ECM Leadership - Joshua Kuehl

ECM is proud to have excellent leadership. After all, good leadership steers the ship in the right direction. We value our donors and we work hard to make wise management decisions. It is our goal to put our money and our efforts towards maximum efficiency by making strategic management decisions. ECM is thankful for our board members that surround us to help us reach our goals and objectives.

~Board Member, Treasure and Strategy Development - Joshua Kuehl  

Joshua brings 10 years of leadership experience. He has extensive knowledge in team development and he has the ability to leverage analytical expertise to exceed budgetary and performance metrics. Joshua has received numerous awards and recognitions for his leadership capabilities both in the United States Army and in corporate America. His knowledge of business development and business intelligence allows ECM to leverage their assets to a greater capacity, enabling responsible and strategic operating objectives and planning functionality.

Questions for Joshua 

1) Why did you decide to become a board member?

I really liked the mission of ECM, and it is a good fit with my background. Not to mention, they seemed to need a board member with my expertise.

2) From your perspective, what is the biggest difference ECM makes in the communities it serves in?

It strengthens communities through our focus on building communities from within and not just being a "one-time do gooder" kind of organization.  The focus on relationships is what sets ECM apart.  

6.14.14 ECM Work Day in Villa Park

Extreme Teams & Individuals

Summary of 6.14.14 ECM Work Day:

• Volunteers Participated - 10
• Projects Completed - 1
• Volunteer Hours - 40

Grasscycling: Leave Grass Clippings On Your Lawn

Photo by Halley - License

Leave Grass Clippings On Your Lawn

(Written by Denver Recycles, a program of Denver Public Works Solid Waste Management.)

Feed your lawn and reduce your waste simply by leaving your grass clippings on your lawn after mowing. It’s called Grasscycling, and it is the natural way to recycle grass clippings and return valuable nutrients back into your lawn. Grasscycling also returns needed moisture to your lawn, which is especially important in dry summer drought conditions.

Tips for Grasscycling:

1.     You can grasscycle with any mower. Just remove the mower collection bag to allow clippings to drop on the lawn. If your mower does not have a safety flap covering the opening over which the bag fits, then you may need to purchase a retrofit kit from your local hardware store.

2.     Mow your lawn when it’s dry. When lawns are wet, the grass clippings clump together and do not feed your lawn as well as dry grass clippings.

3.     Follow the “1/3” Rule. To foster healthy grass, do not cut more than 1/3 of the length of the grass and leave clippings no more than one inch long. Lawns are most healthy when they are mowed to a height of 2 ½ to 3 inches.

4.     If you use a landscape service, be sure you ask them to leave the clippings on your lawn.

Benefits of Grasscycling:

Grasscycling benefits you. The United States EPA references a study showing that by not bagging clippings, mowing took about 38% less time, all the more time to be playing and lying on your grass! It also reduces your work load when you mow because it saves you the hassle of bagging, hauling, and disposing of grass clippings.

Grasscycling benefits your lawn. Leaving the grass clippings on your lawn will shade the roots of your grass and help keep the soil cool so it requires less manual watering. Grass clippings are more than 85% water and they return valuable moisture to the soil. Grasscycling is also a great way to recycle important nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil which reduces the need for supplemental nitrogen fertilizer. Grass clippings break down quickly and do not cause thatch. Contrary to popular belief, thatch comes from grass roots not mown grass blades because the roots contain lignin, a substance that decomposes slowly causing thatch. 

Grasscycling benefits Denver. During the growing season, up to 37% of what Denver residents put in the trash is yard debris, which is largely made up of grass clippings. When you grasscycle you dispose of less trash, saving space in the landfill.

Grasscycling benefits the environment. Finally, by grasscycling you can help reduce your greenhouse gas emissions. When organic materials such as grass clippings go to landfills they decompose under anaerobic (without air) conditions that create methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

This summer, take your recycling efforts to the next level and try grasscycling for a few weeks to see what you think! Visit DenverGov.org/DenverRecycles for more information about grasscycling or other opportunities to create less waste.

Guest Blog Post: Mile High Business Alliance

        

Extreme Community Makeover: Bringing Communities Together "One Block at a Time"

By Nathan Mackenzie | Monday, June 09, 2014

It was 9am and the sun was already beating down when I arrived at the meeting place for Extreme Community Makeover’s (ECM) Tuesday Work Day and was greeted by Angela Bomgaars, the organization’s Executive Director. A fold up table was set up with an array of t-shirts, pamphlets, and a donation box. This morning, Angela was hosting a team of realtors from Denver who were taking a day off work for team building and to give back to a community in Denver. The group congregated around Angela and she began describing the work that ECM does, prepping the team for a full day.

 

ECM Work Days take place in eight Denver neighborhoods: Barnum, Elyria, Globeville, La Alma/Lincoln Park, Swansea, Villa Park, West Colfax, and Westwood. ECM conducts door-to-door surveys on blocks in these neighborhoods, asking if folks need any assistance with exterior home repair and improvement projects. After identifying houses that request help, ECM volunteer groups “adopt” that block and spend a Work Day helping out.

 

All these projects and volunteer hours add up. ECM estimates that since they began serving Denver 18,075 volunteers have participated. The dollar value of time these volunteers have put in, they report, is equivalent to $2,277,574.00.

 

While these statistics are certainly impressive, ECM’s long-term goals and vision supersede them. As Angela explained to me, ECM uses work days as a lens for people to critically look at how they interact with their neighbors and what role they have in being a part of a thriving community. Volunteers are able to connect with neighborhoods and people they might not otherwise interact with, and then seek out ways that they can help out again outside of ECM. Similarly, the folks whose house or yard is being worked on are inspired to give back in other ways, to “pay it forward” to someone else in need.

 

At the core of ECM's vision, engagement goes a step further. With the spark of an ECM Work Day, blocks & neighborhoods collectively discover the resources that they have – in tools, in skills, but, most importantly, in people – and realize the ways that they can help each other. Neighbors connect and build community, creating a model for how we can help each other moving forward.

“Grass and weeds will grow back, paint will chip, so ECM is really about connecting people in a way where neighbors can help each other over the long term,” Angela explains.

 

Stats like the ones above show that ECM is on the right track with their mission, but a story that Angela relayed to me illustrates how ECM envisions change happening on a long-term scale. One Work Day, Angela and that day’s volunteer team were helping out at the home of an elderly woman who was confined to a wheelchair -- picking weeds, painting exterior walls, mowing the lawn.

 

A few neighbors on the block saw the large volunteer team working and came by to ask what was happening. After hearing about why ECM was there and the simple yet important work being done, they quickly realized that they could do the same thing at this woman’s home, but on a regular basis. They now help mow the neighbor’s lawn and do other small repairs when needed, a small chunk of time out of their weekly routine, but a big difference for this woman who wouldn’t be able to do it otherwise. Now, instead of having a volunteer team come out to do these tasks, the members of this block now work together  - each and every week - to improve their own neighborhood.

 

Despite the big impact ECM has already had, they still face significant challenges, the biggest of which is simply bringing in enough resources to work on the scale needed to start making people rethink the roles they play in their neighborhoods. This is a model that Angela and the ECM team think can scale throughout Denver and to other communities, but they are focused on dedicating limited resources to keeping up the high quality work they’re currently doing.

 

A big drain on resources and the quality of work they do is simply not having a truck – which is why they’ve asked for support through Neighborhood Catalyst to obtain one. Right now, without a truck, ECM must spend vital time and money transporting tools back and forth from project site to project site. When things don’t fit in the cars they have now, they have to make multiple trips. Without a truck, they can’t properly dispose of debris from Work Days – a key goal of the organizations, and an important part of beautification for residents of the blocks they work on.

 

Currently, not having a truck is a drain on resources and a hurdle for completing the work they set out to do.  With a truck, ECM will be able to efficiently get tools and equipment to the Work Days that need them, save on resources that can then be redistributed to key long-term projects, and, lastly, will allow them to be even more effective at improving neighborhoods.

 

Ultimately, having a truck allows Extreme Community Makeover to continue building relationships and bringing communities together “one block at a time.”

 

Be a part of ECM’s work by contributing to their campaign here. They are so close to their goal, but must reach 100% by June 14th to keep what they have already raised. To learn more about Extreme Community Makeover, and to discover other ways you can support and get involved, visit their website and follow them on their Facebook page. 

6.3.14 ECM - Industry Work Week

Extreme Community Makeover is moving forward coordinating volunteer teams to partner with underserved people to improve their own homes and neighborhoods. It is our commitment be an avenue for volunteers to partner with residents with the purpose of serving and improving Denver neighborhoods. This past week, we launched the ECM Industry Work Week.

The goal of the ECM Work Week is to build relationships with companies around Denver whose industries have a direct connection to the work of Extreme Community Makeover. For the inaugural ECM Work Week (June 3rd, 2014) the focus was on the Real Estate Industry. RE/MAX of Cherry Creek was the first company to participate in a Work Week. Thank you for your hard work RE/MAX of Cherry Creek!

Watch our video testimonial of the first ECM Industry Work Week.

5.31.14 & 6.1.14 ECM Work Days in Barnum

GH Phipps Construction

Bethany Lutheran Church

Summary of 5.31.14 ECM Work Day:

• Volunteers Participated - 30
• Projects Completed - 6
• Volunteer Hours - 120

Summary of 6.1.14 ECM Work Day:

• Volunteers Participated - 120
• Projects Completed - 14
• Alleys Cleaned - 12
• Volunteer Hours - 480

4.19.14 Big Day of Serving in Westwood

 

Summary of 4.19.14 Westwood's Big Day of Serving:

·         Volunteers – We had around 225 volunteers involved

·         Projects – We planted 1 garden, 8 trees, cleaned 78 alleys, and removed a lot of graffiti

Photos – http://extremecommunitymakeover.smugmug.com/2014/04192014/

Thank you too all the groups in Westwood who helped plan the event: BuCu West, Councilman Paul Lopez’s office, Crossroads of the Rockies, Westwood Resident’s Association, and Westwood Unidos.

Thank you too all the groups who volunteered: Cornerstone Baptist Church, Denver Community Church, Denver Young Life, Elevation Church, Kennedy High School, Kepner Middle School, Laramie First United Methodist Church, Urban Land Conservancy, Westwood Resident’s Association, Westwood Unidos Built Environment Committee, and Westwood Unidos Safety Committee.  Thank you to all the individuals who participated who were not part of these groups as well.

And thank you to all the groups who donated to this event: CenterPlate (box lunches), City of Denver Parks and Recreation (trash trucks and staff), City of Denver Public Works (paint and supplies), Colorado Rockies (Rockies tickets), Denver Police Department (police officers), Frank’s (cheese, tomatoes, lettuce), MGM Restaurant and Lounge (beans), Mile Hi Specialty Foods (burrito bowls), Panaderia Contreras (rice), Radio Resource (use of walkie-talkie radios), and Tacos y Salsas (salsa).  As this list indicates, it takes a number of generous individuals and companies to make this event possible, so thanks for your contributions!