For many, the last year has been incredibly hard. The pandemic brought death, loss and isolation with it. It’s also been a year of severe financial hardship. Some Coloradans confronted racial bias and hate, more than once. And as the pandemic itself closed in on a full year, the state mourned its worst mass shooting in nearly a decade.
These events have left some people searching for new ways to grieve and to start to heal. In that spirit, Rev. Amanda Henderson collaborated with CPR News to pair a poem she wrote about hope with photos we ve taken and stories we’ve reported about people from different backgrounds and life experiences and how they’re healing from this overwhelming year.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Snow falls on the makeshift memorial around the perimeter of the Table Mesa King Soopers parking lot continues to grow, Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Hey there, Hayley here. I’m a reporter for CPR. I report on how money impacts people’s lives and I also cover faith-related stories.
And sometimes I have to jump in and cover breaking news, like when a shooter opened fire at a grocery store in Boulder and killed 10 people almost a month ago. It’s Colorado’s worst mass shooting in a decade.
I’ve covered a shooting before, but this one felt different. Maybe because it happened at the tail end of a traumatic year. Maybe because I had built a little community of my own in the city of Boulder while attending school there.
Institutions will still have to raise tuition
Higher education leaders have praised lawmakers for helping to restore the budget, but in some cases, it still isn’t enough. While scholarship funds have increased, some students will still have to pay higher tuition.
Public universities are permitted to raise tuition by three percent for the next school year. The University of Colorado system voted to take advantage of that allowance, but used federal stimulus dollars to temporarily keep rates flat for a year. Others, like the Colorado Community College System, voted to keep tuition flat despite a decrease in enrollment. Several boards have yet to vote on next year’s tuition.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Colorado’s first Muslim lawmaker, freshman Rep. Iman Jodeh of Arapahoe County, on the House floor as the Colorado General Assembly opened its 2021 session on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
State Rep. Iman Jodeh has a clear memory from her childhood of going to the Colorado Capitol building with her father.
“I would watch him on the side of both chambers as he would deliver the opening prayer multiple times over the session,” she recalled in an interview with Colorado Matters.
Witnessing her father proudly display his faith and sense of leadership in the context of the legislature is partly what led her to call the very same building her workplace. In November, Jodeh was elected to represent House District 41, which covers Aurora. In doing so, she became the first Muslim lawmaker in state history.
Courtesy of Brittney Rae Reese
Brittney Rae Reese is co-owner of FIT & NU, a wellness company based in Aurora. She coached fitness classes there until the pandemic forced the company to go virtual.
Brittney Rae and Joslyn Reese figured they were on the cusp of something big.
For five years they’d grown FIT & NU, their wellness business that primarily serves women of color. Fitness classes were full. The nutrition programs were popular. The sisters were looking ahead to a time when they could franchise their concept.
Not so fast. The pandemic hit. The gym closed. Everything went, abruptly, online.