Citizens Project marks 30 years in Colorado Springs, reflects on legacy and future

Residents Challenge in Colorado Springs has an extended historical past. It was created in 1992 after the passage of Colorado’s Modification 2. The now unconstitutional modification prevented cities from enacting anti-discrimination legal guidelines for lesbian, homosexual or bisexual individuals.

The group has simply employed a brand new government director after its earlier chief left inside two years of taking the helm. Previous to the announcement of Mike Williams because the group’s new government director, KRCC’s Mike Procell sat down with board member Schuyler Foerster to speak about the place the group finds itself in its thirtieth yr.

On how the unique mission of Residents Challenge compares to the place the group is now, 30 years later:

The mission has, in some methods modified and has not modified. The phrases have modified. We have modified the mission just lately, to speak about our values of fairness and justice. It was once variety, inclusion, and equality, and separation of church and state, however they had been actually of the identical basket of values. However to that, now we have grow to be very targeted on problems with racial justice, notably after the De’Von Bailey capturing.

The opposite one, which has at all times been a significant problem for us as a result of it is the automobile by which one impacts coverage, is voter training and the growing consideration on residents’ entry to the voting sales space. Are votes going to get counted? How simple is it to get registered? To get entry to the voting sales space, in addition to making an attempt to get individuals truly to get out and vote?

On how true inclusion would look within the Pikes Peak area:

Inclusion [is a really] easy idea, proper? We now have all kinds of individuals with totally different life and totally different races and totally different backgrounds and totally different socioeconomic circumstances, whether or not they’ve bought bodily disabilities. After we speak about inclusion, we’re speaking about ensuring that everybody is included within the course of, however if you make restrictions on voter registration which might be going to dissuade reliable residents’ entry to the voting sales space as a result of they really feel intimidated by being there. That is an issue.

On among the latest successes of the Residents Challenge:

I feel working with others and giving extra consideration to racial justice points, and extra just lately, a rising recognition that the battlefield is college boards on a number of these points, which is historically most underappreciated, dare I say, ignored governance physique in any group. But, it’s in some ways, that governance physique, that discussion board, that shapes a lot in our lives. So, it’s being attentive to these issues and declaring to individuals, ‘Hey, whereas we have been caught in a pandemic, look what’s occurred.’

Responses have been edited for size and readability.