Colorado Stories | Community Development Digest

Indiana Lt. Governor to Honor ‘Stellar’ Small Communities

Indiana Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann (R) will welcome the five 2015 Stellar Communities finalists on Monday, Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. to showcase their local community’s in-depth Strategic Investment Plans (SIP). Additionally, Ellspermann will announce the two Stellar Communities Designees for 2015 as part of the Indiana State Fair’s Community Development Day celebrations.

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Waters, Bass Urge California Lawmakers to Quash Evictions

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Karen Bass (D-CA) this past week fired off a strongly worded letter to the California State Senate President pro Tempore, Kevin de Leon and the Speaker of the California Assembly, Toni Atkins, urging them to support legislation that will impose a moratorium on the Ellis Act, a California law that is increasingly being abused to evict hundreds of veterans, elderly people, and low income families.

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LA Councilman Proposes to Save Existing Affordable Housing Units

Los Angeles Councilman Gil Cedillo (D) is pushing a proposal to use some $9 million in former redevelopment funds to help keep rent and housing costs low for hundreds of residential units in his district. If approved, it could become a model program for adoption by other districts in the city.

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Colorado Initiative Seeks to Slim Down State Workers

If health-related workforce issues are part of your portfolio, consider this report from the University of Colorado: The first group of 20 state of Colorado employees lost an average of 8.59% of their body weight while participating in a 16-week “State of Slim” pilot program, offered through the employee wellness program. Overall the group of lost 282.1 pounds, with some of the individuals losing as many as 34 pounds.

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Denver Wants Affordable Homes Near Transit

The Denver Transit-Oriented Development Fund sets a new goal to create 2,000 affordable-housing units near public transit in the next 10 years.

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Colorado Receives Flood Recovery Aid

The money targets housing construction and infrastructure repairs as the state braces for more flooding from a spring runoff of the winter snowpack.

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Mixed Use Project Opens With Financing From Denver TOD Fund

Evans Station Lofts, a project financed by a local transit-oriented development (TOD) fund, merges innovative affordable housing with transit access; it is a project that could serve as a model for other transit-oriented development projects nationally as the federal government boosts funding for TO...

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Transit Fund in Denver Used to Develop Affordable Apartments

Using the country's first fund created to preserve and create affordable housing near public transportation, the Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) plans to develop more than 150 affordable apartments on 9 acres of land the organization just purchased in Denver.

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Denver Launches Sustainability Office to Achieve Green Goals

While many cities have sustainability initiatives, Denver joins a growing list of cities including Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee which have created separate agencies exclusively dedicated to sustainability issues.

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Advanced Manufacturing Research Bill Proposed in Colorado

The proposed Advanced Industries Accelerator Act aims to "create new highly-skilled jobs, increase exports, drive innovation and capital investment, create stronger partnerships between educational institutions and industry, accelerate technology commercialization and promote Colorado's research and development activities."

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