What We Do
We are excited to celebrate many recent victories during the 2008 elections! Last November, CPC and partners made history in Colorado by defeating Ward Connerly's anti-equal opportunity initiative. This victory ensures equal opportunity programs in Colorado remain available to people of color, women, and other marginalized communities. We also supported partners to defeat attacks on women's and workers' rights, and continue to work to ensure every Coloradoan has an equal chance to succeed.
We were also a lead grassroots group in 2006 to raise Colorado's minimum wage with a statewide vote of Coloradoans. CPC has led efforts to pass racial profiling and an Earned Income Tax Credit through our state legislature, and we continue to push for social economic justice for people of color, low-income communities, new citizens and immigrants, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
CPC is a grassroots membership organization and we depend on your support to help us build power across the state. Please become a member today. Your contribution to CPC is tax-deductible. Thank you!
RACIAL JUSTICE AND CIVIL RIGHTS
CPC is recognized by
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, among others, as a national leader
in advancing racial justice and civil rights. In 2001, CPC led the campaign to
win a strong state law to stop police racial profiling. In 2005, CPC was one of two groups
highlighting problems with a proposed new jail, helping to win a new, annual
commitment of $1.2 million from the city of Denver to fund alternatives to
incarceration for non-violent offenders. The overall mission of the Racial
Justice/Civil Rights Program (RJP) is to end the discriminatory practices used
against those who are overrepresented within Colorado's criminal justice
system. To achieve this goal, we will 1) Organize and educate youth concerning
their civil liberties, and 2) fight to ensure accountability within law
enforcement by revealing discriminatory practices such as racial profiling. Lastly, we are a strong ally supporter for immigrant and refugee justice, and equality and equity for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in our state.
HIGH QUALITY HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
Established
in 2001 in response to our members struggling with health care access and
affordability and the mounting health care crisis, CPC has led grassroots
efforts to establish affordable prescription drugs for all and to stop health
care disparities that exist for people of color, low-income people, immigrants,
and non-English speakers in our state. An affordable prescription drugs
Executive Order was issued in 2007 following six years of leadership from CPC
and coalition partners on the issue. Nationally, our Health Justice Program is
an anchor group for health care reform with our work on the Health Care for
America Now campaign. In 2008, CPC completed a report which spotlights issues
of language access in clinics and hospitals as well as captured best practices.
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Recognized nationally
as one of the leaders in connecting community organizing issues to civic
engagement participation, CPC has been a lead organization on several
remarkable victories in Colorado through our get out the vote efforts in the
communities that are often overlooked by mainstream political campaigns. In
2006, CPC was one of the lead groups working to increase the state's minimum
wage. Of all the partner groups, CPC collected the most signatures in order to
be placed on the ballot. In 2008, CPC also led a coalition of individuals and community
based organizations in defeating a deceptively worded anti-equal opportunity
measure. Our coalition made history and turned around a
50 point deficit in the polls to become the first state to ever defeat this
deceitful measure! Currently, we are fighting anti-immigrant "vehicle impound" initiatives in Aurora, Denver, and Lakewood, and working to increase voter turnout in the 2009 municipal elections in several cities statewide.
CAMPAIGN FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE
Since 2005 CPC has
established itself as a force in advancing responsible public investment for
the common good. In 2005, CPC was
recognized by the influential Center for American Progress for its key,
grassroots role in scaling back the devastating TABOR (public investment
limitation) law through a door-to-door campaign to 52,000 infrequent voters
about how TABOR hurts real Coloradans.
In 2006, CPC was the lead community group pushing the successful minimum
wage increase (benefiting 138,000 low-wage Coloradans). This year, the Campaign
for Economic Justice (CEJ) will also continue to focus on reforming the
predatory practices of payday lending companies, who target communities of
color and keep them in a vicious cycle of debt. Last year, we were able to
bring this issue further than any other state besides the two states that were
able to pass legislation.
STATEWIDE BASE BUILDING
CPC believes that
Colorado's progressive movement must be statewide, and that movement building
doesn't only happen in Denver, Boulder, and other more progressive regions. Since the 2004 election, CPC has had a strong Southern Colorado presence
and established a permanent office in 2005 in Pueblo. Since then, through
community organizing we have worked on environmental justice issues, including
water contamination and neighborhood flooding and other local issues. In 2006, Pueblo piloted a leadership academy
which trained 15 new grassroots leaders who are now taking on various community
improvement projects. In 2007, we celebrated a major victory in Pueblo when we and community members shut down local polluter L.B. Foster. Our Northern Colorado office was established in 2007
following the massive immigration raid at the Swift plant in Greeley. Since
then, CPC has continued working as an ally group against the anti-immigrant
sentiment. In 2008, CPC gained national attention when we protested voter
suppression happening on Election Day to Spanish speaking voters in Greeley.
This year, we will continue our local organizing efforts around police accountability and ending racial profiling, and begin
intentional leadership development reflective of the Northern Colorado community's needs.
ENDING BIG MONEY POWER IN COLORADO POLITICS
CPC works to
stop big money influence over Colorado politics through research
spotlighting the power of developers, the health care industry, and
other wealthy and powerful interests. Our work - with partner
organizations like Common Cause - includes the first report on the
campaign contributions given by big developers to our governor and
state legislators; a six year study of contributions to the governor
and state legislators by HMOs, tobacco companies, and the insurance
industry; and an analysis of big money contributions in the 2003 Denver
mayoral race. We are researching ways to take this to issues to our
state's ballot in the future.
Like Our Work? Become A CPC Member Today!
CPC is a grassroots membership organization and we depend on your support to help us build power across the state. Please become a member today. Your contribution to CPC is tax-deductible. Thank you!
CPC is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is prohibited by law from endorsing or opposing political parties or candidates
