CCLP’s 26th birthday party recap

CCLP's 26th birthday party recap

by Karly Kaufman| Aug 13, 2024

Coalition building, Events

CCLP celebrated its 26thbirthday this year, and we threw a party to celebrate! Family, friends, partners, and community members gathered at the Carriage House at Boettcher Mansion in Denver to reminisce on the work CCLP has done in the past year. Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to Organic Roots once again for the wonderful catering!

Last year, our 25thanniversary party featured the public introduction of our new CEO, Lydia McCoy. One year in, Lydia continues to lead us in our mission of fighting against poverty across Colorado. Lydia provided remarks again at this year's event, recognizing new staff, key organization partners, and incoming and outgoing board members.

Lydia also reflected on a year of many successes, including our work on the Public Health Emergency (PHE) unwind, specifically around our Office of Civil Rights complaint, alleging discrimination against people with disabilities by the state Medicaid agency. You can read the complaint and its supplemental filings here. This complaint resulted in multiple interviews and recently an opportunity to provide testimony to the legislature's Joint Budget Committee, fact checking misinformation that had propagated since the end of the PHE. This was followed by an issue brief on Medicaid eligibility and wages in Colorado, which you can read here. As Lydia stated, "These kinds of efforts really take an entire team to do justice for the people who are caught in the system."

Our 2024 legislative session was another success Lydia uplifted in her remarks. CCLP took positions on 67 bills, with 76% of those we supported passing, and provided testimony on 18 bills. Our team focused on increasing protections for residents in mobile home parks; cleaning up the laws around Clean Slate, which automatically seals criminal records for eligible Coloradans; worked on increasing funding for legal aid in Colorado, promoting progressive tax and wage policies; centered on preserving affordable communities through renter protections and increased access to affordable housing; and more.

This year, CCLP also published many resources for partners and the community. We launched our Know Your Rights resource on medical debt and your credit report now that medical debt has been removed from credit reports for Colorado residents - you can read the materials here, available in English and Spanish. We recently supported the Office of eHealth Innovation by providing materials on how to authentically engage community in informing their policy priorities. We also provided trainings to partners on the rulemaking process and how to engage and published our Community Testimony Guide, available in both English and Spanish. These are just some of the amazing accomplishments our staff has done in the last year!

As we look into the future, there will be no shortage of work for CCLP staff. As Lydia mentioned in her closing remarks, "I couldn't be more confident that we have the right team and support to get the work done." CCLP will continue to strive for a better Colorado, one in which everyone has what they need to succeed.

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