How Entrepreneurship Is Creating Change in Prisons Across Colorado
i Read the Entire Article in CSU's The Difference Magazine On November 13th, 2019 Griffin Moores, a Web Content Coordinator from Colorado State University, drove to Pueblo, Colorado, and walked inside a prison for the first time with Defy Colorado. Colorado State...
Prison Labor and Hiring Practices
Background I was released in December of 2019 after spending nearly 12 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Through most of my incarceration, I was assigned to a Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI) work crew at Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility....
Incarcerated Black Lives Matter
At Defy Colorado we are grateful that the conversation about racial injustice has shifted to the forefront of our nation’s consciousness. It is long overdue and the delay has been devastating to our country and its Black and Brown citizens. Our hope is that this...
Take Action: How You Can Support The Law Enforcement Accountability Act (SB20-217)
As I write this, Denver’s streets are filled with people protesting for the 12th day in a row. I am proud to see so many in our community making their voices heard and speaking out against systemic racism and police brutality while honoring countless lives of black...
Welcome Home Abe Arrington
EXCLUSIVE: Defy Colorado Alum Abe Arrington Tells Us About His Commutation from Governor Polis Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993, Abron “Abe” Arrington had been locked up since 1989. Learn how this Defy Colorado alumnus and patent owner of a flood mitigation...
Positive People: Defy Colorado
I Listen to the interview America jails more of its citizens than any other country in the world. More than 2 million citizens are behind bars. High incarceration rates deprive the nation of potentially productive talent and it drains the life force from people...
Defy Colorado Names Stacey Putka as New Executive Director
The Board of Directors at Defy Colorado (www.defycolorado.org), an independent nonprofit organization helping individuals with criminal histories create legal business ventures, today announced it has unanimously chosen Stacey Putka, a licensed social worker, as the...
Governor Polis, Colorado Business Leaders Discuss Fair Chance Hiring
Governor Jared Polis, Daniel Yanisse, CEO of Checkr, and Jeff Wasden, President of the Colorado Business Roundtable, interview graduates of the Defy Colorado program. Credit: Drew Carlson PhotographyPrison visit reviews in-prison entrepreneurship training programs and...
Governor, Business Leaders Head To Prison To Help Defy Colorado Program Participants
Gov. Jared Polis and business leaders visited the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility this week in support of an education program that helps people who have recently been released from prison. Defy Colorado’s goal is to provide a better chance at success in the...
Defy Colorado Hosts First-Ever Denver Demo Day
Confronting one of the biggest barriers to effective reintegration back into society, formerly incarcerated individuals will pitch their business ideas to a sold-out audience at the Crawford Hill Mansion later this evening. The pitch competition is being organized by...
Offering a Plan B on the Halfway Houses Controversy
Earlier this month, the Denver City Council made a highly unexpected decision to end contracts with CoreCivic and GEO Group. These companies also run several Colorado-based community correction facilities, sometimes called halfway houses, that help formerly...
Rejecting recidivism: Defy Colorado bets on business as the way out of a vicious prison cycle
Another day, another startup pitch event in Boulder, with all the usual trappings: the city’s business and tech elite, inspiring speeches, power point presentations, and a panel of experts passing along judgement and advice to would-be entrepreneurs. The...