June 2024 Digest

CFCU Digest

Celebrating our 10th Anniversary!

June, 2024

In this issue of the digest:

Engage with CFCU this Summer!
Dr. Lena Heilmann’s Special Suicide Briefing— watch the recording
Handgun Intervention Program celebrates graduation for its 9th Cohort
2024 Legislative Wrap-Up
Register to Vote for the Primary on June 24
Event Announcements:
- Guns to Gardens at Glennon Heights Mennonite Church
- Youth Panel on Gun Violence at Holy Family Church
- James Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage hosts Inaugural Gathering
Featured Congregation: Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram
CFCU Calendar for June and July

Engage with CFCU this Summer!

Here are the Top Ten Ways

Are you ready to jump in with BOTH feet? Then consider getting involved with CFCU through the #6 and #5 Top 10 Ways to Engage with CFCU!

If you haven’t read ways 10, 9, 8 or 7 you can find them all here: Top Ten Ways to Engage with CFCU

The next segment of our campaign to highlight CFCU programs as we approach our 10th anniversary focuses specifically on very concrete and time-bound engagement opportunities - #6 you can do on your own as an individual and #5 will require mobilizing your faith community along with gathering allies.

So, here we go! Drum roll, please. . .

#6 Top Way to Engage with CFCU:

Volunteer for Denver’s Handgun Intervention Program (HIP)!

HIP helps youth convicted of first time, non-violent firearm offenses chart a new and safer path through education/training, community support and individualized planning as part of their probation. If the young people successfully complete HIP and probation, their record is expunged.

As a member of the HIP Community Accountability Board (CAB), volunteers meet with youth, their family members and other community volunteers once a week to learn together; build a relationship; and develop a life plan without guns.

HIP is offered through a partnership of the Denver Juvenile Probation Department, Denver Juvenile Court, Denver District Attorney’s Office, Office of the State Public Defender,, Colorado Youth Detention Continuum, Denver Youth Violence Prevention Action Table, GRID (Office of Community Violence Solutions), and Colorado Crime Survivors Network Inc.

CFCU is honored to also be among the partners making HIP possible - our volunteers have been integrally involved with this life-changing and life-saving program since its founding in 2021. Please see the article with photos of CFCU members who volunteered for HIP for the 9th cohort which finished up this spring below.

If you enjoy working with youth and a wide range of community volunteers, while helping to reduce the number of guns on the street, this action item is for you!

Informational Zoom Session to learn more about HIP

July 2 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. Click here to register

The next cohort begins July 15 and runs on Mondays from 5 - 7 at 1st Mennonite Church (430 W 9th Ave, Denver, CO 80204)

#5 Top Way to Engage with CFCU: Host a Guns to Gardens Safe Surrender event!

Many CFCU member congregations have already joined this national movement that serves our communities by collecting and destroying guns which are no longer wanted.

See the flier below for the upcoming June 15th Guns to Gardens event in Lakewood.
Sign-up for a Zoom session to learn more on Monday, June 24th at 7:00 pm. Click here to register for this one-hour Guns to Gardens info session!
The next 5 week Guns to Gardens Action Training Circles will begin on July 11. There are both morning and evening sessions. You can learn more and register for this more extensive training here.

The Top Ten Ways to Engage with CFCU articles are written by Cheryl Fleetwood, Central Presbyterian Church

Special Suicide Briefing sponsored by Public Health Strategies Action Team

Lena Heilmann, PhD, MNM, Director of the Office of Suicide Prevention, was guest speaker at the Public Health Strategies Action Team meeting on May 28. Her presentation included statistics about the crisis of suicide, but she reminded us that “Statistics are merely aggregations of numbers with the tears wiped away.” (quoting Dr. Irving Schikoff.)

Dr. Heilmann explained the six pillars of the Office of Suicide Prevention: connectedness, economic stability, education and awareness, access to safe suicide care, lethal means safety and postvention. She reminded us that not every suicide attempt is successful, and we have opportunities to support those in crisis, if we are equipped with awareness and the appropriate tools.

The recording from Lena’s presentation can be found here: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/BI46swQh81rC6LAvP5Eyka74rw8AEY0faAMDV9p6FBArE5zVtqxzzCFikZfpcs9i.21uOwdSENn-QLXKh

You will need to use this passcode: cNCa4+b1

Handgun Intervention Program Graduation

CFCU members who participated in the HIP program this cohort are pictured above. From left to right: Howard Tishler, Ruth Neill, Joan Bradt, Alana Smart, Susan Tourjee, Carolyn Ewald, Mary Helen Coughlin, and Len Ewald. Not pictured: Bill Binet.

The 9th cohort of the Handgun Intervention Program (HIP) was a definite success. Several members of CFCU participated, and five youth completed the program with excellent presentations.

This program sponsor, the Denver Juvenile Court Probation Department, is committed to providing the youth with the best information and tools available to help them redirect their lives away from gun violence. Each cohort has a slightly different program as the Department continually makes improvements.

The 9th cohort saw some significant changes. In addition to the usual presenters who talked about the legal, medical and social consequences of gun possession, the Department added presentations by The Conflict Center to help the youth and their caregivers learn to deal with anger and other uncomfortable emotions, which, when unhandled, can lead to violence. To accommodate this extra presentation, an extra week was added to the program, taking it from six weeks long to seven. The response to this inclusion, even with the extra week of commitment on the part of all participants, was universally and enthusiastically positive. The Conflict Center will probably be part of the program going forward, and it is very welcome.

Cohort 10 is scheduled to start on July 15, and the program can always use more volunteers. If you like interacting with youth and want to really make a difference in a young person’s life, consider joining us.

Article submitted by Joan Bradt, Columbine Unitarian Universalist Church

CFCU is a recognized program partner of Denver’s HIP, working with young people, turning their lives around following first-time, non-violent firearm offenses. This innovative program has an over 80% success rate. CFCU volunteers have assisted HIP since its founding in 2021.

The program takes place at First Mennonite church, a CFCU member congregation (430 W. 9th Ave. Denver, CO 80204) Monday nights from 5 – 7 p.m.

To learn more about this program, contact alanaks@aol.com

Wrap-Up of 2024 Legislative Session from the CFCU Advocacy Team

The 2024 legislative session started on January 10th and ended on May 8th. During those four months, a record number of gun violence prevention bills were introduced, and a record number – eight in all – were passed. As of this writing, Governor Polis has signed four of those bills, and the other four await his signature. Below is a summary and status of the 12 bills that CFCU supported and one for which we remained neutral. We’ll send an update as more bills are signed into law.

Read the whole 2024 Legislative Wrap up here.

Article submitted by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom.

Be Sure You Are Registered to Vote in the Primary Election on June 25

Ballots will be mailed to all registered Colorado voters during the first week in June for the primary elections on June 25. Primaries often have low voter turnout, but they are extremely important. They give voters the opportunity to decide who from a group of candidates should be nominated by their political party to run in the general election and, depending on which candidate wins the primary, perhaps the issues that should be emphasized in the election. In jurisdictions that are dominated by a single party, the primary often determines which candidate will win in the general election.

If you’re not registered to vote, now is the time to do it. It’s easy and quick to do online at the Colorado Secretary of State’s website: https://www.coloradosos.gov/voter/pages/pub/home.xhtml

If you’re not sure if you’re registered, you can use the same link to check, and you can also find the nearest location for a polling place or drop box.

Article submitted by Stephanie Greenberg, Congregation Bonai Shalom.

More information about the Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage and the Inaugural Gathering can be found here: James Atwood Institute Information

Our Featured Congregation:

Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram

Our featured congregation this month is Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram. Located eight miles outside of Boulder, Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram sits on five acres and has two temples. Currently there are about 150 local members. Their tradition is Buddhist and Hindu.

Dévi Stone Chung is the manager of the Ashram. “We are simple people who connect with eastern traditions. We believe in many gods but one divine consciousness.”

“Our primary practice is meditation. We have Sunday services to meditate. We also practice yoga and have yoga teacher training at our Ashram and some of our programs are available via zoom. We include programs for children as well.”

Members of the ashram are also spiritual activists. They meet to discuss events in the news and approach these events with mindfulness. They have been active with the CFCU legislative network, sending postcards to legislators to support sensible gun laws. “We want to bring our ashram out into the world. We are involved in growing personally, growing spiritually, and growing the community.” Dévi explained.

The community has experienced trauma related to gun violence, including a member who experienced the suicide of a family member. The Ashram is not far from from the King Soopers in Boulder, where the murders of ten people occurred in March, 2021. They joined CFCU in 2021, during the pandemic, and hope to be more active in our gun violence prevention work.

“Through meditation you are able to uncover stuff that you’ve hidden. Being together you can move through that.”

You can learn more about the Ashram here: Eldorada Mountain Yoga Ashram

Along with being the manager of the Ashram, Dévi is currently in law school. Because her undergraduate degree was in journalism, one of her projects was a video about gun violence, which she made in 2016. In it, she interviews Tom Mauser, Tom Sullivan and Coni Sanders. Click here to view Devi's gun violence video

Article submitted by Rita Niblack, Most Precious Blood Catholic Church

CFCU June Calendar

June 7: National Gun Violence Awareness Day
June 7 - 9: Wear Orange Weekend
June 15: 10 am - 12 pm: Guns to Gardens at Glennon Heights Mennonite Church
June 20: 10 - 12:00 am: Communications Meeting, zoom. Please contact Daryl Foelske (dfoelske@gmail.com) for more information.
June 24: 7 - 8 pm: Guns to Gardens Information Session on Zoom. (See registrations above.)
July 2: 4:30 - 5:30 pm: HIP Information Session on Zoom (See registration above.)
July 16: 3:30 - 5:30 pm CFCU Steering Committee on Zoom, contact Alana Smart (alanaks@aol.com) for more information
July 17: 10:00 -11:30 am Public Health Strategies Meeting on Zoom, contact Alana Smart (alanaks@aol.com) for more information
July 20: 12th Anniversary of Aurora Theater Shooting –
August 20: 2:00 pm Advocacy Team Meeting. For the zoom link and agenda, please contact Stephanie Greenberg, researchswgreenberg@gmail.com