The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project kicked off today in Denver. Metro Denver Habitat will be building 11 townhouses and doing 15 rehabs this week.
This is the 30th Carter Work Project. To celebrate this milestone, three affiliates are featured this year. President and Mrs. Carter opened the week in Oakland and San Jose. They, along with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, will be in Denver Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, they travel to New York City where the Carter Work Project first began.
Globeville is a long-neglected neighborhood that was, at one time, its own city. It was annexed by Denver in 1902 and became north central Denver.
Settled originally by people who were, generally, eastern European--one of the primary neighborhood landmarks is St. Joseph Polish Catholic Church--the neighborhood is now about 90% hispanic. The poverty rate is a rather high 23%.
Globeville is bisected by both Interstate 70 and Interstate 25, in effect splitting it into quadrants. (The infamous "mouse trap" was in Globeville.) Globeville has always had some physical barriers--rail lines, stock show complex, etc.--that kept it somewhat isolated from the rest of the city. The two interstates are an additional complicating factor.
Several hundred staff, supporters, board members, and volunteers celebrated today's occasion by gathering at Argo Park in the Globeville neighborhood, site of Denver's project. Several local community development organizations were represented among the vendors at the afternoon event. The Globeville project has been instrumental in galvanizing community support for neighboorhood development.
Here, Metro Denver Habitat executive director, Heather Lafferty, thanks the young boys and girls from El Sistema Colorado who opened the celebration. El Sistema Colorado is a community organization that encourages music education for young people.
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