| Denver, Colorado, is a city of contrasts. It has the highest level of educational achievement in the state, but also the greatest amount of illiteracy. It is home to a population with great wealth, but also has a growing number of citizens who experience homelessness. The city has a large professional workforce that is highly skilled and highly paid, but it also has a growing number of low-paid, low-skilled, and non-unionized, white-collar workers.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Denver's economy shifted from manufacturing, rail, and warehousing toward a service-sector economy dominated by downtown professionals. As a result, Denver's inner-city, working-class neighborhoods--including La Alma/Lincoln Park, Sun Valley, and Valverde in the city's Westside community--experienced significant decline. Unemployment and poverty rates grew, neighborhood businesses fell into disrepair, and investors abandoned the area in favor of the booming high-rise downtown and the growing suburbs. In the 1970s, construction of the Auraria Higher Education Center, where the University of Colorado-Denver (UC-Denver) is located, entailed the demolition of dozens of blocks in the heart of La Alma/Lincoln Park. This demolition exacerbated trends toward neighborhood disintegration. Homeowners moved out of the area, rental rates grew, and properties fell into disrepair.
The Westside Outreach Center (WOC), a collaboration of UC-Denver and the NEWSED Community Development Corporation, serves the Westside Denver community. NEWSED, a nonprofit organization, was established to address the commercial/retail abandonment in Westside, to raise the income and education of neighborhood residents, and to develop affordable housing. Together, NEWSED and the COPC are working to: - Increase the amount of quality affordable housing in Westside.
- Provide increased education and employment opportunities to residents.
- Offer tenant and homeowner education that will reduce fair housing and tenant law violations.
- Facilitate community organizing, leadership development, and planning activities.
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