Cheers to Patrick Horvath
ULC wishes to offer our gratitude to colleague Patrick Horvath and his incredible body of work as he transitions this month from The Denver Foundation, where he has served as an advocate for countless communities and organizations for more than 20 years.
Before becoming Deputy Vice President of Programs and Director of Economic Opportunity, Patrick was the Foundation’s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program (SNP) Director for 14 years. SNP focused on the power of neighborhood residents to make a difference in their communities and offered capacity-building grants and technical assistance for grassroots individuals and groups toward their efforts. In this vein, Patrick and SNP were instrumental in partnering with ULC to support Northeast Park Hill residents in redeveloping the Holly Square Shopping Center after being burned down in 2008. ULC and the City of Denver purchased 2.6 acres of the site and worked alongside Northeast Park Hill residents, led by the Holly Area Redevelopment Project (HARP) and The Denver Foundation’s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program, to move the community’s vision forward for the redevelopment of Holly Square, resulting in the youth and community center that thrive today.
Patrick was also instrumental in the creation of another of ULC’s key partners, Mile High Connects. What started as a cross-sector collaborative to ensure that the multi-billion dollar investment in the Denver region’s mass transit system promoted equity and access to opportunity for all the region’s residents, Mile High Connects has grown into a broad partnership of organizations—from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors—committed to increasing access to housing choices, good jobs, quality schools, and essential services via public transit.
Additionally, Patrick serves as an advisor and board member for the Center for Community Wealth Building, along with ULC’s Michael Miera. The Center works to transform the current economic development system to a more inclusive and equitable model that prioritizes democratically-owned businesses, emphasizes local procurement, and ensures social, environmental, and institutional sustainability.
ULC thanks Patrick for his visionary, equity-focused work and trust we will find new ways to collaborate in his next chapter.
Cheers Patrick!
I had the great pleasure of hiring and working with Patrick at The Denver Foundation. He has always been a person of unbeatable integrity, intelligence, compassion, and commitment — and he has a wonderful sense of humor as well! (It’s important to be able to laugh when one is doing the hard work in community!) Denver has greatly benefited from his leadership and will continue to do so, wherever his journey next takes him. I am grateful to ULC for posting this testimonial of Patrick’s unwavering commitment to making our world a more inclusive and equitable place for all. Thank you.
ULC also invited The Denver Foundation’s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program to invest in Westwood, many years ago. Patrick spearheaded initial and sustained commitments to the development and growth of an emergent group there. The group is now called Westwood Unidos.
Patrick’s work in supporting the first Restorative Justice (RJ) practices at Aurora Public Schools (APS)’ Hinkley High School through Strengthening Neighborhoods is also little-known. To guarantee the work’s success, he immediately hired a community organizer, Gabriela Jacobo, to launch the RJ work with parents, teachers and leadership. The drop in expulsions and suspensions was dramatic.
APS soon took it to scale.
Thank you, Patrick, for everything.