Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition

Thursday, September 7, 2023

5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m

Doors open at 5:00

COCKTAILS AND CUISINE

BASKETS AND BUNDLES SILENT AUCTION

MILE HIGH STATION

2027 West Lower Colfax Denver, CO.

CATERED BY FOOTERS

PLEASE JOIN US FOR ANOTHER WONDERFUL EVENING!

SCROLL DOWN TO PURCHASE TICKETS OR BECOME A SPONSOR AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

 

On Thursday September 7, 2023, we will celebrate our fourteenth annual night of fun and fundraising with an open bar, delicious food, and silent auction at Mile High Station in Denver, Colorado. 

 We would like to invite you to attend or become a sponsor of this event.

CCJRC has been successfully advocating for an end to mass incarceration and designing new approaches to community-centered public health and safety strategies and programs in Colorado for over two decades. CCJRC was founded as community members came together in 1999 to support a prison moratorium bill introduced Senator Dorothy Rupert and Representative Penfield Tate, which was the first bill introduced in the country calling for a halt to state prison expansion. The Rupert Tate Game Changer Award honors their legacy and recognizes outstanding efforts to transform the status quo to advance community health, safety, and equity.   

CCJRC proudly announces that we will awarding two Rupert-Tate Game Changer Awards at our annual event on September 7, 2023, to

Project Elevate and the Denver Jail-Based Voting Project

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cassandra Harris (Empowerment Program), Project Elevate Director of Services and 

Stephanie Robertson (City & County of Denver), Project Elevate Director of Operations 

for their leadership with Project Elevate.

 

Presented by: Pam Clifton, CCJRC Manager for Constituent Services

The possibility for Project Elevate was born in 2019 after the Denver City Council boldly decided to end the halfway house contracts with two for-profit prison operators. That decision led to the closing of Tooley Hall, the only women’s community corrections program in Denver. The purpose of community corrections is to function as a transitional program that is meant to help folks by either diverting them from prison or to allow them to transition from prison back into community.  But one of CCJRC’s long-standing criticisms has been that there’s no real community in community corrections.  

The decision not to renew the existing contracts gave Denver’s Division of Community Corrections and the wider community the opportunity to reimagine a new model for community corrections that involved a public-private partnership between the city and a local nonprofit organization.

After more than a dozen meetings with local activists, service providers, directly impacted women, city representatives, and elected officials the vision for Project Elevate started to come into focus. City Council voted to approve the City’s purchase of Tooley Hall from GEO group and after a competitive proposal process, Denver chose the Empowerment Program as their community partner to provide the programming and services to residents. Project Elevate opened its doors in August 2022 with space for 50 women.

It is our honor to present our 2023 Game Changer Award to both Cassandra Harris and Stephanie Robertson for their leadership and collaboration that has brought a whole new model for community corrections to life, and the deep care they have for the women in the program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

R. Todd Davidson, Director of Elections, Director Denver Elections Division and

Paul Lopez, Denver Clerk and Recorder

for the collaboration with CCJRC on the Denver Jail-Based Voting Project

 

Presented by Jasmine Ross, CCJRC Civic Engagement Manager

CCJRC is also honored to present a 2023 Game Changer Award to R. Todd Davidson and Paul Lopez. The Denver Elections Division team has been a phenomenal partner with us in the Denver Jail-Based Voting Project to ensure that eligible voters in jail have a meaningful opportunity to register to vote and vote.

In Colorado, people in jail who are pretrial detainees or serving a misdemeanor sentence are eligible to vote, which is most people incarcerated in county jails and detention centers. But these eligible voters have largely been overlooked by local election officials, but not the Denver Elections Division. 

CCJRC approached DED in early 2016 about the idea of collaborating on a jail-based voting project and they enthusiastically agreed, immediately.  Our partnership has been going strong ever since. Not only has DED worked closely with the Denver Sheriff’s Department on logistics and problem solving, and there are several unique challenges to accommodate confined voters, but DED also offers in-person voting and same day registration opportunities to eligible voters in at the jail and detention center. They’ve also been conscientious in developing a review process to ensure people in jail are eligible to vote before they vote since people’s voting eligibility can change overnight depending on where they are in their criminal case. One day you can be a pretrial detainee (eligible) and the next day you could be sentenced to prison and in jail awaiting transfer to DOC (ineligible).  And this mindfulness is indicative of the concern they have for people in jail because it is a class 5 felony for someone to vote if they aren’t eligible.

The DED team has also always treated CCJRC as a trusted and valuable partner. They’ve worked with us to develop our voter educational materials specific to confined voters, helped us when we’re inside the jail and detention center registering eligible voters, and they’ve trained CCJRC staff to serve as election judges inside the jail and detention center.

In short, DED has developed the most robust jail-based voter program in the state, and one of only a handful in the country. They are a great example of what caring and doing the work looks like and are paving the way for other elected clerks and election divisions.

CCJRC Recent Successes

• Helped pass dozens of criminal justice reform bills that were signed into law in the last ten years which helped reduce the prison population. 
• Six prisons have been closed in Colorado since 2009; four of them were for-profit private prisons.
• Pioneered a new public safety strategy we call Community Reinvestment that provides state funding to community-based strategies.  There are currently four Community Reinvestment Initiatives that were enacted by the General Assembly providing over $17 million a year for community-based crime prevention, reentry, harm reduction, and victim services.  These initiatives have been the subject of several national reports for innovation in public safety.
• Launched one of the first projects in the country to focus on making sure that justice-involved people were included in Colorado's implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  This campaign called “Take Care Health Matters” has worked to increase access to primary care, behavioral health treatment, and chronic disease care for people involved in the criminal justice system. 
• Expanded our Voting with Conviction campaign that aims to increase voter participation among people with criminal records, to include jail-based voter registration and education.
• Published and distributed over 19,000 copies of the 6^th edition of our reentry guide, Getting on After Getting Out: A Re-entry Guide for Colorado.

Event Audience

• Colorado community members, especially those who have been directly impacted by crime, the criminal legal system, drug policy or all the above
• Community-led direct service providers offering support services in reentry, harm reduction, recovery, crime prevention, and victim services.
• Law firms and related legal businesses
• CCJRC coalition partners and faith communities
• Civic leaders and legislators engaged in public health and safety policy

Sponsorship Opportunities

Voices for Justice Sponsor - $10,000

• Eight seats at dinner
• Your Company name used in title of event ~ “Voices for Justice” presented by Your Company
• Your Company name used in all media promotion
• Your Company name and logo on all marketing and materials
• Sponsor banner at event
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• Full page ad/logo in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Game Changer Sponsor - $5,000

• Four seats at dinner
• Your Company name used in title of event “Game Changer” presented by Your Company
• Your Company name used in all media promotion
• Your Company name and logo on all marketing and materials
• Sponsor banner at event
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• Full page ad/logo in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Supporting Sponsor - $2,500

• Four seats at dinner
• Your Company name used in all media promotion
• Your Company name and logo on all marketing and materials
• Sponsor banner at event
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• ½ page ad/logo in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Contributing Sponsor $1,000

• Four seats at dinner
• Your Company name and logo on all marketing and materials
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to over 8,000 members
• 1/2 page ad/logo in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Advocate Sponsor - $750

• Two seats at dinner
• Your Company name and logo on all marketing and materials
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• Listing in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Freedom Fighter Sponsor - $500

• Two seats at dinner
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• Listing in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Rupert-Tate Sponsor - $375

• Two seats at dinner
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• Listing in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Justice Sponsor - $250

• Two seats at dinner
• Recognition in Colorado Justice Report, our tri-annual newsletter to nearly 10,000 members
• Listing in Event Program
• CCJRC website and social media recognition with link to your website
• Table signage

Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition is a non-profit organization.

Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.