Reflecting Colorado’s diversity and organizing a dynamic new progressive movement

Dear CPC Members and Friends:

When CPC was founded in 1996, our two staff organizers shared a ¾ time paid position as they supported our members in building a new, progressive social justice organization in the midst of religious right dominance in Colorado.  Thanks to your belief in our work – and your membership - we’ve come a long way since then!

Now among Colorado’s largest progressive organizations and drawing both local and national recognition for our work, CPC is proud of our track record to recruit the state’s most talented and diverse staff to our Denver and Pueblo (and soon to be in Greeley) offices.

Our staff and leadership reflect the communities where we organize and project a dynamic new face for Colorado’s progressive movement.

Over the next few months, we’ll introduce to you our 17-person staff and share something with you about them and their work to build Colorado’s progressive future.  In this email, we’d like to introduce you to the newest staff additions to CPC:  Leah Bry, Lindsey Hodel, James Johnson, Jamal Miller, and Jessie Ulibarri.

Leah Bry is CPC’s Lead Health Justice Organizer, joining our Health Justice Team to inspire more Coloradans to get active in the state Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform.  Leah – a tri-athlete in training and filmmaker – previously organized low-wage, immigrant janitors for the Service Employees union and is Spanish/ English bilingual.

Lindsey Hodel is CPC’s Statewide Field Director, building our base and local chapters across Colorado.  Lindsey comes to CPC from San Francisco, having worked with the Sierra Club, the Toxics Action Center in New England, and Colorado Voice, the CPC-sponsored non-profit voter roundtable.  She is currently building our Northern Colorado program, including a new Greeley Chapter.

James Johnson is CPC’s Civic Engagement Director.  A former U.S. Marine and an Oakland Raiders fan – but don’t hold it against him – his resume includes serving as an Eagle County Commissioner and the Service Employees union’s political director (where he was SEIU’s rep. to CPC’s Board).  James is now building CPC’s 200,000 voter 2008 “get out the vote” program in Aurora, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, and Pueblo.

Jamal Miller is CPC’s Aurora Community Organizer leading our work to build a membership base in the fast growing and diverse 300,000 person suburb.  Joining us first in 2004, when a CPC volunteer registered him to vote while he waited for the bus, Jamal played a key role in our work to win the minimum wage increase in 2006.  His current focus is taking on racial profiling and police accountability issues in Aurora.

Jessie Ulibarri is CPC’s Campaign for Economic Justice Director, returning home to Colorado from Washington, DC, where he worked for U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez.  Achieving fame at CU-Boulder– where he helped stop what would have been $200 million in TABOR forced cuts to state colleges – Jessie leads CPC’s work to win a permanent Earned Income Tax Credit for 250,000 of Colorado’s lowest-income residents. 

To contact these organizers and to get involved in a specific campaign, please call (303) 866-0908, or you can email them at the following email address:

Leah Bry – Health Justice Organizer      
leah@progressivecoalition.org

Lindsey Hodel – Statewide Field Director
lindsey@progressivecoalition.org

James Johnson – Civic Engagement Director   
james@progressivecoalition.org

Jamal Miller – Aurora Community Organizer  
jamal@progressivecoalition.org

Jessie Ulibarri – Campaign for Economic Justice Director    
jessie@progressivecoalition.org

We’re excited to welcome these great colleagues to the CPC family and please keep an eye out for them as they organize in our communities. 

These great organizers and our work are only possible with the support of members and community like you.  Your tax-deductible contributions are key to support CPC’s work and our statewide organizing, and is making a difference in communities throughout the state.  Also, your contribution to CPC will be matched $1-for-$1 by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado and the Brett Family Foundation.  So your contribution counts twice!

Watch for more introductions to our Board and Staff in the months to come.  Until then, we give our special thanks to you for your support of CPC’s work to build a progressive future for Colorado.

In peace,

Bill Vandenberg
Co-Executive Director