EDITOR’S NOTE ELISABETH MONAGHAN MANAGING EDITOR RECENTLY, the City and County of Denver decided to close Civic Center Park for at least two months, due to unsanitary and unsafe conditions throughout the park. No one wants to be in a popular gathering place that is littered with used needles, rodents, or human waste, but the park’s closure also means that a variety of programs and food distribution for those who frequent or live in the park will also be paused. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Denver VOICE Contributor Paula Bard has spent much of her time volunteering for mutual aid organizations and coordinating services for those at Civic Center Park. I asked Bard to write about her efforts and those of other volunteers at the Park over the past several months. PAULA BARD: MY EXPERIENCE WITH CIVIC CENTER PARK I walk Civic Center Park weekly inviting folks to come eat with us on Mutual Aid Monday, when we offer home-cooked meals to the hundreds of folks congregating in the park. This outreach has given me a good sense of the community and what some of their needs are. As the delta variant became more threatening in late summer, I organized four vaccine clinics with the Denver Department of Health. We got 31 people vaccinated and aim to do more. After witnessing two (truly life-altering) overdoses in the park, I organized NARCAN training with the Harm Reduction Center for all the volunteers serving those in the Park. So, when we witness an overdose, we can step in, administer NARCAN, and hopefully, save a life. Finding pregnant women living on the streets has been especially disturbing for me. I connected with Nurse Family Partnership, which offers medical and housing support to women through their pregnancy and during their first years of parenthood. This kind of support is crucial and enables women to care for their babies through this vulnerable time. This is what I love about mutual aid organizations. Citizens can step up and offer the help that is needed. It has been a great privilege for me to be able to coordinate all of this. ■ DENVERVOICE.ORG CE.ORG October CONTRIBUTORS PAULA BARD is an award-winning fine art photographer, writer, and activist. She lives on a mountain top southwest of Denver. GILES CLASEN is a freelance photographer who regularly contributes his work to the VOICE for editorial projects, fundraisers, and events. He has also served on the VOICE’s Board of Directors. ROBERT DAVIS is an award-winning freelance reporter for the Denver VOICE. His work has also appeared in Colorado Public Works Journal, Fansided, Colorado Journal, and Medium.com. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jennifer Seybold MANAGING EDITOR Elisabeth Monaghan PROGRAM COORDINATOR Anthony Cornejo GRAPHIC DESIGNER Hannah Bragg VOLUNTEER COPY EDITORS Ashton Brown Haven Enterman Kersten Jaeger Kate Marshall Aaron Sullivan Laura Wing PHOTOGRAPHERS/ILLUSTRATORS Paula Bard Giles Clasen WRITERS WHAT WE DO The Denver VOICE empowers homeless, impoverished, and transient individuals by creating job opportunities through our vendor program. We give our vendors a job and help them tell their stories; this creates a space for them to be part of a community again. Vendors purchase copies of the VOICE for 50 cents each at our distribution center. This money pays for a portion of our production costs. Vendors can buy as many papers as they want; they then sell those papers to the public for a suggested $2 donation. The difference in cost ($1.50) is theirs to keep. WHO WE ARE The Denver VOICE is a nonprofit that publishes a monthly street newspaper. Our vendors are men and women in the Denver metro area experiencing homelessness and poverty. Since 2007, we have put more than 4,000 vendors to work. Our mission is to facilitate a dialogue addressing the roots of homelessness by telling stories of people whose lives are impacted by poverty and homelessness and to offer economic, educational, and empowerment opportunities for the impoverished community. We are an award-winning publication, a member of the International Network of Street Papers and the Colorado Press Association, and we abide by the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics. John Alexander Paula Bard Rea Brown Giles Clasen Robert Davis D. Glorso Habeel Harney Raelene Johnson Jerry Rosen BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nikki Lawson, President Michelle Stapleton, Vice President Jeff Cuneo, Treasurer Zephyr Wilkins, Secretary Chris Boulanger Donovan Cordova Raelene Johnson @deeOCE With the money they make selling the VOICE, vendors are able to pay for their basic needs. Our program provides vendors with an immediate income and a support group of dedicated staff members and volunteers. Vendors are independent contractors who receive no base pay. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT editor@denvervoice.org VENDOR PROGRAM program@denvervoice.org • (720) 320-2155 ADVERTISING ads@denvervoice.org MAILING ADDRESS PO Box 1931, Denver CO 80201 VENDOR OFFICE 989 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204 OFFICE HOURS: Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Orientation is held every day we are open, but prospective vendors must arrive by 10:00 a.m. 2 DENVER VOICE October 2021 STAFF CONTRIBUTORS BOARD CONTACT US
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