Park Hill Golf Course Community Voice Report

History is a significant component of the surrounding community. The future of the golf course property should consider some of the darker systemic impacts Black residents have suffered. However, it should also celebrate the positive and highlight the area's diversity and culture. The map below briefly summarizes three significant geographic points of Park Hill's history, including the golf course.

Mission

We advance equity and generational success by elevating the voices of the systemically oppressed through the facilitation of organizational collective action, led and constructed by the community.

Vision

Equitable Denver Communities Where Children are Thriving, Not Just Surviving.

Denver Metro Community Impact (DMCI) is being built in real-time by and for the community. DMCI serves as the facilitator and connector for a growing network of partners to meet the needs of families in Denver. The network is bound together by passionate work on the Social Determinants of Health, recognizing that systemic change will come from efforts in improving life in our homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhood, and communities. The success of the DMCI Network is dependent upon organizations and individuals working together differently.

As a convener and facilitator of community and an organizational network, Denver Metro Community Impact (DMCI) represents a medium to understand neighborhood interests, the world of philanthropy, government, and any other entity seeking to work for and with the community. We hold an impactful position in mobilizing the funding of philanthropy directly to the community's needs by fortifying the voice with data while making a case for investment in systemic change. To that end, DMCI is a professional code-switching organization.

DMCI puts community voice first. Our Community Impact Workflow has been developed from the best practices of the  Collective Impact Framework  but also the best practices of community organizing. Starting with the community voice in mind, we seek leaders who have a knack for building relationships, listening to stories, and advocating for their neighbors. We discover shared interests, issues impacting equity, and the desire for action and change through these leaders. After identifying this, we start the Collective Impact work by fortifying the community's voice with data, continuing communication with the leaders, and inviting appropriate organizational partners to brainstorm collaborative action while seeking continuous community feedback along the way. As a result, advocacy, solutions, and change are delivered to the community, by the community and our partners.

Community Talks

The community is the primary partner and director of this work and the resulting reports. To provide the best platform for elevating the community's voice, DMCI hired eight leaders from within the community. Each Community Navigator is connected to the community in various ways and recognized as leaders within their circles. They organized Community Talks throughout the communities directly adjacent to the former golf club regarding the Park Hill Golf Course Area Visioning Process and Small Area Plan. We structured the Talks to increase equity by providing intentionally smaller and more comfortable settings for residents and community members to participate and be heard. During the city's Visioning Process, the Talks served as a source to glean input and amplify the voices of those in the community that are not typically heard. 

1-on-1 Conversations

To provide even more equitable platforms for galvanizing, Community Navigators led 1-on-1 Conversations throughout the community. This engagement method gives community members a chance to voice their opinions, experiences, and desires for the visioning process, regardless of potential aversions to group meeting dynamics or availability to attend.

Data Processing & Administration

To support the work of the Community Navigators, Denver Metro Community Impact (DMCI) handled the data input synthesis, analysis, and reporting. DMCI also served as an administrative and community engagement strategy consultant for the visioning process.

Overarching Goals of Visioning Process

Promote participation from underrepresented and marginalized neighbors of the former Park Hill Golf Club, including but not limited to African-Americans, Latinx, seniors, youth, and renters.

Thematic analysis looks at patterns of meaning in a data set – for example, a set of interviews or focus group transcripts. In the case of this project, the sources of the data sets are the Community Talks and the 1-on-1 Conversations that the Community Navigators conducted. A thematic analysis takes bodies of data and groups them according to similarities/themes. The themes help us make sense of the community's experiences, desires, concerns, rejections, and sentiments regarding the Visioning Process.

Step 1: Audio Transcription/ Note Taking

In this step, DMCI gets familiar with the data, reading through notes provided by Community Navigators and analyzing and transcribing meeting recordings.

Step 2: Coding

After collecting the notes and transcripts, we begin to "Code" the data, which involves highlighting and relating phrases and sentences with shorthand labels that group similarities.

Step 3: Generating, Reviewing & Naming Themes

After coding, themes emerge from the data in the form of specific topics quoted multiple times. These themes are then reviewed across our team and named to identify the shared perspectives of community members.

Step 4: Write Up and Analysis