Montrose County:
Uncompahgre Valley Alliance
Since 1982, Uncompahgre Valley Alliance members have worked for a healthy and sustainable community in Montrose County. Through grassroots organizing, Uncompahgre Valley Alliance has successfully campaigned on social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, local food production, and more. Uncompahgre Valley Alliance is committed to intentionally and systematically working through the Organizing Cycle as a way to develop current leaders and identify new leaders. Central to the Organizing Cycle is actively engaging in hundreds of conversations to identify local issues that can be worked through to public action that will create concrete and positive changes for the whole of Montrose.
Current Work
Currently, Uncompahgre Valley Alliance has undertaken a campaign to improve public transportation in Montrose.
Accomplishments
In 2024, Uncompahgre Valley Alliance interviewed and surveyed nearly 80 community members and bus riders to solicit feedback on their public transit experiences.
Our Alliance successfully convinced the Montrose City Council to add public transportation to the language of Ballot Issue 2A on the 2024 ballot. This ballot measure put to a vote whether Montrose’s lodging tax should be increased. Uncompahgre Valley Alliance mobilized voters to vote in support of 2A, which passed by just 242 votes.
Beginning in Summer 2022, active Uncompahgre Valley Alliance members and interested parties learned about a new tactic called Deep Listening, which is a way to engage with community members who are traditionally not heard. By mid-fall, a group of dedicated volunteers led a bilingual effort throughout the City of Montrose and Olathe, knocking on 584 doors total and talking with 127 residents! What was learned during this effort has laid the foundation for future UVA work, as well as energizing the affiliate with new membership and leadership.
From 2019 to 2020 Uncompahgre Valley Alliance facilitated more than 200 conversations. By capturing the concerns of community members, the group identified the need for greater access to affordable childcare. UVA members and friends formed a Childcare Caucus to identify an issue that our Alliance could take to public action. In partnership with Bright Futures for Early Childhood and Families, Uncompahgre Valley Alliance secured funding from the City to put out a Montrose County Child Care Needs Assessment. Read about UVA’s successful assessment here!
Members continue to join the regional campaigns of Western Colorado Alliance including public lands conservation, local food and agriculture, West Slope Youth Vote, oil and gas reform, clean and renewable energy, and a variety of ongoing grassroots democracy issues.
Leadership Team
Mel McKelvey
Chair and Representative to the Western Colorado Alliance Board
Kendra Stucki
Membership Chair
Bobbie Kuns
Treasurer
Bianca Diaz
Community Organizer
Contact for more information or to get involved.