Radian collaborated with Mercy Housing, the City of Denver, Mile High Early Learning and Van Meter Willams Pollack, on an affordable, mixed-use development at 8315 East Colfax Avenue. The Rose on Colfax is designed to fully support individuals and families by offering affordable housing and quality childcare and early education.
This development offers 81 affordable apartments with eligibility income ranges at 30-70% area median income (AMI) for individuals and families and 5,400 sq. ft. of ground-floor space dedicated for an early childhood center with an additional 2,000 sq. ft. for an outdoor play area.
Radian supported the development of The Rose on Colfax with an inclusive community outreach and engagement process with the primary goals of informing the community about the project and to learn from the community about their concerns, needs, and desires as it relates to childcare. Lessons learned from this engagement were used to inform programmatic recommendations for the ECE center. Between February and August 2020, Radian performed in-depth interviews with local community partners, a demographic data analysis and ECE needs assessment, a virtual public town hall, an ECE focus group, and an in-person and virtual Early Childhood Education Community Needs Assessment Survey.
In total, nearly 60 community members and stakeholders were engaged, representing seven languages spoken. Translation, interpretation, and technical assistance were available for every activity to promote language and cultural inclusion, which was critical to ensure this community-informed process accurately reflected and represented the full diversity of the East Colfax neighborhood.
