On the event of this, our annual legislative issue, we find the Colorado Assembly at an unusual moment in its history, as you can read in Political Director Joel Dyar’s legislative run-down elsewhere on the website.

But while we know there is important business for our Alliance inside the Capitol, we’re also mindful that much of our work on behalf of healthy, just, and self-reliant Western Colorado communities is enacted far from the corridors of power.

For instance, you’ll also read some facts about the deep listening work we have engaged in for much of the past year — and that work continues as we move past simple door-knocking and begin a series of local community meetings in three counties to determine what problems are going unaddressed by politicians, and what we can do about them as a community.

Our work as an Alliance takes us other places not typically thought of as power centers as well — like the halls of local high schools, where the students of West Slope Youth Voice (WSYV) are beginning to poll their classmates and getting students registered to vote. You can read more about the numerous activities of WSYV in organizer Tyler McDermott’s story elsewhere in this issue.

Whether in the halls of a high school or the Colorado State Capitol, our Alliance is on the move in 2023. We look forward to pushing forward with you at our side.