Good & Grounded

The pandemic has devastated the arts scene in Colorado. Arts and culture play such a critical role in our community’s mental health. Andrea Fulton, CMO of The Denver Art Museum, shares the reasons she believes Denver is one of the most resilient cities in the nation and how -  thanks to the SCFD -  we are lightyears above cities three times our size. Listen to her candid conversation with Jim Licko and Laura Love on this episode of Good & Grounded about how Denver’s arts and culture scene will see it to the other side.

Deidre Johnson, CEO of The Center for African American Health, speaks openly and honestly to Jim Licko and Laura Love on this episode of Good and Grounded about racism, implicit bias, how Black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at three times the rate of their white peers, raising two Black teenage sons in this environment, voting oppression and the hope she has for our future.

Will we walk away from our Denver downtown and our office spaces? How do we get our Denver workforce back to work? Can we jump start the economy by helping people starting new businesses? Higher unemployment leads to greater levels of food and housing insecurity and COVID-19 is further highlighting disparities. How do all Colorado business owners prepare for Colorado’s new Equal Pay for Equal Work Act? Join Kelly Brough, CEO of the Denver Chamber of Commerce for an honest conversation with Jim Licko and Laura Love on the Good & Grounded podcast

Denver is known for a lot of things, but you may not know that we are home to the country’s first ever United Way. Jim Licko and Laura Love have a candid conversation with Christine Benero, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mile High United Way, about the digital equity gap, systemic racism, the future of charitable giving and how days after we went into stay-at-home orders, her team joined forces with Colorado Governor Polis and the Colorado Health Foundation to form the Colorado COVID Relief Fund – building the plane as they were flying it. “Just when you think you can’t do it, people rise up in ways that you don’t expect and get it done.” $22 million dollars in grants later, she was right. Coloradans just get it done.

Frozen global supply chains. Fraudulent practices and price gouging. Frustrations with FEMA. Fear of massive increases in hospitalizations during the flu season – this is what PPE Procurement looks like in a time of a pandemic. Seven months post shut down, Laura Love talks to Pat Meyers, former Chief of Staff to Governor Hickenlooper and appointed by Governor Polis to the State of Colorado’s COVID Innovation Response Team, where he led the team obtaining PPE and other medical supplies, about what it was like navigating this wild fight for PPE in the early months of the pandemic. Meyers was recently awarded one of the eight Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medals in 2020 -- one of the highest honors given to citizens and organizations for their significant contributions to our state.

With the advent of Covid-19, there’s never been a more swift and far-reaching need for individuals and corporations to give back to their communities.

In this episode we sat down with Luis Benitez, the vice president of Government Affairs and Global Impact at VF Corp to talk about their approach to corporate social responsibility, how the well-known outdoor apparel and lifestyle brand parent company has transitioned into Denver, and where they are focusing their CSR and community impact efforts. Luis also offers a couple of personal recommendations for great outdoor-related non-profits that have an increased need for volunteers during a summer that saw lots of people using Colorado’s outdoors.

Arguably one of the hardest hit areas as a result of COVID-19 has been the restaurant industry. When the stay at home edict was enlisted and restaurants had to quickly shut their doors for multiple weeks many people lost their jobs, and many local businesses were left to figure out how to make ends meet. As restrictions were lifted, they then had to pivot to find innovative ways to do business at 50% capacity. In this episode we talk with Snooze and Chook Chicken founder Adam Schlegel about what the restaurant industry is doing to stay afloat, and how we can help our local businesses.

In episode 2 we shift to the topic of child welfare and what experts are experiencing as it relates to kids in Colorado and how our current circumstances have impacted them. The Tennyson Center’s CEO Ned Breslin tells us how needs have shifted since March of 2020, what experts are doing to handle the forthcoming shortage of state funding, and what we can all do to help.

Join Laura Love and Jim Licko from GroundFloor Media and CenterTable as they get grounded in the issues facing Colorado's communities by talking to local leaders, and sharing the good that we can all do to give back and make a difference.

In our first episode we talk with CEO of Food Bank of the Rockies Erin Pulling about the economic fallout of the global health crisis and how it has let to record numbers of first-timers – “the new needy” who have never previously needed food aid, but have that need today. The increased need coupled with ongoing needs has left food pantries doing all they can to keep the supply chain moving while not turning hungry families away.