Neighboring

Turning Families into Leaders

CONCERNED PARENTS OF PUEBLO - 2002 National Family Volunteer Award Recipient
Pueblo, CO

Located 110 miles from Denver, Pueblo is a diverse and growing community in Southern Colorado. Though known as the “America’s Home of Heroes,” like many other communities across the nation, Pueblo too has had to contend with increasing youth violence in its schools and community. Prompted by mounting concern, in 1992, two Pueblo parents, Fred Tripp and Ben Ramos, came together to find an effective solution to the challenge and respond compassionately to the needs of youth and parents.

Since that humble beginning in a neighborhood garage, Concerned Parents of Pueblo has grown greatly, as has its impact on the local community. Today, this grassroots organization seeks to provide youth, as well as families, the opportunity to address critical issues facing their community.

One of the first issues that Concerned Parents tackled was the overwhelming amount of graffiti throughout the community: an important issue to the people of Pueblo. Gang members often use graffiti to mark territory, challenge competing gangs, and communicate messages of rivalry or camaraderie. Though much of the graffiti in Pueblo neighborhoods was the work of individual “taggers,” gangs are a growing concern in the Pueblo area. The community prioritized the need to combat such vandalism, not only because defacement and destruction of property affects property values, but also because of the negative environment that graffiti creates in neighborhoods for residents and visitors.

Through an innovative program called the “Youth Incentive Program,” Concerned Parents offers young people in Pueblo neighborhoods the opportunity to volunteer their time to remove graffiti from homes and businesses. In return for their service, young people receive simple but attractive incentives. In 2001 alone, over 1,500 graffiti sites were removed, and four mural projects were completed.

Concerned Parents engages families to work together to make a difference in their community through family volunteer opportunities. In 2001, over 700 local family volunteers cleaned 346 yards, recycled 5,000 bags of rubble for elderly citizens in their community and worked on a beautification project in 12 neighborhoods. Through the Youth Issues Workshop series, Concerned Parents brings youth and parents together to address issues of gang participation, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and the importance of education.

Concerned Parents has strengthened its outreach and expanded its programs through local partnerships with agencies and businesses including local chapters of the United Way, Junior Achievement, and the YWCA, as well as Keep Pueblo Beautiful, the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, local school districts, and the judicial system. Started by two local parents with a vision to make their community a better place for their children, Concerned Parents counts Boeing, the Creel Foundation, the City of Pueblo, Wells Fargo, the David & Lucile Packard Foundation and many other national and small businesses as its supporters.

Every year, Concerned Parents mobilizes an average of 1,165 community volunteers of all ages to contribute nearly 23,390 hours of service to their neighborhoods. Since 1992, more than 6,500 youth, 3,250 parents and 1,900 senior citizens have contributed over 233,904 volunteer hours.

Through innovative community-driven practices and effective neighboring strategies, Concerned Parents of Pueblo has dedicated itself to improving Pueblo one neighborhood at a time. By encouraging families to be positive role models and developing the leadership skills of neighbors and youth, this grassroots organization has turned community strife into positive social change through neighbors helping neighbors.