Saturday, January 9 we held our ACT 2010 kickoff meeting. The speakers were fantastic and gave us so much needed information.

Carol Hedges, from Colorado Law and Policy gave an excellent breakdown of where our state budget stands, and what got us in such dire straits.  She pointed out some very sobering facts - like how the state of Colorado is one of the last in funding educating our children - we're even below Mississippi.  She explained, in no uncertain terms, that Colorado is at a crucial point in deciding what sort of state we want to become.  Without some changes in how we fund the services that are important to us, we can either choose to stay at the bottom, or change the direction we are heading and begin, again, to show we value those services with the much needed funding necessary to stay relevant, providing meaningful service to our community.  Here is a link to her slide show.

Rich Jones, from the Bell Policy Center, followed Carol Hedges talk with some sobering news about the ballot measures that will be on the ballot in fall of this year.  These ballot measures will take Colorado in the wrong direction.  They will be disastrous to our funding valuable services, to our cities and state.  Another issue he spoke of was the most outrageous practice of payday lending in Colorado, and getting behind a bill which will limit the interest rates these services provide to 38 percent.  Right now, the way the laws are written, the interest rates can go into the 500% range.  Simply outrageous that we allow our fellow Coloradans to be victim to this practice.
Proposition 101 Preliminary Analysis  
Proposition 61 Preliminary Analysis
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Joe Wissman-Horther spoke of immigration reform and provided many useful links to state and federal organizations that push for ways that we can treat people with the dignity they deserve.  With this topic on the verge of being the next federal issue to be tackled, it was a timely reminder that immigration reform is all about changing the way we view much of our workforce that goes unseen.  Though the large majority are in our country working legally, the stigma of being an immigrant and the rights they have being here, needs to be considered a top priority.

Betty Harris provided much useful information on some current programs available that makes renewable energy PV solar panels more economically viable for the average homeowner.  She highlighted a new program that allows us to lease the panels over 15 years, or to enter into a multi-home deal to provide a group discount to those homeowners in that group.  She also touched on a Colorado bill promoting butanol, an alternative fuel source that would help the Colorado economy and lower green house gas emissions and a new program called Climate Smart which allows renewable energy and energy conservation homeowner costs to be funded by local bonds.  This program promotes green jobs, local small businesses and allows the homeowner to attach those costs to their property - so that if the home is sold, the future owner continues to make those payments.  All these programs push our city and state in a progressive direction, making renewable energy a more cost effective alternative to the standard way we receive our electricity through Xcel. 
Sunrun Solar Panel Leasing
Learn About Solar Leasing
One Block Off Grid
Solar Panel Denver Group Discounts (One Block Off Grid)

Carol Blackard presented an analysis of the House and Senate healthcare bills, answering many of our questions as to what these bills do and do not provide.  It was a sobering reality, but hopeful that even just health insurance regulation can provide some safeguards to ordinary Americans.  Its a beginning, and we can only improve it once it passes. Please see this page for a link to her power point presentation

2009 In Review: Look What We've Accomplished!

In January 2009, ArapaHOPE Community Team came together and began our journey.  The issues we are passionate about are as varied as our members, but on common ground we believe we must be engaged to make our government work at representing us. 

We’ve offered Citizen Lobbying training sessions, brought in national experts to speak on Healthcare and Energy, given a forum for our local, state and national elected officials to speak, networked with other groups supporting our position and combined to become an even greater force.  As a result of these efforts, ArapaHOPE Community Team has become a recognized voice for our community.

Our Issue Teams
ACT Issue teams have truly developed into a force for change in our community. Now its time to come together again for a new year. While our goals and objectives may be different in 2010 than in 2009, our commitment to the issues that impact our community must be just as great.

Educate
ACT is committed to talking to you, our members, in order to decide what you want to learn more about, and decide what issues you want to be an advocate for. We are committed to educating our community on the important issues, and then giving a forum to allow our members to engage in the topics with local and state experts. To be most effective, we need all of you to tell us what you think we can do better, and where we should focus our efforts. 

Legislative Action
One thing we learned this past year is how to be most effective in our state and national politics.  We have organized  rallies, written letters and emailed our elected officials, made thousands of phone calls, and visited their local offices. Through these efforts we have gained tremendous experience in citizen lobbying. ACT believes for our government to be run effectively, it is our duty to participate in the political process and lobby our own interests.

Community Service
To strengthen our community, we are committed to giving back where we can.  We have organized meals to the homeless and volunteered our time and energy to the Habitat for Humanity, all in the efforts to give back to those struggling in these hard times. 

Do you have a passion? 
You, our members, guide our issue team goals and direction.  If there is a topic we are not addressing, or you feel needs to be addressed by one of our existing issue teams, please let us know.  We are committed to working alongside our community members to openly express our concerns to the public.