We are pleased to announce that The Rotary Club of Denver Mile High (DMHR) is the winner of this year's Literacy Award from Englewood Rotary. The award was given to recognize the long-term relationship Denver Mile High has developed with Reading for Peace sponsored by the Conflict Center, and especially how the program was continued in the year of the pandemic.

 

Reading for Peace is a literacy-based program where multi-generational volunteers read books, either in-person or virtually, to elementary school students, teaching and reinforcing literacy skills and positive conflict management and social-emotional skills.

 

DMHR has supported The Conflict Center in carrying out Reading for Peace over multiple years, by providing funds for books as well as club volunteers reading in person and more recently, through Zoom recorded videos. The goals of the program are to support literacy skills while at the same time teach and reinforce positive conflict management and social-emotional skills at the elementary level.  These goals are accomplished by partnering with elementary and K-12 schools throughout the Denver metro area.

 

In this program, the  Club connects with the Career Education Center Early College (CEC) and Valdez Elementary School.  DMHR club members recruited members of the Club sponsored Young Rotarians at CEC to participate alongside the Rotarians.  The Club’s volunteer time and funds are critical resources for the continuation, adaptation, and expansion of this program.

 

We are honored that the Rotary Club of Denver Mile High has been awarded the Rotarians for for Mental Health (R4MH) award for 2021.

Our Club was made aware of a great need in the Ugandan Agago District for mental health services in a community of 230,000 that has only 4 psychiatric professionals.  There are some estimates that as much as 70% of this population suffer from anxiety and depression disorders.

Denver Mile High Rotary (DMHR) and Kampala-Munyonyo Rotary clubs partnered with Finemind, an non-profit organization located in Agago, to implement a District Grant for $6,500. This project provided training and stipends for community health workers to diagnose and counsel individuals with anxiety disorders.  The counselors also triaged patients with other diagnoses to nearby organizations. Over 1300 counseling sessions were held and 18,000 people in the community are estimated to have heard radio messages about the benefits of health care services.   Current community health workers also received follow-up training. 

Three DMHR Mile High Rotarians spent about 50 hours developing and overseeing this project from afar in Denver.  In addition, the Rotary Community Corps in Agago monitored activity of the local community health workers. 

This project was completed in June of 2020 and DMHR has just received approval of the significant expansion of this project through a $64,800 Rotary Global Grant. 

 

 

We are inspired by the Rotary Has A Dream Diversity Award and have set out a plan to focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEI&B) to ensure that we represent and engage the communities that we serve. 

 

Having completed research and initiated a survey to gather our member's perspectives, thoughts and ideas around DEI&B, we strategically completed the award winning application. We have $1,500 to spend on speakers fees and other costs. Our plan includes quarterly speakers and mini-trainings with facilitated Q&A sessions to gain broader awareness leading to new action. Our goal is to learn more about DEI&B, make an impact in FY2022 and continue to take action each year to ensure our club's viability, diversity and welcoming spirit of all people, including members, volunteers and guests.