Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 10:30 a.m. (Denver time), City & County Building, Room 391
0:02 But yeah, ride last worlds.
0:08 Match with
0:13 going in the hole in own home.
0:18 We club where we go town wait.
0:23 So my dad decided to move.
0:28 Call for had a neighbor who
0:32 called Greenwood. In this
0:36 neighborhood, which is to
0:41 Black Wall Street. They had
0:46 everything. They restaurant.
0:52 They had hoped to tell. We had
0:56 a black newspaper, everything
1:01 you could think of to be
1:04 self-sufficient. A lot
1:10 community.
1:16 Lived in Bartlesville
1:22 Oklahoma, which is about 50
1:27 miles north Tulsa. So when my
1:31 aunt turned 100 the race
1:35 massacre, he met. She was
1:40 stabbed about 7 years old.
1:45 1921. And my dad was infant
1:49 we've had that it might. Well,
1:54 we didn't have no clothes on
1:59 who just had a we didn't have
2:04 a lot of will it with a few
2:08 the back to we couldn't afford
2:12 one. We was no way there were
2:16 6 children, you know,
2:20 throughout kid in the wagon.
2:25 And they laughed and they went
2:29 to Claremore. And that's how
2:33 they escaped. But there had to
2:37 have live in everything. Was
2:40 burned up. Leave from Sheriff
2:43 Bob. They were right in the
2:46 news. 2. They just burn that
2:50 neighborhood home. They were
2:52 every time a way you could
2:56 people would just murdered,
3:00 shot. Whatever some some of
3:05 the people are thrown in the
3:10 river. Just massive it Africa.
3:14 We will bomb. Out on the
3:17 windows. My bad then just give
3:21 I love it.
3:24 In my to this day, she does
3:27 not sleep in a sheets, fleets.
3:31 She is the 108. Spend asleep
3:35 MAY. Never leaves a
3:38 We We weren't allowed talk.
3:42 Then my sister just nation the
3:46 about 2 3 years old. It was
3:49 traumatic for me. It is a day
3:53 you been students. Crest.
3:57 I can't thank our witnesses
4:01 for being with us this
4:05 morning. We we really do look
4:08 forward to your testimony and
4:12 I'll tell you, we don't have
4:15 many centenarians testified
4:18 before committees. Sadly, many
4:21 Americans today are not even
4:24 aware that this massacre took
4:27 place. And hope that this
4:29 hearing conserved educate the
4:32 public. About what happened.
4:35 Still smell smoke and see from
4:39 her. Still seemed like
4:42 businsses be in Bern. I still
4:46 hear airplanes flying
4:49 overhead. I hear the screams.
4:52 We live with it every day. And
4:56 we plant Greenwood. Was and
5:00 what it could have now are you
5:02 you all they get We are here.
5:05 It could happen. The view. We
5:09 don't know. We have foundation
5:12 called guess Greenwood. All
5:15 come about the money will put
5:18 age occasion. Needs. Wrong.
5:22 When you look at that
5:25 neighborhood and then you go
5:29 to other parts of Tulsa and
5:34 you look at driving And that
5:38 that neighborhood not. Down
5:42 with that. I want some that
5:46 put a young black people. Back
5:49 to Washington, And we met Vice
5:52 PRESIDENT Kamala Harris. We
5:55 went to a tough and we've got
5:58 to meet PRESIDENT Biden in you
6:01 know, famous people. I would
6:04 like him to see. Some results
6:06 fee. Something positive
6:09 happen. I really would before
6:13 a lot. Brings them all We've
6:17 got bounce, but why people
6:21 love that? What about women
6:27 want? A man started the in
6:31 Cushing, Oklahoma. So I had a
6:34 it's pretty Po boys. We decide
6:38 to moved spend with to meet
6:43 with the best would be a job
6:47 of this said ms some people do
6:50 this give you have like my who
6:54 just said, you know, I've got
6:59 a family and go forward. I'm
7:03 thankful be. List. It's not
7:08 district. What I love the I
7:11 like out of Western music.
7:13 About it point. I know that
7:17 family about boldface. I've
7:20 been the we want go to I love
7:24 people. Moved live mission. So
7:27 I'm proud of my life.
7:31 I think the mom. Lived the
7:35 home and put bill. Love life.
7:39 Welcome back to this weekly
7:43 meeting of the Health and
7:46 Safety Committee with Denver
7:49 City Council. Coverage of the
7:53 Health and Safety Committee
7:57 starts now.
8:00 And good morning. Today's
8:04 AUGUST. 26 This is the Health
8:08 and Safety Committee meeting
8:12 mines there a lot. And I'm
8:15 honored to be the chair of
8:19 committee as well as a city
8:24 council member representing
8:27 all the findings should We
8:30 have briefing this morning to
8:34 healthy food for Denver Kids.
8:39 Annual update. But before we
8:42 go to presentation will be
8:45 turned over to city council
8:49 members for reconstruction to
8:52 start our right combining
8:55 immense talent replaced him or
8:58 district plan. And a good
9:02 morning. Paul Kashmann south
9:05 time British accent. Jaime
9:09 Torres was Denver district. 3
9:14 and it looks like we've got
9:19 some city council members all
9:23 aligned. Kevin sell, forced to
9:28 thank he is PRESIDENT.
9:32 Remember, Campbell, on online
9:35 as well. I at this time. What
9:39 with that? Very excited to
9:43 turn it over to Benson rtp ag
9:46 Department countries
9:50 themselves their guests at the
9:54 table and turned over to
9:58 presentation. Well, before we
10:03 do that, we have another
10:07 council member right on
10:12 morning for what like
10:16 District, COUNCILWOMAN, all
10:20 the others. So now I'll turn
10:25 it over warrant all member
10:29 countries yourselves ingested
10:33 your home to the audience that
10:39 you want. Know that we talking
10:44 downturn for your
10:49 presentation. Excellent. Thank
10:53 you. Good morning, everyone.
10:57 Lauren, how she her pronouns
11:02 healthy food for Denver's kids
11:08 supervisor out of the Denver
11:14 Department of Public Health
11:20 and Environment passed over to
11:25 Good morning, everyone. I'm
11:31 Amber grants administrator at
11:38 Denver Department of Public
11:43 Health and Environment. She
11:49 her pronouns. Thanks to be
11:54 here with you all today Jason
11:59 Torres. Executive director of
12:03 the Denver inner City Morning
12:08 Room and Beg deputy directors
12:12 the minor-league. Here's they
12:17 want to any of your other
12:21 friends in the audience. We
12:27 have our team, Genesis crowd
12:32 just Merison Micaela Mullins
12:36 and Emma. Well, to your all on
12:40 the healthy food for Devers
12:45 kids team in tv, Ph d, thank
12:49 you all for being on a walk.
12:52 The PRESIDENT Remember,
12:55 Campbell the floor is second
12:59 on. Thank you. So we like to
13:02 start our ddphe presentations
13:05 by grounding everyone in our
13:07 departmental public Health
13:09 framework. We know the healthy
13:13 food, access and food security
13:16 are in and of themselves.
13:21 Social determinants of But
13:24 they're also very collected to
13:27 connected to other social
13:31 determinants of health as
13:34 well, including economic
13:37 stability, education, health
13:40 care, built environment and
13:44 community context. Just work
13:47 also fits squarely within tbt
13:50 is community health assessment
13:54 work in the area of systemic
13:56 racism as well as various
13:59 other departmental priorities.
14:01 And we know the public health
14:03 impacts of food, security,
14:05 better mental, physical and
14:08 community health. So this is
14:10 an overview. What we're gonna
14:14 be touching on during today's
14:17 annual briefing. We're going
14:21 to give a quick recap of the
14:24 current state of food
14:27 insecurity in Denver before
14:30 jumping into more background
14:32 on the healthy food. Forget
14:34 first kids or hfd k Program
14:37 Commission. We'll share a bit
14:38 about the impact, overview of
14:40 the funding. We have a grantee
14:43 spotlight. We have our
14:46 partners here from Denver,
14:49 inner city parents joining us
14:52 to share a couple of minutes
14:54 about what this work looks
14:57 like in their community before
14:59 it passed over to Amber to
15:01 talk about our 7th annual
15:03 operation, the application
15:06 process and contract will
15:07 touch on financials. And then
15:09 briefly close out with
15:10 information on sunset. So in
15:12 terms food, insecurity in
15:15 Denver and twenty-two 5 d p g
15:18 ran a survey that reached over
15:20 3,000 Denver rates across all
15:22 11 city council districts and
15:24 asked folks in the last you or
15:27 someone in your family have to
15:30 cut the size of or skip a meal
15:32 due to not having enough money
15:35 for Those results showed that
15:38 more than one in about 35%
15:40 Denver writes said yes to that
15:43 question and are insecure.
15:45 That includes about one in 5
15:47 children having meals cut or
15:50 skip it. And 68% of all survey
15:52 respondents had food is too
15:55 expensive as the number one
15:57 barrier. We know that food
15:59 insecurity is likely to
16:02 Kentucky to continue to rise
16:05 due to inflation, federal
16:08 changes to snap and Medicaid
16:12 and overall decreases in
16:14 funding available for soon
16:18 Cummings. And we know that
16:21 this is an issue not only
16:24 locally but nationally and our
16:27 city really has opportunity to
16:30 in this area. We know that
16:33 healthy food is essential for
16:36 all to thrive. Food.
16:39 Insecurity is a clear
16:42 indicator of our city's
16:44 affordability crisis. Survey
16:47 results from last year's data
16:50 indicated that families are
16:53 having to make tough economic
16:56 tradeoffs to afford food. So
17:00 they're cutting paying for
17:04 utilities, healthcare,
17:08 transportation or housing And
17:13 these tradeoffs are having
17:17 ripple effects on other areas.
17:21 We know skipping medication
17:25 can lead worse health outcomes
17:28 and skipping read might lead
17:32 to housing I wanted to share
17:35 one quotation from our
17:39 community partner, Kazan Food
17:41 Rescue. That hunger is rarely
17:44 caused by lack of food
17:47 allowing it's often the result
17:50 of systems that make difficult
17:53 for people access to Bility
17:56 dignity and opportunity. So
18:00 this is where healthy food for
18:03 Denver's kids, our Age Fdk
18:06 Commons to address food,
18:10 insecurity and food access at
18:13 the local level on this
18:16 program was established as a
18:19 result. The resident, what
18:23 ballot measure that Denver
18:26 voters approved in 2018
18:30 created a small sales tax
18:33 point, oh, 8% or about a penny
18:37 on a $10 purchase and then
18:40 established a special revenue
18:42 fund for healthy food, access
18:46 education for Denver's youth.
18:49 We started collecting funds in
18:52 2019 and will do so through
18:55 the end of 2028 and all those
18:59 funds we spent down by the end
19:02 of 2029, those funds have to
19:06 princely benefit. Denver
19:10 residents and no more than 10%
19:15 can be used for city
19:18 administration So this
19:22 initiative is really not only
19:25 addressing child hunger today,
19:29 building long-term health
19:34 equity for Denver's most
19:38 vulnerable And this is just an
19:43 overview of the history of the
19:47 program starting voters
19:50 approved the initiative and
19:55 we've been doing annual
19:59 funding opportunities, sense
20:03 2020. The commission really
20:06 drives the funding strategy
20:09 and the decision-making of the
20:13 program. So this is a mayoral
20:18 pointed body of 13 members and
20:22 the Denver Vice Municipal Code
20:26 really outlines exact number
20:31 of seats for membership. And
20:35 so we're grateful there are a
20:39 lot of folks in this room are
20:43 2 current members, COUNCILMAN
20:47 Floor of the address
20:51 councilmember Paul COUNCILMAN
20:55 Torres Council on American
20:58 Bill. We had a lot service on
21:03 the commission from city
21:08 councils are very grateful for
21:14 We also leaders from the city
21:19 community members on that and
21:23 not profit participation on
21:27 the commission as well. And
21:32 this group typically needs
21:35 every other month. And members
21:39 of the public are welcome to
21:42 attend those Ddphe really
21:46 provides the operational
21:51 support for this initiative
21:57 and implement commission's So
22:02 in terms of who's eligible for
22:07 funding, nonprofits, public
22:12 schools, including and Denver
22:16 City agencies can apply
22:20 through competitive grant
22:23 making processees funded
22:27 projects include healthy meals
22:30 and snacks, hands on food,
22:33 education, like gardening and
22:38 cooking classes to
22:42 distribution. Whether that be
22:46 mobile food markets for
22:50 school, food pantries and then
22:53 connections to federal food
22:56 assistance programs like
22:59 outreach and enrollment in
23:02 snap and wic. This is a
23:05 snapshot of some of the
23:07 organizations we are funding
23:10 so logos from our 4th 5004th
23:14 and 6th annual cohorts. I am
23:17 excited to pass it over to one
23:20 of our partners here today on
23:23 Denver in inner city parish to
23:26 share concrete example of what
23:29 this funding is meant for
23:32 their organization and their
23:35 community, group of que. Name
23:38 is Jason Torres. Again,
23:41 executive director of the City
23:44 Parish. And so we've been
23:47 around since about 1960, is an
23:50 organization. Our food pantry
23:52 is the oldest from patchy. One
23:55 of the oldest free patches in
23:58 Denver. And it's gone through
24:01 many iterations. I remember at
24:05 one time in the late 80's
24:08 early 90's. We're it. Are
24:12 building in 19. Got pay going.
24:15 We've served hundreds a month
24:18 stream covid. We're serving
24:21 thousands per And so it's had
24:24 its iterations. I will say
24:27 that free trip to Canada, like
24:29 like the U.S. Lied about when
24:31 found these can be everything
24:33 is impacted because I feel
24:35 like we need pk did for food
24:38 pantries like ours. A at the
24:42 size of our food pantry is and
24:46 how to screen go system around
24:51 the food pantry because then
24:54 we're able to the funding able
24:58 to provide more just beyond
25:03 Downey's going through our
25:06 through mind in getting food.
25:10 We were able to offer a
25:14 healthy program and health
25:17 program as a result of age of
25:20 tk funding. We were able to
25:24 offer an after school meal
25:26 program, female, free Healthy
25:30 Meal program for kids and
25:33 schools in our community. So
25:36 what happened the age of uk
25:39 finds like I said, created eco
25:44 system around food pantries
25:49 and that just wasn't It was
25:52 many, many, many other food
25:56 pantries around Denver and the
26:00 impact on families is really
26:04 great. And it speaks to that
26:07 when families can be
26:10 everything is impacted. So
26:14 when they come to us to get
26:19 food, but they can also get
26:22 services care navigation. How
26:26 so many rooms if they need
26:29 find energy assistance.
26:33 Sometimes even rental
26:37 assistance. We've been able to