DUS x KGNU Metro - March 2024

[00:00:00] Support comes from Tangerine restaurants with locations in North Boulder, Old Town Lafayette

[00:00:04] and Downtown Longmont, providing traditional morning fare and lunch with Mediterranean

[00:00:08] and Tex-Mex twists as well as espresso coffee drinks. More information and menus can be found

[00:00:13] at tangerineeats.com. Support comes from Community Food Share A food bank fighting hunger and

[00:00:19] boulder in Brumfield counties by providing food directly to families, seniors, students,

[00:00:24] and others. More information can be found at communityfoodshare.org.

[00:00:43] Hello KGNU listeners and welcome to Expanding The Narrative on Metro, a show by Denver urban

[00:00:49] spectrum that amplifies the voices and stories of the community. I'm your host Brittany Winkfield,

[00:00:55] it's March and we're celebrating Women's History Month with phenomenal ladies making impact.

[00:01:01] Here at the spectrum our mission is to educate and form and enlighten by spreading the news about

[00:01:06] people of color. Women are at the forefront of education, creativity, sharing information, ideas,

[00:01:14] experiences on a global scale. We are vast and multifaceted and continue to change the world.

[00:01:20] Here to tell us about the March issue is Managing Editor Ruby Jones.

[00:01:26] Hello hello I'm Ruby Jones. March is Women's History Month and Denver urban spectrum

[00:01:31] is celebrating the contributions of impactful women across Colorado communities.

[00:01:37] This month's cover art depicts the life and legacy of Mrs. Wilma J. Webb, a former Colorado

[00:01:43] state representative who served as first lady from 1991 to 2003. The cover story features a timeline

[00:01:51] of Mrs. Webb's personal and professional experiences highlighting important initiatives she

[00:01:56] supported before during and after her service in the state legislature. Another fantastic feature

[00:02:03] for Women's Month is Dan Yal Schutes, founder and managing director of the Demi Fund who made

[00:02:10] history as Colorado's youngest chief financial officer. Writer Stacey Nareen sat down with the

[00:02:16] president of Colorado Black Women for Political Action or CBWPA Bianca Emerson who discussed

[00:02:24] the organization's goals for this election year. In February the Denver Sheriff's Department

[00:02:30] and Aurora Police Department granted his story of promotions to two community leaders in law

[00:02:35] enforcement. Denver Sheriff's Department's Stephanie Lane was promoted to Captain, adding to her

[00:02:41] family's legacy of civic duty. In Aurora, Darnisha Montgomery became the very first Black woman

[00:02:47] in the Aurora Police Department's history to be promoted to the rank of sergeant. This month,

[00:02:53] Denver urban spectrum congratulates both women recognizing their service and exemplary commitment

[00:02:58] to their communities. Long time contributor and local real estate broker, Barry Overton,

[00:03:04] highlights the growing trend of home ownership among single women and James Michael Brody of the Black

[00:03:10] and Gold Project Foundation writes an op-ed about the University of Colorado's search for a new

[00:03:15] chancellor. The African-American who make a difference hope awards were held in February

[00:03:21] and the March issue provides a recap about the wonderful event detailing special presentations

[00:03:26] and a beautiful program that pay tribute to the people working to make the world a better place.

[00:03:31] Finally, writer Lattrice Owen shines a spotlight on the famed actress and first Black Academy

[00:03:37] Award winner, Hadi McDaniel. She discusses McDaniel's story with singer and actress

[00:03:42] Vickilin Reynolds who is keeping the entertainment trailblazers legacy alive with a special theatrical

[00:03:48] performance. Women have done great things throughout history from politics to entertainment and business.

[00:03:54] Women are breaking barriers and shattering glass ceilings while creating a path for future

[00:03:59] generations. Keep listening to hear more about this month's feature stories. Greetings,

[00:04:05] gentle listener. This is KGNU's Denver program manager Dave Ashton. Over the past year,

[00:04:11] I've been delighted to work with the incredibly talented and hardworking Brittany Winkfield on a monthly

[00:04:17] episode of Metro that highlights stories from the new edition of the Denver urban spectrum as it

[00:04:23] hits the streets. These shows, better known as expanding the narrative, invite listeners to a

[00:04:29] closer view of stories and issues of immediate impact to communities of color across the Denver

[00:04:35] Metro area and wider region. Expanding the narrative is an example of KGNU fulfilling our mission

[00:04:42] to the fullest, to provide a channel for communities that have been overlooked,

[00:04:46] underrepresented or actively suppressed by other broadcasters. This partnership is something

[00:04:52] I'm particularly proud of shepherding over the past few months. If you appreciate hearing directly

[00:04:58] from communities of color about what's going on, we're asking for your financial support

[00:05:04] of Mission-Driven Independent Media today. Make your donation during today's episode of Metro

[00:05:10] Online at KGNU.org or call 303-449-4885 and thank you.

[00:05:19] Danielle Schutes is a financial executive with a brilliant mind and a keen outlook on my.

[00:05:25] In addition to working as a CFO and helping prestigious local organizations optimize their budgets,

[00:05:32] she created the Demi Fund as an innovative value-based way to invest in emerging markets

[00:05:38] while dismantling economic inequity. Here's a clip from my Spectrum Talk interview with Danielle.

[00:05:44] You can catch the full episode at Spectrum Talk with Ruby on Denver Urban Spectrum's YouTube channel.

[00:05:50] When it comes to who I invested, Black and brown founders and women, their ability to go raise that

[00:05:57] next round is next to impossible and I'm saying not from a data perspective. It's like one and a

[00:06:02] half percent combined. It gets adventure capital, so the bias is so strong there's no science

[00:06:09] and when there's no science and people are using their guts to make bets and oh my friend started

[00:06:13] a business and I'm going to go invest in that that business and more money will flow into a failed

[00:06:19] entrepreneur like the guy who started we work then somebody who's starting out for the first time.

[00:06:24] So if you think about the way bias flows in the financial system towards us,

[00:06:29] we are riskier. That's what their gut tells them, it's their gut that's how hard this is to

[00:06:35] overcome and they're using their gut to make these decisions on an unproven business model.

[00:06:40] It's like well like it's literally the tail is chasing the head right? And it's just a spiral.

[00:06:46] So I just do this game much differently, structured like a venture fund so that I can still

[00:06:52] invest in early stage companies that may not have years of proven model. So I want to stay in

[00:06:59] the early stage but we really want to be a partner and grow in scale of business and build value

[00:07:05] into the company. Like I'm not going to say your worth more just because I need it to be worth more.

[00:07:10] We're going to put points on the actual board and I think investing in founders of color,

[00:07:15] there's a natural cadence to that and it's proving itself out for me. Now it's hard because I'm doing

[00:07:20] it very differently. It's like inventing an asset class and people who like it the other way are

[00:07:25] very uncomfortable. I have investors into the fund, right? So I'm having to keep my investors happy

[00:07:30] while trying to stay on this course of like no we need to do this different. It's also hard because

[00:07:35] the need is so great among founders of color. Like that is hard for me. That's been the hardest thing

[00:07:42] where it's a very specific type of business that you end up investing in. I don't do any brick-and-mortar

[00:07:48] businesses or you know it's very high growth, high margin opportunity because otherwise it

[00:07:53] wouldn't even actually be fair for me to take chunks of your investment out. I could never build

[00:07:58] wealth for the business owner that way and that's important to me but it leaves it's a lot more

[00:08:03] knows than it is yeses and I hate that because I know how great the need is. I know how brilliant

[00:08:08] my community is. I know how resilient they are. How they can make a dollar stretch. And so I wish

[00:08:13] that I had a fund where you just invested in every kind of thing. Yeah, I'm blended but this

[00:08:17] is a start. I'm starting so give me five more years and then we'll do that. Oh, yes yeah. So what

[00:08:24] is the process then when somebody applies for the demi-fund? What are you looking for and what do

[00:08:29] these businesses or ventures or yeah ventures. In tail and what like sticks out to you the most

[00:08:36] is something that you're like I want to build value in this. Yeah, so specifically it's

[00:08:43] something where there's going to be a significant amount of volume that you have access to from

[00:08:49] a customer perspective. So I know people often say oh like tech enabled or high growth or any of

[00:08:54] that it's like yeah that's not specific enough. So I'm trying to I try to be specific with people

[00:08:59] there's a lot of customers in your future potentially we can go take a chunk of the market out

[00:09:04] it's not isolated to one city it's not isolated like we really think there's a whole volume play

[00:09:09] there that's for me. I think way too many people bet on rate which means bet on pricing

[00:09:15] of something I just want to know how there's a ton of people that want to or need what you're selling

[00:09:22] right so that could be tech enabled that could be a product like we don't do a lot of products but

[00:09:27] I do like food is medicine so because I think that's the future right. I think we're going to have to

[00:09:32] stop poisoning our people in this country with our food that we give them like I think they

[00:09:36] fundamentally the healthcare system can't support it so I'm looking ahead to go okay like

[00:09:40] who's starting businesses in that space and that's going to be such a huge chunk of the

[00:09:45] population who it has a lived experience that 70% of the population could relate to right so

[00:09:54] it's a lot of what I know and so we invest in founders of color but there's solving problems for

[00:09:59] people of color right like that and they're the ones that we know how to like I have a

[00:10:04] investment into what we call the e-harmony of housing which they basically figured out how to

[00:10:08] reduce eviction rates by 90% for folks with section 8 and vouchers housing is a crisis in this

[00:10:15] country so there's the volume right figuring out how to get and keep people housed is a problem we

[00:10:20] have we've had it for a long time so now it's reached crisis and we'll have it for a very very

[00:10:26] long time and it will evolve so the future of that company being able to grow is huge like that's

[00:10:31] the first thing they're solving a problem I know other investors are going to overlook

[00:10:37] venture capitalists aren't even going to be able to tell you what section 8 is it is a bubble of people

[00:10:42] the majority of them are not just white men they're white men that went to Stanford or Harvard

[00:10:46] majority like you have to think about how small that bubble is from a lived experience so like in

[00:10:52] many ways it's not even their fault it's like you don't know what you don't know but they're going to go

[00:10:55] I don't even know a problem that person solving they that business wouldn't even get in the door for

[00:10:59] somebody else for me I'm like wait what are you doing the other thing is that we drive towards

[00:11:05] revenue and profit which is not necessarily what happens in venture capital so that'll be the

[00:11:10] third thing that we're really looking for is that what is the pathway to actually bringing money

[00:11:15] into this business and then keeping it making money and we really support and our partners with

[00:11:19] our founders and that what big contracts do you have out there how do we actually help you

[00:11:24] we're business people all of us like old school P&L, growing scale companies we're going to be

[00:11:29] in your business we're going to be on your boards but it's because we actually want to grow and

[00:11:33] scale your company if you couldn't raise another dollar how do we get you to profit

[00:11:37] that's the way we think and sort of push so we're looking for partners all spend time vetting

[00:11:42] a company for a year sometimes before we make an actual investment I'll help companies put things

[00:11:48] in place that they need in order for them to be investible so I'm always saying like how do I

[00:11:54] engineer the win and the investment sort of the last piece of it then we put money in we're off

[00:11:59] to the races but how do we get you ready for that so it's you know venture or any type of equity

[00:12:04] investment is rocket fuel that's where I tell people like if you want to run your company for the

[00:12:09] rest of your life and pass it down to your children this isn't the right investment to many people

[00:12:14] in your business take an ownership of your business many people are predatory in this private equity

[00:12:20] space where they will take it and so I'll say that upfront like is that your dream or do you want to

[00:12:26] create a $500 million dollar company with me and sell it or take it public because that's a different

[00:12:32] dream right and so making sure that we understand where people want to be in 10 years from now when

[00:12:37] this life cycle is supposed to go one way or the other so those are the things we're looking for

[00:12:41] and I'm telling you I use my gut too it's why I'm a good investor there's a lot of gut

[00:12:46] but it's because I'm sitting with people I'm like oh yeah you know I was a teen mom

[00:12:50] and that was back way before housing was the crisis today is now

[00:12:53] I have a 21 year old son who's not going to be able to afford to buy home even after getting an

[00:12:57] engineering degree I have a 16 year old water right I sit on the board of Denver Health right I

[00:13:02] understand what safety net hospitals are facing and then who's solving for that across the board

[00:13:09] you're listening to episode five of expanding the narrative on Metro this is a magazine style show

[00:13:15] on KG and you hosted by the Denver urban spectrum bringing you the news and stories that matter

[00:13:21] most to Colorado's communities of color it's a platform for amplifying many voices and with your

[00:13:27] support today we can one ensure these vital stories reach every corner of the state

[00:13:34] to provide a professional platform for Colorado's diverse storytellers three empowered journalists

[00:13:40] of color to delve deeper investigate further and hold powerful conversations for impact

[00:13:47] four make expanding the narrative more accessible online reaching new audiences and building

[00:13:53] community your contribution no matter the size makes a difference to donate call 303-449-4885

[00:14:02] or donate securely online at kgnu.org and help us continue to expand the narrative

[00:14:13] Wilma Web is a powerful intelligence charismatic woman who deserves to be honored and

[00:14:18] celebrated after nearly 50 years of service and leadership in Denver her commitment to community

[00:14:24] advancement was inspired by the tragic and uncommonly lost of civil rights leaders and political

[00:14:30] figures during the turbulence civil rights movement and from early beginnings in educational

[00:14:35] advocacy to serving six terms in the Colorado House of Representatives she never strayed from

[00:14:40] the right to swap she wrote and carried legislation for substance abuse programming and support

[00:14:46] protections against gender based discrimination tax incentives for minority and women owned

[00:14:52] businesses civil rights and education she fought to secure recognition for dr. Martin Luther King

[00:14:58] Jr.'s momentous role in history creating a state recognized holiday she was the brainchild

[00:15:04] behind the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library and the first to elevate the role of

[00:15:10] first lady with ongoing civic action here in Denver and around the world here's a clip of my

[00:15:15] conversation with Denver's forever first lady and so I was happy to to help and to do what I could

[00:15:25] do because of my experience but I also wanted to make a positive contribution so that

[00:15:34] because we were there that we would leave a good legacy and that we would leave a good history

[00:15:41] of our involvement and that that we did something that was meaningful to women to people

[00:15:48] to children to citizens and to make all people feel like their government works for them

[00:15:56] and so I regarded that as an opportunity it did have some some challenges and one particular

[00:16:10] challenge was that there was no staff and I was doing all of that work for the entire city not

[00:16:18] for one legislating district but for the entire city and I was being pulled and there were very

[00:16:25] few services people helped where they could but there was nothing that was was a authority for

[00:16:33] the legitimate and so I went ahead anyway because the people made me their first lady and so

[00:16:42] I did things that were helpful I knew who I was and I knew who I was not I enjoyed it I think

[00:16:57] I think I was a pilgrim there have been three different first ladies that are active in their

[00:17:04] own ways all of us could design it the way we wanted to but I was the first and so others have

[00:17:13] followed and that's a good thing and I didn't make the decision then about if I'll go over to

[00:17:22] with the presidency again if I would change departments or if I would see election again

[00:17:29] I just went back to being first lady because it was really a full-time position anyway it was

[00:17:37] full-time and I gave everything I had and if you look back at some of the pictures they might be

[00:17:45] influential pictures but if you really look at me I really looked very tired well I'm still

[00:17:52] doing all of the things that I did except for the federal position but I still answer

[00:18:02] people who call me and ask me to come and speak with young people or to speak to people

[00:18:09] I still make visitations to hospitals and I still am part of organizations and I really put a lot

[00:18:18] of emphasis in all of it on the arts because I felt like the arts are very important

[00:18:26] to our society and to our children for the future and to each one of us because they really

[00:18:37] they show in both performing arts and also in visual arts what we were about 100 years from now

[00:18:48] they will know what we did what was important to us how we told our stories

[00:18:55] how we wrote what we did to improve the world art has a very important place and so I did what

[00:19:04] I could to strengthen our arts community in Denver I served as the chairman of the

[00:19:11] mayor's commission on art culture and film I also established a non-profit organization which

[00:19:23] was for the purpose of adding funds for both performing and for visual arts which the city only

[00:19:31] had a program that granted dollars for arts only to be placed in the construction of new buildings

[00:19:42] and that's a good thing it was a 1% of those funds for building those buildings had to have art

[00:19:49] included in it so that they were just not just square buildings with no character or no personal

[00:19:57] to do them and who did represent the people and so I was a part of that emphasis and also the part

[00:20:10] of making sure that the art was allocated fairly okay and we did that with the process that we had

[00:20:22] for art for the city and county of Denver and also did it in terms of trying to let all cultures

[00:20:31] all people all races all economic levels art from different states and different cities we want

[00:20:41] it to be a world class city and in order to be a world class city every city that's any city in the

[00:20:50] world that is known throughout the world for its contribution it has a strong art presence

[00:20:58] Colorado Black women for political action is a non-partisan non-profit organization that was founded

[00:21:04] in 1977 to encourage African American participation in the political process writer Stacey Narene

[00:21:13] sat down with C.B.W.P.A.'s president Bianca Emerson to discuss the organization's theme for 2024

[00:21:21] keep rising to the top is an inspirational message to women working towards community

[00:21:27] and personal advancement here's Bianca with more with regards to election you know how is C.B.W.P.A.

[00:21:33] preparing the community for the upcoming election that's a great question we have so when I

[00:21:40] my first term as president I created this concept called girl get your vote on

[00:21:45] and it's really GLTV which we call Get Out The Vote it's a GLTV effort to really educate

[00:21:55] and paint homage to the fact that black women consistently show up so what we're doing this year

[00:22:01] because it's an election year is we're really focusing on GLTV efforts throughout the entire year

[00:22:08] so I think what the problem we have is we see a lot of disinformation and A.I.S. is doing a really

[00:22:15] good job of putting small little clips of misinformation out there that is hurting us as Black people

[00:22:24] but it's also hurting the civic engagement process as it relates to showing up and voting right

[00:22:31] so I think the best way to comment that is through education so sometimes um I'm not even

[00:22:37] sometimes I'll be very honest with you I don't think the mass is understand what the president's job

[00:22:42] actually is you know I keep saying people on um social media vice vice president Kamala Harris

[00:22:48] she ain't doing nothing I never see her she doesn't show up well first of all

[00:22:52] she is the second in line shits up and happens to the president of the united states so we don't want

[00:22:59] her everywhere all the time and per se you know I'm saying but she does have a role she does have a job

[00:23:06] I think people don't understand what the governor does people don't understand what the mayor

[00:23:10] does people don't understand how government actually works so throughout this entire year we're

[00:23:16] going to be having workshops through our general body meetings and others so that people can be

[00:23:22] educated and understand and know what government actually does and what roles are all these roles

[00:23:29] are important the other day I found out that there are over 500,000 elected positions throughout

[00:23:37] the country wow over 500,000 and people don't know that and people have to understand that participating

[00:23:44] in every single election is important and arguably so the local election could be even more

[00:23:51] even more important than the general election so voting for the mayor voting for city council

[00:24:00] school board members all that is important but people don't show up to those to those um elections

[00:24:07] because they don't understand it's important you know so I think that's really important and I think

[00:24:13] again um like I said it's it's not enough to be civically engaged you have to be

[00:24:21] specifically engaged and educated on that civic process so this year um one of the things we're

[00:24:28] focusing on is leadership so we're focusing on leadership as it relates to policy and politics

[00:24:34] so so often people think that if when they think in politics first of all they get free everything

[00:24:42] and everything around everything and everything around us is political I don't care what it is

[00:24:47] but people also have to understand there's different aspects to even electoral politics you don't

[00:24:52] have to run for office to make a difference you know you can you can join a campaign you can phone

[00:24:59] bank on the campaign but there's also aspects of leadership in every aspect of our society so

[00:25:07] so this year we're really focusing on leadership so basically how do I how do I

[00:25:14] coming back to our theme um what we want to do is help women get through black women especially

[00:25:22] particularly get through um some of the negativity negativity that they may experience on the job

[00:25:30] in the workforce um getting a small business loan um given the fact that you know there's just

[00:25:37] been an attack on black women so how do we what's my mental capacity how do I how do I tank a

[00:25:44] mental break what does mental break mean actually what does middle what does mental health mean

[00:25:49] is it um it's not it's more than just getting a massage you know as it's holistic so what does

[00:25:55] that mean and all of that if you think about it is all going to play um play a part as a

[00:26:03] relates to creating policy as it create as it relates to creating politics and legislation so

[00:26:08] we're really looking at these trainings from a holistic perspective and in somehow in some way

[00:26:16] making sure there's a policy you know attitude or not attitude but yeah I've said attitude

[00:26:23] to what that leadership is training you can sign up to volunteer on our website um you can

[00:26:28] like I said you just send us a message at info at cvwpa.org we're always looking for for um

[00:26:36] you know new members new members of course but people that join like different committees if

[00:26:41] you're interested in like political outreach we have a political team we have a hospitality team

[00:26:48] um we have a faith team we have a youth team so um we're always looking for people to help with the

[00:26:55] luncheon you want to join the run and be on the luncheon committee we have a lot of committees that

[00:27:00] we're constantly moving and we're shaking and we're doing a lot and it's important that we do it

[00:27:05] because um if like I said if we don't show up who will you know the world is waiting and they're

[00:27:11] looking for black women and um and we have out live you know you don't have to be a black woman

[00:27:17] to join like I said you've been out alive we welcome everybody everybody's invited and can

[00:27:22] can join cvwpa. Hi I'm Becky Taylor I started my radio career right here on KGNU as you know producing

[00:27:32] quality content that uplifts and connects our community takes a lot of resources and that's why

[00:27:39] I'm asking for your support during KGNU's Spring Fund Drive it's because of listeners like you

[00:27:45] that KGNU can continue to produce engaging thought-provoking programming that brings us together

[00:27:52] as a community I love how KGNU and Denver urban spectrum are working together to shed light on

[00:27:58] stories that aren't always featured in mainstream media from my experience in radio it truly is

[00:28:04] inspiring to see this kind of collaboration together they're making a real difference in our great

[00:28:10] state if you believe in the power of community driven media and value what KGNU does please consider

[00:28:17] making a donation by calling 303-449-4885 or donate online at kgnu.org thank you for your support

[00:28:29] the Colorado Association of Black Journalists congratulates Roslyn B Harris founder and publisher

[00:28:35] of the Denver Urban Spectrum here's B accepting the CABJ 2024 Legacy Award

[00:28:42] I didn't get this made to see award by myself you know after 37 years there's been a multitude

[00:28:47] of people that have supported me so I you know I want to thank all the writers advertisers editors

[00:28:54] photographers distribution managers readers you know supporters sponsors and everybody but I

[00:29:01] especially wanted to just take and acknowledge that you know I want to accept this award on behalf

[00:29:06] of some of the men who have passed away in the Denver Urban Spectrum last few years and many of

[00:29:10] you know them there's like Charles Emmons Jimmy Elchibas Lawrence Washington Alfonso Porter

[00:29:17] and brother and sir these are five men that have been involved with the urban spectrum of the last

[00:29:24] many years but they have left us a lot into an ancestors of the last three years so I am accepting

[00:29:31] this award on their behalf and everyone else that has touched the Denver Urban Spectrum thank you

[00:29:36] be sure to check out upcoming events on Denver urban spectrum.com and add yours for free

[00:29:42] i'm Brittany Winkfield thanks for listening until next time stream this episode on kgnu.org

[00:29:49] and dumberurbanspecrum.com slash podcast