David Rupert
Employment, faith keys to keeping prisoners from reentering the system

Last weekend I worked in the yard, cutting trees and turning over soil. I bagged leaves, weary from the winter decay. At the end of the day, I lined the bags along the curb and dragged my body into the shower, washing away the earthy soil that were marks of my labor. Finally, I sat […]

Obsessed With Work or Just Bored? Bringing the Conversation About Work Across Acoma Street

It’s well past 1 p.m. From my desk I look across Acoma Street and see a woman in her early 20s wearing baggy sweat pants, a cigarette hanging out her mouth, tossing an empty Mountain Dew bottle in a dumpster that’s been parked in her driveway for months. She squints at the sun, as if it’s an unwelcome […]

How to Love Your Neighbor? Create Good Jobs

The following videos were filmed at “Creating Good Jobs for Our Community,” a DIFW event on  September 10, 2015, that drew business people from across the region. There are two videos — a keynote presentation by Julius Walls and a panel discussion moderated by Joanna Meyer that adds local voices to the conversation. Keynote Address […]

7 Suggestions for Hiring Employees with Challenging Backgrounds

This is the final post in a three-part series about the power of business to transform the lives of the poor. Read the first and second posts here. This series is related to “Creating Good Jobs for Our Community” — a past business forum.When Veronica* stopped working the streets, she never imagined it would be so hard […]

The Journey to Full Employment

This is the second post in a three-part series about the power of business to transform the lives of the poor. Read the first and third posts here.  This series is related to our past event, Creating Good Jobs for Our Community. Aside from the occasional babysitting gig, my first job was working at Paul’s Place, a now-defunct […]

“Single Mom, Unemployed, Anything Helps”

This is the first post in a three-part series about the power of business to transform the lives of the poor. Read the second and third posts here. This series is related to our past event, Creating Good Jobs for Our Community.One of my neighbors spends her days at the corner of 6th Avenue and York Street holding a […]

The Dignity of Work

“What is your favorite thing, in less than three sentences, about work?” That was the question Madison Chandler, the co-founder of Purple Door Coffee in north Denver, asked 19 year-old Kaylee, one of her employees.It’s a good question for any of us, but perhaps even more important considering Kaylee’s story. Not only does Purple Door […]

What the Whole World Wants

Christian Overman is Founder and Director for Worldview Matters.On the basis of Gallup’s World Poll, Jim Clifton, CEO of the company, concluded that what the whole world wants is a “good job.”But what makes a job “good?”Pay is not the most important factor. Having a job that doesn’t provide for the basics is a problem, of course, but pay alone does not […]

The Single Most Searing, Clarifying, Helpful, World-Altering Fact

Christian Overman is Founder and Director of Worldview Matters.There is a lot of data out there showing what people around the world are doing, but what the Gallup organization wanted to find out is what people are thinking. With this in mind, they created a unique World Poll and collected data from over 100 countries. Gallup is committed to conducting the […]

Three Things I’ve Learned after 20 Years in Social Entrepreneurship

As Executive Director of Belay Enterprises, a faith-based nonprofit organization that creates businesses to employ and job train individuals rebuilding lives from addiction, homelessness and prison, Jim Reiner has seen the benefits of social entrepreneurship first-hand. Over the last 15 years, Belay has launched 6 small businesses and helped hundreds of people rebuild their lives.Jim shared:Why […]

Jeff Haanen
Global Issues Become Business Opportunities at Social Entrepreneurship Forum

“Every global issue is a business opportunity just waiting for the right kind of inventiveentrepreneurship, the right kind of investment,the right kind of collective action.”– Peter DruckerComb through the latest statistics on poverty or crime and you don’t have to look very far to feel discouraged: Almost 22% of American kids live in poverty, 800 […]

Jeff Haanen
Pay-What-You-Can Restaurants Dish Up Dignity in Denver

The walls are Shrek green, the stainless steel lights, violet trim, and framed photos of organic food giving the space a modern flavor. Menus listed on flat-screen TVs above the counter feature pita sandwiches, Mediterranean salads, chicken enchilada soup—and no prices. As I approach the counter and breathe in the aroma of freshly baking pizza […]