Grant will provide general operating support for CREEC’s efforts to address inequity in medical care for those in the Denver Metro Region and beyond.
The Denver Foundation’s Community Grants Program has awarded a $20,000 Basic Human Needs grant to CREEC. These funds provide general operating support to CREEC’s work addressing lack of access to basic medical care, including for those in immigration detention at the Aurora facility, and advocating for effective communication for Deaf people in medical settings.
Since 2013, CREEC’s large-scale class action anti-discrimination lawsuits and individual cases, as well as education and outreach efforts, work to ensure that everyone can fully and independently participate in our nation’s civic life without discrimination based on race, gender, disability, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. While some of CREEC’s cases are national or fall outside of the Denver Metro Area, CREEC’s focus on impact litigation and its successful results set broader legal precedent which will have positive implications for the local community. Similarly, some of CREEC’s national advocacy and education work positively impacts system-level policy, the ripple effect of which will be felt by those in our Denver Metro community.
Through its Immigration Detention Accountability Project (IDAP) and Accessibility Project (AP), CREEC often works at the intersection of disability rights, immigrant rights, and prisoner rights. CREEC’s work, such as challenging unconstitutional conditions of confinement for those in immigration detention, including in the areas of medical and mental health care; fighting for the protection and release of medically vulnerable immigrants due to COVID-19; and pursuing effective communication for incarcerated populations and Deaf people in medical settings; brings broad relief to those who face barriers to basic services and medical care, and seeks to increase health equity and access for those with disabilities on a systemic level.
Amy Robertson, Co-Executive Director, says, “this grant will help fortify CREEC’s work by providing essential general operating support. We are grateful to the Denver Foundation for seeing the value in CREEC’s work on behalf of behalf of immigrant, Deaf, and other local communities, and for investing in our organization.”
The Denver Foundation is a community foundation dedicated to improving life for people in the Metro Denver Region by inspiring people and mobilizing resources to strengthen the community. Through its Community Grants, it seeks to reduce racial and ethnic disparities, as well as economic disparities, and to support organizations that share its core values of racial equity and community leadership.
The Basic Human Needs grant focuses on serving those experiencing hunger, homelessness, domestic violence, and lack of access to basic medical care, in part through addressing barriers to accessing basic services, and supporting advocacy and policy reform on these issues.
This is the second grant awarded by The Denver Foundation to CREEC. In April 2020, the Foundation awarded CREEC a grant through its Lowe Fund, which provided general operating support to CREEC’s work in responding to the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on those in immigration detention at the Aurora detention facility.