of-force training and policies, body-worn cameras, de-escalation tactics, co-responders, STAR, Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) training, and community-based policing. The 2022 Public Safety Action Plan builds on that success in a coordinated multi-agency approach to improving law enforcement outcomes and neighborhood security.
Click here for a summary of that plan with respect to the Denver Police Department.
Barbara Allen Ford
| 55th LWV National Convention in Denver
SHERATON DOWNTOWN & ONLINE
JUNE 23-JUNE 26, 2022
Several of you responded to Marge Fisch and Nancy Ulrich’s request from LWVUS to host an in-person delegate from around the country at the Convention in Denver this summer. Thank you so much.
Now, comes a slightly different request from LWVCO Executive Director Beth Hendrix for those willing to host a Colorado Leaguer from outside the metro-area during the convention. LWVCO would like to create a list of metro-area members and friends who have a spare guest room they are willing to make available. Although the convention starts on Thursday, June 23, it’s possible some people will choose to arrive on Friday. Don’t hesitate to call Beth with questions or ideas at the office (303-863-0437), by cell (303-588-5470 ) or by email at bhendrix@lwvcolorado.org.
| Board Member Highlight
Marty Sloven, Secretary
Editor’s Note: This is the eighth in a series of articles highlighting Board members. We thought you’d like to know a little more about their backgrounds and what League means to them. We’ve also asked them for recommendations on books, movies, or activities.
Some of you have undoubtedly read a bio of me before because I have essentially been on the Denver League Board since the early 1990s. I was invited to a League meeting by a neighbor after 10 years of teaching when our younger son was born in 1982, and I have been here ever since.
 I was born and raised on a small farm outside of St. Joseph, Missouri. We had travelled to Colorado many times to visit my mother’s sister in Colorado Springs, and I always loved it. When almost all my friends were staying in St. Joe to attend what was a junior college at the time, I headed to Greeley, which was Colorado State College at the time. I thrived there, and except for a year traveling for my sorority, I have been in the Denver area ever since. My husband and I had two sons: one lives here with his wife and three young, active boys, and the other with his partner in Chicago.
I have held various positions in League, two different stints as president for a total of five years, and just about every other position except for treasurer. Except for positions on parent groups at our sons’ schools, League has been pretty much what I’ve done. My emphasis has been in Program, going on board originally as VP of Program, at a time when I had absolutely no idea what that entailed. I thought it would be fun to plan briefings. Little did I know!
I have stepped down from filling a major League position. However, I am the board secretary, assistant Voter editor, and a part of the flower bulb sale team. We started that sale 30 years ago when I was president, and I headed it up for many years. I’m thankful to now have a team.
I have made many friends in League, and I also have incredible friends as part of a morning walking group from the neighborhood where we lived for 30 years and raised our sons. So, I drive from my City Park high rise most mornings and walk with them in the old neighborhood.
I love music and live theater and have had season tickets to the symphony and the DCPA for I don’t know how many years. Many. I took a continuing education literature class in the spring of 1987 in order to keep my teaching certificate up-to-date, and I’m still taking it! The for-credit was dropped, but the teacher kept on teaching it, and now her daughter leads the class that is a book group but so much more. She’s an amazing leader, but the group of 10 all participate. We meet every other week, divided into semesters. The teacher is now a League member. I guess she couldn’t be around me that long without joining.
We usually read a classic, a play, some poetry, and books from all over the world. I could recommend just about anything we have read, but I will pick one that really affected me: The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. It is based on the lives of poor Cambodians in the 1970s. It’s an amazing tribute to the human spirit in desperate times.
| Membership
Thank you to all of you who recently nominated your fellow members for Awards to be presented at the Zoom Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 14.
Thank you to every member for your commitment to Making Democracy Work here in Denver! You make a difference!
Joan Friend, Membership Committee Chair
jfriendrd@gmail.com
303-596-1022 | In Memoriam
We recently learned about the death of two Denver leaders who had connections to League.
Undoubtedly, all of you noted the death of Dennis Gallagher, former legislator, auditor, and City Councilman. Dennis was a Highlands/Woodbury Unit League member off and on during his amazing career, and often spoke to us, always informative and entertaining. He was a true friend of League.
In the same edition of The Denver Post, we noted the death of Bill Himmelmann. Bill was a member of our accomplished City Issues Committee in the 80s and 90s, led by Dot Sobol and Genny Weston. Many Leaguers on that committee went on to serve Denver, as did Bill, as a labor leader and City Council member from 1995-1999. Bill was another entertaining character in our history. | Please Renew Your Membership or
Become a Member
If you received this email and are not a member, please consider joining us. If it's time to renew your membership, consider doing it on-line.
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Members: Forward this VOTER and encourage your friends and neighbors to join! | | www.LWVDenver.org
info@LWVDenver.org | | 1980 Dahlia Street, Denver, CO 80220
303-321-7571 | | | |