Colorado People’s Center Is Putting the Public First

After the new facility for the Colorado People’s Center was acquired last fall, the local organizers who had created the center understood right away that they would need to tear down some walls. 

Co-founder Jillian House, who has worked extensively with a number of other community-focused organizations, quickly became acquainted with all the work that would need to be done on the building.

“We had to tear a bunch of interior walls down to get a big enough gathering space,” House explains. “We’ve done so many things, from the flooring to different kinds of trim… We even built all of our benches by hand.”

The work could not have been completed without a massive volunteer network who saw the value and importance of a public facility that could give people a civics-oriented third space. Thanks to the vast local connections of the COPC’s organizers, organizers were able to find people with skills in carpentry, electricity and more who essentially turned the house into a home.

“What we’re doing here is really more than the sum of its parts,” COPC Executive Director Bruno Tapia Garcia says. “In non-profits, it’s very normal that you have one or two people that are really the drivers… For us, we came up with the idea or whatever, but it’s really a team effort and that’s so central to how we talk about it. If you look at our website, it’s really front and center that this is a volunteer thing.”

The core team of about seventy volunteers soon brought their own networks to the project. Before long, the COPC had built an online presence and scheduled a variety of public programming. Given that the original idea for the center only came about a year ago, the fact that the completed facility is already due to open is as startling as it is inspiring.

Garcia anticipates that the institution’s mission will continue to resonate with new people. “We believe that there’s been a systemic destruction of community institutions and spaces where working-class people can contribute their skills and their knowledge to a collective,” he explains. “There’s almost a sense of powerlessness that people have, and I think if you come here and you become part of the community… then you regain a sense of dignity. You think, ‘Oh actually, I do have something to say, and I should be involved.’”

The COPC’s headquarters is designed to appeal to a number of different audiences. In addition to the large gathering room that will be used for larger events, the building also has an art gallery, a conference room, a lending library composed entirely of public donations, and a children’s room that will offer active childcare. 

Although many programs and partnerships have yet to be announced by the center’s team, organizers plan to host a variety of classes and offer resources like emergency assistance application support and rental assistance. The hope is that these programs will not only help individual people but also encourage them to get more involved with local community issues.

“[People] might come in here because they see that we’re going to have a Zumba class or we’re going to have rental assistance,” Garcia says. “But then, through being here in a space that shows how the things that are important to you are important to others… That can be an entry point for people.”

The COPC already proved its relevance to the local community when it started serving as a gathering place for other civic organizations to host events during the winter. One event focused on protecting immigrant communities from ICE proved so popular that attendees filled the building and spilled onto the sidewalk. Public enthusiasm for the facility has been just as strong online, where posts on COPC’s Instagram page have received many supportive comments expressing excitement about the new space.

Despite the ease with which the COPC could introduce any number of programs thanks to its constantly growing local network, the volunteer-powered team is determined not to lose sight of the fact that they only want to grow in ways that are productive for their audience. 

“We are intentionally making sure to leave space for being shaped based on the needs of the community that starts to participate here,” Garcia says. “Like, we weren’t originally going to do English classes… But that’s something that keeps coming up. And because we’ve heard it so much now, it’s something that we’re going to try to make happen.”

Garcia’s team will continue to listen to public feedback and input at their grand opening event, which will be held on Saturday, April 18. In addition to free food and ample time for attendees to meet, local artists DJ Tati Nova and Los Mocochetes will also be offering live performances before and after a presentation of what the People’s Center hopes to offer to communities in Denver.

The event will also feature COPC’s first art exhibition, featuring multiple paintings by the legendary Leo Tanguma. Best known for his work on the “In Peace and Harmony with Nature” mural at the Denver International Airport, Tanguma has been hard at work on his newest painting at the center. Visitors can stop by to see him at work for limited hours during the week until he completes the piece this July.

“Leo felt like a really relevant artist for us per his Denver history,” House says. “He tends to include a lot of other painters in his work, which also felt relevant to us as an organization focused on community efforts. So it really was the perfect match.”

When gathering places begin to disappear, the community suffers. People forget how to let their walls down. But the team at COPC has proven that ruthlessly high rent and the decline of reliable nonprofit funding are not enough to quash the creation of a civic space when people come together to tear down the walls in their way. With the right tools in the right places, the broader community should be able to reconnect with one another as well. 

“People are more isolated than we’ve ever been before in society,” Garcia concludes. “[But] our experience as organizers in different spaces is that other people share the experience of looking for more connection, more collaboration in spaces that are dedicated to [community] organizing… I really think that the assumption is correct that this is what other people are feeling. So I hope that we can flourish by filling that gap.”

The Colorado People’s Center will host its grand opening event from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, at 730 21st Street. The center also accepts individual donations online.