When you turn the faucet on for water, or send your kid to school, or figure out how to afford your next home, or call for emergency services, or even just take a breath, your ability to lead a healthy life is being directly impacted by the decisions of your local government. Even though you might hear less about it than you do about the political debates at the State Capitol or in Washington, D.C., local public policy can make a profound difference in the lives of Coloradans. That’s why we created Partnerships for Local Advocacy (PiLA), a program in which we provide resources to local advocates who want to pass local policies to improve the well-being of their communities. Eight years into this program, we’re excited to add a new feature – we’re inviting more people to the party.

This year, we are hosting the first-ever PiLA Summit. This is an event at which we will bring advocates who want to run a local ballot measure to improve community well-being together with funders and knowledgeable campaigners. Our purpose is to connect advocates from communities across Colorado with the resources they need to succeed.

Interested local advocates are invited to complete this form that describes their project. The deadline for submission is Monday, April 29th, at 5 pm MST. Each submission will be evaluated with the following criteria:

• Time horizon: the summit is for local (city, county, special district) ballot measures that will run in either 2024 or 2025
• Policy scope: we are looking for policies that improve human well-being and advance equity, this includes, but is not strictly limited to, policies concerning: housing affordability and quality, access to childcare and education, clean air and water, access to health care, food and nutrition, and community infrastructure that supports health and well-being.
• Policy maturity: we welcome projects that are at an early stage, but advocates must be able to clearly describe at least the outline of the policy, the problem it’s addressing, and the community partnerships they are developing.
• Policy viability: we encourage advocates to dream big, and thus we’ll err on the side of inclusivity, but we will also only select proposals that have a reasonable chance of adoption by voters. 

Each applicant will receive a decision regarding an invitation to the PiLA summit no later than Monday, May 6th by 5 pm MST. Any applicant invited to participate will also receive additional information about the event agenda and the format in which you should present information at the summit. While invited participants are encouraged to attend in person if possible, this will be a hybrid event with the ability to participate online. The summit will take place on Tuesday, May 21 from 3-6 pm in Denver. Further details will be provided to the invited participants.

Our goal is for the summit to be a supportive, collaborative forum. It is not a competition. It’s a place where advocates can come to develop new relationships and receive useful input. Any funding decisions will not be made on the spot, and the manner in which interested funders follow up will vary. This will be an organic process and as this is the very first PiLA summit, we’re learning as we go!