A bill for an ordinance naming the City-owned building located at 2851 Tremont Place the Anna Jo Haynes Early Learning Center. Re-names the building at 2851 Tremont Place for community leader Anna Jo Haynes. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 6-6-17.
Nice. Nice three days. Council Bill 565 has passed. All right, councilman? No. Would you please put Council Bill 659 on the floor? Okay. I move. The Council will now be placed upon final consideration and do pass. It has been moved. Need a mover in a second. Oh good it's been moved in second it the public hearing for council bill 659 is now open. Um, I believe we have the president CEO of Mile High Learning Pamela Harris here to start. And actually, we have a couple of folks in here that I just want to highlight. We have the president of the. Denver School. She was in here and Rowe, the president was here. And also Barbara O'Brian, who was was on the school board as well. Thank you. Yeah. Go ahead. Good evening. Yes. Can you. Okay. Great. Good evening, President Brooks and members of city council. I'm Pamela Harris, and I'm honored to be here on behalf of Denver community members asking for your support in recognition of over 50 years of visionary leadership and outstanding contributions of Anejo Garcia Haynes. This proposal is the naming of the building at 2851 Tremont Place as the Anejo Heinze Early Learning Center. We ask this in order to recognize and preserve Anna Jo's legacy as a civil rights leader, as an advocate for women and children, and as a driving force for early childhood care and education. Anna Jo founded and now serves as president emeritus of Mile-High Early Learning, the largest and oldest provider of subsidized early care and education in Denver. She was founding mother and president of the Women's Foundation of Colorado, and she co-founded the Colorado Children's Campaign, a child advocacy organization that has been the voice for children in Colorado for more than 30 years. Anejo has focused on improving the lives of our most vulnerable children. And among her many accomplishments, she spearheaded bringing Headstart to Denver 50 years ago. She helped to create the Colorado Preschool Program to serve at risk preschoolers, which started with 2000 children in 1988 and has grown to 27,000. In 2017, she was also instrumental in launching the Denver Preschool Program, which now provides 5004 year olds with access to quality early childhood education. Due to Anna Jo's dedication and passion, mile high, early learning has provided more than 45,000 at risk children, a strong start in life and in school. And today, Mile High Early Learning serves 500 children in seven centers, including the one the center in the heart of five points at 2851 Tremont Place. And Anna Jo understands the importance of a village in raising and making sure that our children thrive and has cultivated partnerships that include the city and county of Denver, Mile High, United Way and Denver Public Schools. And AJO has also been a driving force in many state initiatives. These include the early childhood councils, which support early childhood systems, buildings, and started with 12 pilot councils in 1997 to more than 30 councils today. She's also part and a co-chair of the Early Childhood Leadership Commission, which is a statewide advisory board ensuring access, quality and equity in early childhood to children birth to age eight. And she has served as a trusted advisor to every Colorado governor and Denver mayor since the 1980s, and AJO has also had an impact nationally, serving as a part of the Congress of Racial Equality. As a consultant to the White House Conference on Children and Youth and as a member of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and Anejo achievements have been recognized in Colorado and nationally. She's been inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame. And among her many awards, she's received the Susan B Anthony Award for her work with women, the MLK Holiday Commission Humanitarian Award, the Urban Peak Maverick Thinkers Award, and Mile High United Way has actually created an award in her name, the Anna Jo Haynes Caring About Kids Award that honors community members who are making significant contributions on behalf of children. She has also received a tribute and recognition in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Anna Joe is a Denver native who has dedicated her life to changing the life circumstances for vulnerable populations. She has taken part in, created and led social movements. She serves as a mentor and a voice of wisdom. And Anejo remains an advocate and a champion for programs that positively impact the lives of thousands of children and families. We appreciate your support of this proposal. Thank you. Thank you. And I see we have our president back in here. Good to see you. Thank you for being here. I appreciate you. Okay, so we have, uh, let's see here. We had I'm going to call the first five speakers up. Ms.. Dr. Lisa Roy, Donald Garnett Sekou. I think his left Steve will chart. And Miss Khadijah Haynes. Dr. Roy, you're up first. Thank you. Council president and honorable council members. My name is Lisa Roy. I'm the executive director of Early Childhood for Denver Public Schools. Most importantly, some of you know that I was a parent who had three young children that attended Mile High early learning. What was interesting about my story was that I was an adult learner, so I went back to school, to college after having three children. And my ex-husband was a schoolteacher. He didn't make very much money. Still, the problem, obviously, for many of our school teachers living in Denver around affordability. But I received. Subsidized. Care from the Department of Human Services. My husband made $5 over. And guess what? Within a month, I no longer had child care funding. And I remember the shock of how am I going to finish school if I don't have this type of support? We just can't afford it. And I was called in to Marshall High, early learning. It was called Mile High Child Care at the time, and a woman by the name of Mary Hon just said, Calm down, it's okay. United Way actually helps to fund parents who don't quite make enough money to pay for their child care but don't qualify for a public subsidy. So I was able to finish my associates bachelor's. By that time, I could afford child care and my children continued on there, did my master's, and later did my doctoral degree. But I owe a lot to having high. Quality, affordable child care to. My success. And I have given back in every way that I can. I'm now on the Moral High Early Learning Board and several other boards that support low income families in Denver. I worked on the first preschool. Ballot initiative when I worked for the. Peterson Foundation and have done a myriad of things in my life because I had that support. So I just want to talk about the fact that Ana Jo is an incredible mentor. She's an incredible leader in our community. And it would be an incredible opportunity for us to name the building after A.J. Haynes. I personally plead with you to do so. Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Roy Donna Garnett. Good evening. My name is Donna Garnier. I live at 20915 East 45th Avenue in Denver. For about 30 years of my professional career. I worked on behalf of young children, but way long before I stepped into the policy and financial fray on behalf of young children. And a Joe was already carrying the banner for Denver's youngest and most vulnerable citizens. The children, because of her relentless and I do mean relentless. You all know that work at every level, whether it be program quality, teacher, caregiver, professional development, actually public financing, developmentally appropriate curriculum in the face of a standards based educational approach. Thousands of young children, two of whom are my own grandchildren in Denver, and as you saw, thousands of other young children across the state, and I dare say kids across the entire country have reaped the benefits of that relentless work that she does. As you've already heard, her work has informed and influenced virtually every early childhood educator in this state in the past 40 years. Counsel, men and women like yourselves. School board members, mayors, legislators, governors and even presidents have turned to her for wisdom and guidance. Now, I'm not sure if naming just one little old building is actually enough homage to pay to her, but it's a great start. I hope you will unanimously pass this bill tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Garnett Sekou is not here, but he was speaking in favor. Let's see. And we have as Khadijah Haynes. Oh, I'm sorry. Steve Walker. Did he leave? Okay. Miss Conditions. Thank you very much, council members. I am so happy and honored to be before you to represent my family in encouraging you to take this action before you to name a building after my mother. The former lieutenant governor was here and asked me to bring greetings. The Speaker of the House was here earlier and asked me to bring greetings to you. Unfortunately, they had to leave, so I bring that and move on to bring you greetings and thoughts in a very heartfelt. Gratitude that you would take this step for my mother. We were raised to have very deep, strong feelings of a need to address public service, a need to care for those who need it the most in a flat out just love for this city that I can't explain. It is very deep and it runs in the entire family. And we thank you very much for this honor. Thank you, Miss Haines. We had. The Speaker of the House, Santa Duran, who could not be here. Ms.. Elvira Wedgeworth. It's not. She's not here. Okay. And then Miss Jennifer Harris. Good evening. As a third generation Denver. Right. It's an honor and pleasure for me to provide. My 100% support to name this property after. Anna. Joe Haines. She has provided visionary leadership. To help improve the lives of children in Colorado for many, many years. Including working to integrate business and education during the civil rights era. And I just humbly ask you to approve this bill. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Harris. All right. This concludes our speakers questions by members of council. Councilwoman Black. Question. Okay. Councilman Hern, did you have a question. Miss Harris? I had a question for you. Just. Just one. What took you so long? I'm just kidding. I have no question, Mr. President. Thank you. That was actually really good. Okay. The hearing, public hearing for Council Bill 659 is now closed. We have a special deal to hear a little bit from the mayor's office through our representative, Miss Gabby. So what was the mayor have to say about this? Thank you. Council President Brooks, Gabby Krieger from the mayor's office. The mayor asked me to share that. He absolutely and unequivocally supports this naming, that there is no greater champion in our city and our state for our kids other than antigens. And that many people, the mayor included, are disciples of her leadership in early education. And he thinks the council for their support. Excellent. Thank you. Tell the mayor. The mayor. Thank you. I know you're watching. So this is. This happens to be in my district. And so I'll start with comments and. You know, I've been thinking about for the last couple of weeks what to what to talk about with Miss Anna Jo Haines. And as you can hear by her accolades, you could be talking all day. But the real mark of an individual is how they treat other folks and how they leave you feeling and experiencing them. And, Ms.. Haines, I tell you, from the first day that I've been in contact with you, you've always you just have a dignity about you and about that dignity about the people you interact with where some elders in our community expect you to kiss the ring, you know, and you deserve that. I should be kissing your ring all the time. But you come with this dignity in this service and this love for an individual. And I just really felt that just as a young politician seven years ago when you were getting me involved in the Denver preschool program and the way you you move in this city in the way that you treat people is just incredible. And so I just want to thank you for that. And I also want to thank you for the incredible knowledge that you've given me around early childhood education. I am now I was a supporter. I was the advocate. Now I'm a champion for it because of you, because of your leadership. And so I really want to thank you for that. It's just been so inspiring. And I chaired the campaign to raise in 2014, I believe it was, to raise it the tax to a little higher so we can invest in our kids. And so I just really appreciate that and appreciate what you've done. But, you know, what I'm really excited about is this area that we're going to I don't know how many folks have been in this area. This is right off Tremont. This building right next door is the. Albert Wedgeworth building across the street is the Leonora B Quick Park. And it's in an area that's rapidly changing. It's in an area that is seeing a lot of new neighbors. But it seems like the last. Couple of years, we've been putting these pillars in the community and little kids are starting to say, who is who is Albert Wedgeworth? You know, who who is a eleanora? Be quick. And I'm so excited that they're going to rock and hear these kids playing in this yard and say, who is and and Joe Haynes. And there's going to be a plaque there. Someone is going to be able to tell them, let me tell you, sit down. She changed this community and she has her fingerprints all over this community. I forgot who said it, but I second whoever said this little building. We got a name, many other buildings after her. And so this is such an easy vote for me. Thank you for the person that you are. It's so nice to not have any. You know, sometimes we do these names and we have folks come upset that were naming at the. No. One you had say who speaking in favor. But it's because of who you are as a person. So we love you and we support you. Congratulations. And and Ms.. Happy Haynes. Next next to her daughter, who is also on the school board and leading our Parks and Rec department. Thank you for your leadership in the city as well. All right, Councilman. Her name is president. The question I could ask could have been enough. Because what took us so long and, yo, you're. Your impact is everlasting. Because the change, the difference you have made in this city is generous. You have changed people's lives. And that can't be overstated. And the stature in the way that you carry yourself is your warmth from a new person coming to Denver interested in running for elected office. I have just valued our conversations. Your love and your passion that you have is something that we can all benefit from. So I just want to say thank you. This is a no brainer and will probably be the easiest decision I will make as a council person. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Herndon. Councilwoman Black. I. Does your microphone. I always introduce Angelina as God because she's powerful, influential, charitable and kind. She's dedicated her life to her community, to children, and to her own very large family who will carry on your legacy, which is pretty incredible. Your half century career is well known. Thank you, Pamela, for the presentation. On a personal note, you've inspired me to serve. You've inspired me to be a better person. And you have inspired countless other people in our city and our state and our country. You are gifted at persuasion, and just like Tom Sawyer, you get everyone excited to join your cause. You're fearless and unstoppable. You're optimistic and always smiling. What you've done for Denver and generations of children has been transformational and monumental. An antidote. You look beautiful and strong and powerful tonight, and I'm so happy to support this. And thank you for all you do. Thank you, Councilwoman Black. Councilwoman Gilmore. Thank you, President Brooks. I'm honored to serve on the board of the Denver Preschool Program with Anna Jo and have known Anna Joe and her family for many, many years. You know, I started out early on in my career working with Khadijah and Donna out at the farm way back when. And wonderful to see your daughter here as well, because I remember her as a little girl. And, you know, anejo your. Legend. Just you're a living legend in Denver. And I say that with the most humility and respect, because I think of a legend and I think of a legend as someone that we can emulate and see ourselves in. And you enable me to see myself in you and where I hope to be when I am so blessed, if God allows it to be at your age and how active you are, and if I call you on the phone, you pick right up and you tell me the straight story, which I so appreciate, and just your ideas and your creativity and innovation and that you have single handedly, by putting together great teams and by cultivating great relationships, you have changed the fabric of the city and county of Denver for the better. And I look forward to continuing to work alongside you and your family, because we still have lots of work to do in our city, especially for communities of color and other families who affordable, high quality child care is not a reality right now for them. And I know you've got great ideas on that, and I look forward to working with you in the future to make that a reality. But this could could not be a better naming of an early learning center. And I hope ultimately we all get an Anejo Heinz building in each one of our districts, because you have definitely changed the fabric of the city for the better. So I'm glad to support this and congratulations Anejo, to you and your family tonight. Thank you, President Brooks. Yeah, thank you, Councilman Gilmore. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. Anejo, I just want to thank you as everyone else up here has, but I want to add my voice thanking you for your lifetime of dedication to what I think is the city's most important resource. And that's growing our children and raising them up to take our place in their time. And I think you've done a remarkable job, but I do have to wonder about one thing, and that is I think I probably met you 30, 35 years ago for the first time. How in the world do you manage to never age? I swear, you look the same as the day I met you back in sometime in the eighties. Remarkable. But it's my pleasure to support this. And thank you very much for your lifetime of dedication. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Flynn. Councilwoman Sussman. Thank you, Mr. President. My goodness. Love all the eloquence up here. I'm not sure I'll be able to be as eloquent, but I will be as feel it as much as anybody. I think I met you probably when I first came to Denver, and I'm talking about 45 years ago. We were we were each about ten years old. And and we just we look just like this, as somebody has suggested. And it was when you were starting the Head Start program. It it was. And it was controversial. And what a brand new concept. And I was at the community college system and ever since then just follow do and what you have done and what you have done for our city and what you've done for our children. And and and the fact that I think, you know, everybody in Denver and everybody knows you. And so it won't be too hard for people to say who was who is this and a Joe Haines, because so many people will already know it. I couldn't be more excited about this project and will be happy to vote for it. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. In Ajo, I feel like part of the Heins family. You know, going back to when Happy and I worked together in Lieutenant Governor George Brown's office. I've come to know your other your other children and really just seen that they have been very successful in their own right is truly attributable to you and your husband in the way that you raised them. But the the legacy and the work that you did, I know Martha Udoh still worked very closely with you. Sue Casey, who was one of the council members on this body, who was the original voice pushing for, you know, the Denver preschool program. We called it something different at that time, helping educate everybody around the fact that, you know, when you expose children at an early, early age to quality education, to, you know, good nutrition or all of that, that 80% of the brain is being developed in the first three years. And in giving our children the tools they need to be successful. Was was part of that education that got everybody bought in to making sure that we had the financial resources to help families who didn't always have the the financial assistance to put their children in quality daycare with the educational focus and people from other cities come and look at Denver and just look at how did we do this? They do the same thing with our CFD program as well, but they are just dumbfounded that Denver has this investment, this commitment to invest in our children. And you were such a catalyst in that process. And I appreciate the work. It is truly an honor to ensure that your legacy is left for this city by having your name on this building and having children who will be in and out of that building, wondering who is this missing of Joe Haines and in having this story told. It's an important part of. This city as we're seeing so many changes to have these opportunities to name buildings and some of our our parks and other public assets after key leaders in this city who have paved that path and created the opportunity for others to be able to benefit that might not otherwise have had the access to the resources. And in this particular case, with the Denver Preschool Program that helps so many families across this city covered the cost of their daycare. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your years of dedication and work to children and for just the incredible work that you've done with with your own children who , as I said, are leaders in their own right in our community. And I'm just honored to support this naming of 28. 51 three months street after in a joke. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Ortega. Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, Miss Haines, I have not had the privilege to know you personally, but I needed to let you know that about halfway through the initial reading of your accomplishments, I literally wanted to stand up and cheer. And I have a hunch I'm going to get that opportunity in a little bit here. But I just wanted to thank you very much for your incredible contributions to our kids. And I look forward to supporting this ordinance. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. Councilman Clark. Thank you, Mr. President. There isn't a lot left to say. My colleagues have done such a good job with it, but I just. I wanted to speak up. You know, I sit up here, and so I guess that makes me a Denver city councilman. But really, in my heart, I'm an educator and my mom was a teacher. My dad was a teacher. My wife is a teacher. My brother is a teacher. And I spent the entirety of my career before landing here working with kids. And I just want to say thank you for what you have done for Denver kids. As someone who my true passion and my made the fabric of who I am is working with kids is inspiring to see the difference that a person can make. And I'm so excited to be able to vote and and name this building after you. And thank you for everything that you've done for Denver kids. Thanks, President. Yeah. Thank you. Councilman Clark. Councilman Canete. Thank you, Mr. President. It strikes me as I listen to my colleagues and I want to think about the word that Councilwoman Black used, which was powerful. And I think so often that term in our current environment is really seen as a negative and can actually, often with women especially, be used in somewhat of a not so complimentary way. And I think the true test of whether power is achieving good is is for whom, you know, we speak when we have access and we have a voice that others may not. And so, you know, for children who often do not have a voice while they're young and developing their language skills, but also for parents who don't have access to the research that you had to to make the case as you. Did or to the people. That you had access to or the rooms that you were invited into. And so I commend you in, you know, not just. What you've achieved, but in the use of that. Power in such an effective and moral and highly outcome oriented way for people who really needed to have an advocate because they didn't have that same access. And so thank you for that. And I'm excited to see a powerful woman's name on a building here in Denver. Thank you. Good luck. Very nice. Thank you. Councilman, can each councilman knew. Crispbread as he's. I'm not sure I know you very well either, but we know your daughter very well. And then the qualities we see in her obviously come from you is no question about that. Your whole list of accomplishments were so impressive, just like were said earlier. I just love reading about it. And this naming was a small tribute to the honors that you've already received, and we are so look forward to doing that and everything on your behalf. So thank you again for all you do for preschool. We love preschool. We love reading the stories to the kids every year. And and I just want to feel proud to be a part of this small honor for you tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman New Miss Sandwich Johanns, we apologize for keeping you here this late. No one said that, but we. We did not know who was going to run this long. But in the meantime, we honor you, Madam Secretary. It's been moved and seconded, and we have a roll call, please. Black. Hi, Clark. Hi, Espinosa. Hi, Flynn. Hi. Gilmore, I her name's Cashman. Cashman. Can each. Lopez. New. Ortega, I. Sussman Hi. Mr. President. Hey, man. That's an eye. Close voting announced results. 12 eyes. 12 eyes. The building at 2851. Fremont is now the Miss Anna Jo Haynes Early Childhood Center. I'm going to take a little bit of privilege and ask Miss Anna, Joe Haines to come up here and make a few words. Bless us with your words, please. Wow. That's all I got to say. Wow. You know, there was moments, this really wow moment. Mr. President and esteemed council members. I'm extraordinarily humbled. For this recognition. And I mean, use my cards because I was told by my children and other people who know me very well that I must, because otherwise we'd be here as long as we were earlier this year. So I won't I won't do that. I want to especially. Thank Mayor Hancock. From back when he was on the city council. I remember coming to him and saying, We're in buildings that you own that are in dire shape. They've been around for more than 25 years. It's time to do something about that. So he said the bond was coming up at that time and he said he'd work with me to make sure that we could get them in the bond. Well, we did, but I worked with him very closely and just talked to him all the time about early childhood. At the end of that time, when the bond won, he did say to me, you know, you really know a lot about this. You know, I think we had a name, a building in your honor. Well, that was several years ago. And so here we are today. So I want to especially thank you for thinking about me. There are several other people that I would like to thank, and it's the committee that put the petition together for me. This was going on for a few months before I even realized that something was happening. So I want to thank Dr. Pamela Harris, who is my boss now, and Albert Wedgeworth and Aaron Brown, the executive director of the Office of Children's Affairs, who I work very closely with. And. Dr. Lisa Roy and the many people who went to the committee and spoke on my behalf. Walter Eisenberg, Tracy Winchester and many, many more people. And I want to thank all the signers of the petition if they're listening in tonight or not. A lot of people couldn't come tonight, they said, but they were going to listen. And so I want to thank them. That was well. And I especially want to thank the literally hundreds of coworkers that I and colleagues that I've worked with over the years, just many, many people who plan, I think, to come to the dedication at some point. As I listened to the tributes tonight and to all of you council people speak, I was reminded me of the people who worked side by side with me to accomplish the tasks I was able to do and the tasks we set out to do. How lucky I was to work with so many people who cared so much about the children and the families. And, you know, it takes that village to raise a child. So it was really important. And I thought about each of them and thought about some of the things that people said about me tonight. And I said, Oh, I remember who worked with me on that. I couldn't have done it without them. I remember all those people and they were there, you know, in my heart tonight, because you can't do things by yourself. It takes that village not only to raise a child, but to make sure something happens in the process. Let's see. Let me tell you about a really important thing that I think you don't know about, and it's made it possible for this incredible recognition to happen. It's a serendipity. So I have to tell you just very few things about me. I was born on the orrery a campus. And so I think instilled in me when I was very little without even knowing that it would be an education campus. I kind of believe in those things. It was meant to be that I was going to look at education. So I lived there for a while and then I moved over to Northeast Denver and was lucky enough to go to Mariah Mitchell School. And. That names may sound a little familiar to you right now because Mariah Mitchell is being talked about as we speak because she brought a contingent of women to Denver in the late 1800s when the last. What do you call that? It's coming. The eclipse is coming. She was not looked at with much respect for most of the men in her field, and she decided to bring all the women engineers that she knew at that time and brought them to Denver so that they could see the eclipse. I then was lucky enough to go off through Mitchell in my fourth and fifth grade. I had two teachers who told me all about Mariah Mitchell, and it was the first time I knew anything. I thought, This building is named for her. Isn't this incredible? And she brought those women because she felt it was important for people all over the country who were looking at us at that time to know that there were women in this field and that they could really do something. So she taught me something very early on about taking leadership. So I'm grateful to teachers who taught me that. And to know that there were women that long ago out there really making sure that things were happening not only for women, but making sure the kids had what they needed to have. So I want you to know also that I grew up in this neighborhood and the building where the rec center is now was the old Clinton YMCA. And I grew up there going to teen campaigns. And then when I took one of my first jobs, which was with Parks and Recreation for the city, I became a coach and played basketball in that building before it was torn down. As the buildings were being looked at there, there were temporary buildings, but there. And so this is my neighborhood. And when it became time to bring Headstart into the city, I worked with people to do that. And it it was a huge payoff because what happened from that was the mothers said, our children have had a head start, but we haven't. We need that headstart and and we want to go to work. And so our agency came into being to help those people go to work. We worked very closely for help, and we got it. And we were the first contractor to do early childhood with the city and county of Denver through the Department of Human Services. Three years later, Mile High United Way stepped to the plate. And we grew and we grew to be the largest subsidized early childhood Karen Education Agency in the city of Denver and in the state of Colorado. We were only able to do that because in 1970 there was had many available and the people who were sitting in those chairs before you were trying to figure out what to do with that money? Well, I had a chance to talk to some people about that. They actually made the decision. To build the buildings we are still in. To this day they were the new Denver was the only city in the country that used HUD dollars for early childhood. And this was in the early seventies. So you should be very proud of what you did, because if you hadn't done that, I wouldn't be standing here today getting all this credit for having done something for the kids and the families that started right here in this building. So I thank you so much for this honor. Couldn't do it without you. Oh. Thank you. Wow. That was very sweet. We have another public hearing tonight. You. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys are welcome to stay for the next public hearing as well. Councilman? No. Will you please put Council Resolution 687 on the floor?