Denver neighborhood wins $20M grant for community and disaster preparedness
It was a celebration in Denver's Loretto Heights neighborhood Saturday to celebrate a huge victory.
Community organization Commún received a $20 million Community Change Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They will use the grant to turn an old 40,000-square-foot building, into the Loretto Heights Resiliency Hub.
"In this building in particular, we're working on a sense of belonging, loving relationships across differences so that as our neighborhood develops, people who live here and who are near the community can get to know each other and build relationships and get to know each other," said Commún Associate Director Andrea Savage.
In addition to hosting community events, the building will provide shelter from Colorado's extreme weather.
"We have a wildfire setting on our HVAC filter so that when there's a smoky day, people can come to the building and breathe clean air. We also will open our doors on extremely cold days and extremely hot days and be able to provide the temperature that people need," said Savage.
They will also host educational activities on emergency and disaster preparedness in the building.
Aleshay Garcia, a Loretto Heights resident and climate promoter with Commún, says that will give her and her neighbors peace of mind.
"It's a place where we can learn how to protect ourselves. A place where it's somewhere that will teach us what to do in case of emergencies. There's a fire. All right, what we can do," Garcia said.
Commún says that's the goal; to bring the community together to help and support each other.
"We're working on a sense of belonging, loving relationships," said Savage.
This project is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2026.
