Denver Transit Partners Fills Backpacks for Local Students
The following Member Spotlight was submitted by Denver Transit Partners.
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The school year is in full swing, and thanks to B:CIVIC member Denver Transit Partners, many disadvantaged kids entered their classrooms with fresh school supplies.
According to the National Retail Federation, the average family spent $670 on back-to-school costs in 2014. For families struggling to pay the bills, it’s difficult to pay for classroom essentials like pencils, paper and backpacks. Denver Transit Partners saw an opportunity to help solve this issue with the local nonprofit, A Precious Child.
The Fill A Backpack program at A Precious Child supplies disadvantaged and displaced children with backpacks filled with school supplies to help them be better prepared to perform in school. Denver Transit Partners joined forces with the Fill A Backpack program to donate backpacks, school supplies, and ultimately help A Precious Child exceed their goal of providing 7,750 filled backpacks this year.
“I am most proud of my fellow employees at Denver Transit Partners for their commitment to serving the community,” said Aaron Epstein with Denver Transit Partners. “Big thanks to DTP for helping the Fill A Backpack program distribute a total of 8,447 backpacks this year!”
B:CIVIC is proud of Denver Transit Partners’ work in the community!
Learn more about A Precious Child click here.
Member Spotlight: University of the Rockies Wins Award for Diversity
The following Member Spotlight was submitted by University of the Rockies.
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For the fourth year in a row, University of the Rockies recently accepted the prestigious 2015 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for its efforts to ensure diversity and inclusion on campus through “initiatives, programs and outreach; student recruitment, retention and completion; and hiring practices among staff.”
This honor was presented by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
“University of the Rockies is honored to have been selected for this prestigious award,” said Francesca Galarraga, director of diversity for University of the Rockies, in a press release. “For us, being recognized for our diversity efforts reinforces our commitment to our core values of service, integrity, diversity, and excellence. Our goal is to foster an environment of inclusion where our faculty, staff, and students feel welcome, appreciated, respected, and valued for their contributions to the University and our community. We are proud to receive the HEED Award for the fourth year in a row.”
Congratulations to University of the Rockies for this prestigious honor, and for setting an example for all of us.
Learn more about INSIGHT into Diversity and its HEED Award here.
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B:CIVIC and Elevating Philanthropy In Communities of Color (EPIC) will host Elevate Your Giving on October 6th on the beautiful rooftop patio of Janus Capital Group. This free event will celebrate and empower community-minded professionals of color. All are welcome to join us for an evening of networking, music and inspirational speakers! RSVP here.
SPARKS and SIPS: Engaging Employees Effectively
Employee engagement is a commonly used term, but it’s not as easily understood. Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work, more productive and can serve as powerful brand ambassadors. They also spark the innovation and growth that propel businesses forward. Yet, Gallup recently announced that only 30% of the U.S. workforce is actively engaged.Companies large and small grapple with this challenge, and there are multiple ways they can try to solve it.
Join us at B:CIVIC’s July SPARKS and SIPS to learn from select diverse, local companies that approach the engagement challenge in vastly different ways, as well as Mile High United Way, who has been an expert in employee engagement for more than 128 years. The companies represent a wide range of sizes and industries with varying missions, staff sizes and budgets, but one common goal: to effectively engage every employee through community-oriented initiatives, ultimately boosting productivity, increasing retention and improving overall culture. Attendees will hear from the panel on three primary employee engagement topics:
- Volunteer Engagement – How to develop effective volunteer recruitment, strategically select relevant projects and prevent employee burnout.
- Employee Resource Groups/Professional Development – The importance of fostering employee-led groups and structured educational opportunities that can enhance a company’s mission and make employees feel valued.
- Employee Giving – Best practices for engaging employees in structured giving campaigns of different shapes and sizes.
Attendees will also have a chance to reflect on their own employee engagement efforts and determine the most strategic and appropriate methods for their companies through relevant exercises.
PANELISTS
Christina Frantz, Great-West Financial
Ellen Sandberg, CH2M
Sera Smith, Newalta
WHEN:
Tuesday, July 21
3:30-5:30 p.m.: SPARKS panel and workshop
5:30-7:00 p.m.: SIPS networking (free drinks and appetizers provided).
WHERE:
Mile High United Way
711 Park Avenue West
Denver, CO 80205
HOW:
RSVP Here: www.julysparksandsips.eventbrite.com
B:CIVIC Members: FREE
Non-members: $15
State of the Arts – Faegre Baker Daniels
As part of our efforts to recognize the incredible impact of local businesses collaborating with arts + culture organizations, we asked our members to share stories of their involvement. The following guest post was provided by Founding Member Faegre Baker Daniels.
FaegreBD is a sponsor of the VIP Evening Series for Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). We find our sponsorship of the DCPA not only a unique opportunity to entertain our clients, prospective clients and friends of the firm, but also a meaningful way for us to contribute to the health and livelihood of the theater in Colorado. Theater has been one of humanity’s earliest and most communal forms of entertainment and societal enrichment. We are proud to support DCPA as they help to further enhance community awareness, education and appreciation of the arts.
Our firm also works closely with the Denver Ballet Guild, and has handled several pro bono matters for Colorado Lawyers for the Arts.
It is extremely important for Faegre Baker Daniels to be a good corporate citizen and give back to the communities in which we live and work. Our firm’s contributions to the Colorado community are significant and varied, and include a mix of pro bono legal services, firm-sponsored community service projects and charitable giving through the Faegre Baker Daniels Foundation. With each contribution of time, talent and treasure, we hope to further enrich our community and continue to work in tandem with other area business to make a lasting difference for future generations.
State of the Arts – First Western Trust
As part of our efforts to recognize the incredible impact of local businesses collaborating with arts + culture organizations, we asked our members to share stories of their involvement. The following guest post was provided by Founding Board Member First Western Trust. 
Every community is a canvas. A canvas needs to be filled in with brush strokes by people who care and who see infinite possibilities to make a lasting difference.
At First Western Trust, we see art as means to inspire those in our community who are driven to make an impact, and as a way to connect with our colleagues and community.
As a company, we’ve invested in contemporary western artists, building a corporate art collection that fills the walls of our 10 offices. These artists look beyond predictable, romanticized images of the West and create works that speak to the complexities of our local communities.
Art in a business environment leads to deeper inquisitiveness, encourages intuitive capacities and awakens fresh responses in thinking, feeling, and seeing. We believe that the artwork in our collection creates a culture of creativity in our company and that it inspires our associates to bring new ideas to the forefront.
In addition to our support of local artists within our company, we partner with visual and performing arts organizations out in our community.
“Supporting the arts is important to us because it means that we are helping those organizations that expose our communities to diverse cultural experiences and inspire new ways of thinking,” said Scott Wylie, CEO of First Western Trust. “Art and art education help our communities become more creative, more inquisitive, and more vibrant.”
Working with organizations like Central City Opera, Fort Collins Symphony Guild, Childsplay, and the Denver Art Museum, we have donated our time, talent, and treasure to art organizations across our 10 western offices. These and other organizations play an important role in helping our communities learn about different cultures and forms of expression. They help us think more openly and encourage new ideas that we can use to make an impact on our communities.
We appreciate the role art play in fostering new possibilities and vibrant communities, and we are proud to support local organizations who are making a difference in our cities.
To learn more about our community work and see an example of the contemporary artists we support, we invite you to visit our community report here.
Member Spotlight: Commerce City Names Suncor Business of the Year
B:CIVIC Founding Member Suncor received the Business of the Year Award from Commerce City this week, an honor that recognizes a company that has shown a history of sustained leadership within its industry and community.
A Commerce City press release summarized Suncor’s contributions with the following statement:
SUNCOR’s refining and marketing operations provide a vital link between a large Canadian resource base and the growing North American energy market. Suncor’s Commerce City refinery – the only one in Colorado – processes about 98,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Suncor is a major supplier of quality, refined petroleum products including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and paving grade asphalt. A long-time community partner, Suncor has invested more than $1.3 billion in capital investments in Colorado since 2003, contributing to projects and initiatives that improve the environment, increase economic opportunity and enhance quality of life. Suncor provided a $1 million lead gift to construct a stand-alone Boys & Girls Club in Commerce City. Currently under construction, the new 20,000-sq.ft.building will serve 1,000 students – nearly double the existing club – with a STEM lab, art room, learning center, teen center, commercial kitchen and full-size gymnasium.
Congratulations, Suncor, for setting an example for every Colorado company!
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