Workforce housing project honored for collaboration
– The Durango Urban Renewal Authority, known as the Durango Renewal Partnership, recently received accolades for its community partnership in developing the Animas City Park Overlook townhomes.
– The housing project, which is creating 22 workforce housing units, earned the group the 2023 American Planning Association Colorado Chapter Honor Award in the category of Innovative Partnership & Collaboration. The award recognizes “extraordinary partnerships and collaborations” maintained over time.
– The Renewal Partnership collaborated with several local governmental and nonprofit stakeholders to develop these townhomes (including income-qualified units) for ownership or rental by workers in the local community.
Metallica supports local trade students
– Through its nonprofit foundation, the rock band Metallica provided a $100,000 grant to students in the School of Trades and Technology at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico.
– 100 students received Wolverine work boots in addition to the financial support designed to help ease barriers to advancing their education.
– The foundation, called All Within My Hands, was created by the members and management of the famous rock group. Its mission is to create and support sustainable communities by providing critical local services, including workforce education grants such as this one.
Group pushes to preserve historic railroad byway
– The Commissioners of the Tracks Across Borders Byway aim to maintain and promote a 128-mile stretch of the once-extensive Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) that connected much of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
– This route has received official byway status. While the byway is largely inoperable to locomotives (unlike the Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroads, which were also historically part of the D&RGW), the commission emphasizes preserving the history of the area.
– Visitors can use an interactive app (available on app stores via Cumbres & Toltec) to engage
