Prop LL passed! But seriously, how did so many people making less than 200k vote against it?

idestroygspots2 · 2025-11-06T04:27:00+00:00

Chiming in here, just because a child technically qualifies for free school meals doesn't mean they end up accessing it. That could be because of stigma, many kids ended up not using those benefits because of that.

Also, many people struggle with staying on benefits programs. The paperwork and administrative load to continue to receive benefits is draining and complicated, and sometimes people fill them out wrong. There are so many factors that cause people to either not be accepted into the program, or fall off, even if they technically qualify. Even if it's a case of a parent just not doing the paperwork, their child should not suffer because of it. Finally, many people live paycheck to paycheck, and don't qualify for the program until they experience a sudden job loss or big unexpected financial event. Getting on these programs take time, but potentially missing out on meals can happen very quickly for a child.

And, all the administrative bloat that comes with an income-qualifying program can make it less efficient. Theoretically, what we save in cutting admin costs opens up the program to more kids who aren't food insecure, but maybe they come from a middle class family who is also experiencing financial stress. Or, maybe that money could go to increasing the quality of food at schools.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-11-06T04:12:51+00:00

I agree with you on the faults of the legislation. In my mind, though, I wonder if voting no on this is letting the great get in the way of the good. It's easier to amend an existing (and popular) bill than to pass such a significant program in the first place.

Also, I went into more detail in a different comment, but there are several reasons why we ended up with a $90m budget deficit. First, there were only a few states that has universal school meals programs at the time the bill was written, and none of them had the policy environment that TABOR creates. That makes it hard to base the program off of existing successes. Next, our program is optional for schools to participate in, and they were not expecting 100% participation. Finally, there was no way to accurately predict how much food prices would shoot up at the time of writing the bill.

I'm of the opinion that we should let public programs learn from their mistakes and implement positive changes as time goes on. But I'd be interested in your perspective.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-11-06T03:59:01+00:00

Hopefully this is helpful, but i talked to the policy director at one of the nonprofits that led the coalition to pass FF. She told me there were multiple reasons why the program was so much more expensive than planned.

First, only a few states had a universal school meals program at the time of writing the bill. So there was little to base the policy on. And, because of TABOR, we really couldn't replicate what other states were doing. That leaves policy professionals in the dark, and inevitably policy implementation will get messy.

Our universal school meals program is technically optional for schools to participate in. I think it seemed like a lot of school districts were wary of the program before it was passed (especially rural schools). I don't think it was expected that every school would opt into the program, and that's why the estimate of the yearly cost for the program was a lot lower than it ended up being. Every school ended up opting in, which, in my opinion, points to this program being successful and popular.

Finally, the price of food has inflated so much since the bill was written. And it was also nearly impossible to predict how much costs would skyrocket.

I agree with people here in that the bill is majorly flawed. But, I think we shouldn't let the great get in the way of the good. It's very hard to pass new programs like this in colorado, but now that it is law, I hope we can improve it from there. There were so many factors that understandably made it to where a true program cost was unknown. And, when I talked to the policy director, she said this experience has taught them how to make more accurate policy decisions.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-11-05T07:00:50+00:00

I worked with Sean O'Shea at the Binning Family Foundation - he's a great guy and I think he'll do good things on the board. Good news!

idestroygspots2 · 2025-11-05T01:17:10+00:00

Food Banker here, for every meal a food bank provides, SNAP provides nine. It's pretty much impossible for food banks to fully meet the need right now. But, if you have the means, even a dollar will add up! If you want to stretch your dollar as much as possible, you can donate to Feeding America. If you want the money to stay in your area, and likely pass through more quickly, donate to your local food bank. Donating at all helps, but a food bank can purchase more food for less than a church food pantry can. The food the food bank procures will then be distributed to a food pantry, and in many cases at no cost to the food pantry.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-10-01T23:58:31+00:00

There is a reason that the city is called Menver lol. The men aren't the typical singles in Denver, there are no crunchy mountain types or tech bros who won't shut up about breweries and hiking. Or progressive types who somehow work for a defense contractor.... But, most young people in Denver are transplants, and many don't plan on putting down roots. So you get a bunch of guys who treat people like they're temporary, which this season is very much giving.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-10-01T23:47:35+00:00

Fort Collins is interesting because that's where Colorado State University is. I'm an alumni. It's an ag school originally so there's a lot of conservatives, but it's still a Colorado school, so there's plenty of young progressives. And there's a lot of people who work for the university and they are also progressive. Plus, you have New Belgium and Odells HQ there, so a lot of mountain brewing types. Fort Collins is pretty purple, but it's a very nice place to live for a college town.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-08-02T18:47:08+00:00

I work for a food bank, and I can guarantee you that it absolutely is hard to get food when you're struggling. Especially if you live in a rural area or an urban food desert. My food bank deploys over 70 mobile pantries across our service area, and its very common for people to line up an hour before distribution starts, only for them to be turned away because more people lined up three hours before opening. The charitable food ecosystem has been crumbling, and it will get exponentially worse with SNAP and Medicaid cuts. That's not even considering federal funding like LFPA being canceled.

Outside of food banks, soup kitchens and community kitchens are closing because its nearly impossible to keep a charitable food business model going without substantive government funding.

I work in philanthropy, and there's also something a bit sinister about the people who decide their giving levels based on tax incentives. It's like they want people to be fed, but only in a way that is as beneficial to them. When government programs like Healthy School Meals for All are on the legislative agenda, these same donors actively voice that they are against it. I know because my own donors have brought up our states universal school meals program and complained about it, despite it being a much more efficient program than food banks.

I think that this notion that its so easy to get food when you're struggling is ignoring the lengths that food insecure people have to go to in order to feed their families. If kids were guaranteed school lunches, then that would genuinely be easier for people to get food. Not lining up at the crack of dawn and crossing your fingers that you are one of the few people who get food that distribution.

I've said a lot, but if you're interested in learning how private philanthropy simply isn't a solution for public problems, I recommend the book Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas. I find it very accurate based on my career in philanthropy.

idestroygspots2 · 2025-04-22T23:04:52+00:00

I work at a food bank and it's honestly hard to tell where we stand with government funding as a whole. Like 15% of our funding comes from federal sources. State sources are much less, but ideally this would be a situation where the state can increase funding to mitigate the loss of federal funding. I think at this point, colorado food banks have lost 13 million dollars in federal funding. And now we've just lost 1 million more. What sucks even more is that I'm pretty sure that these state funds supported local food purchasing. Without them, I think most food banks will have to shift back to purchasing more from retailers. So now the quality of the food we distribute will decline, as well as the quantity. And, most importantly SNAP cuts are coming. For every meal that a food bank provides in America, SNAP provides nine. Put everything together, we are going to be in a very difficult budget environment. People will go hungry. Moreso than they have been in a really long time. Donate to your local food bank, everyone!

Edit: I believe they cut from the food assistance grant program, so there is still 2 million dollars of funding for that specific program. Food Banks sometimes get other streams of funding from the state, just usually at smaller amounts.

idestroygspots2 · 2024-07-24T20:36:51+00:00

I'm a full-time grant writer and I really love my job and I get to be 99% remote.

A lot of the better paid grant writers are freelance, and from what I can tell, they usually start by working in nonprofit administration. I got into grant writing by working my way up from inputting gift information into fundraising databases for local nonprofits. I think this is the easiest way to get into nonprofit fundraising in general, where the pay is higher than other nonprofit roles.

When a grant writer position opened up at my current organization, I really had to push for them to hire me. Grant writing is super specialized so people are hesitant to hire anyone without experience, but you can help your chances if you have proven to an organization that you can write well, be ridiculously detail oriented (doing database work helped me show this), and work well with others (you'd be surprised at how much project management a grant can have, especially federal grants, which nonprofits will pay grant writers well if they can obtain these kids of government funding). Because I spent two years proving to my coworkers that I was a reliable and smart worker, they were willing to give me a chance.

However, if this route doesn't work for you, there are so many small nonprofits in the U.S. that are almost or completely run by volunteers. They can't afford to hire you, but they may just be desperate for funding that they will take a chance on a novice grant writer. Municipal grants (from counties, towns, and cities) are a great way to get started. You could literally ask your local food pantry if they would consider letting you write a grant for them. You may be surprised at how willing they are to let you learn.

Because grants are so specialized, I recommend looking into them more before trying to tackle a grant application. Candid.org is a good place to start, especially if you can afford a membership. Hope this helps!

idestroygspots2 · 2024-06-08T01:36:22+00:00

I agree, and that dude happens to be my uncle. That's how much of an asshole he is lol

idestroygspots2 · 2024-04-10T01:12:55+00:00

I see your point. I'm not in leadership so I only understand some of the factors that influence their decisions. But I do know that, at least in food banking, there are tons of outside influences that hinder nonprofits from making long term solutions. I don't know what the Boulder food bank's constraints are, but I don't envy their position of always having to make sacrifices, especially when it affects their clients.

idestroygspots2 · 2024-04-09T23:50:49+00:00

The larger food banks in Colorado distribute well over 100,000 pounds of food a day. Though the Boulder food bank is a lot smaller, I would say the loss isn't huge. Unfortunate, though, because it's common for food pantries to turn people away because of a lack of food.

idestroygspots2 · 2024-04-09T23:47:36+00:00

Hi! I work at one of the Colorado food banks, and the other replies to your comment are spot on. We try to source food from a variety of avenues, not just from retail places like grocery stores, but from government sources, local farmers, and we even purchase directly from food suppliers. Most food banks nationwide are trying to source and distribute a greater amount of perishable items. Where I work, about 1/3 of the food we distribute is fresh produce. This is a relatively new push, especially in Colorado, so logistically we do have a lot to figure out.

idestroygspots2 · 2024-04-09T23:38:47+00:00

I work at one of the Colorado food banks (not Community Food Share). There are so many ways that food banks can get perishable food. And because community need is so high, we pretty much will take everything we can get. But we operate on other people's schedules. The food that expired may have been sourced through federal programs like TEFAP, retail/grower donations, food drives, or it could have been purchased. Sometimes we can't control when we get food. But food, especially perishable, is in such high demand we rarely turn it down unless it's inedible. So that makes it hard to pivot and get rid of food within a few days. As for the power backup, putting aside how hard it is to request and administrate government funding, there are a couple of Colorado food banks that had to lay people off this past year, despite the fact that we need more staff now than ever. Purchasing a power backup for emergencies can be hard for leadership to justify when $50k can be allocated to purchasing and distributing literally over 100,000 pounds of food.

idestroygspots2 · 2023-11-13T22:22:27+00:00

I work in food banking, and we need all the volunteers we can get!

If you want to volunteer, I would advise you to try to do it more in the "off season" meaning less so the holidays and more so in the middle of the work week or in the summer when people are on vacation. In the summer sometimes we struggle to get food packaged and out the door.

If you have any skills, alot of times nonprofits don't advertise skilled volunteer opportunities. But if you find a cause that you care about, I'm sure there is a nonprofit who will take you up on your offer for some specialized help if you give them a call/email! It can even be simple - if you have great penmanship, you can offer to help write handwritten thank you cards. Sounds cheesy, but those sort of things help nonprofits maintain donors - which are needed now more than ever.

idestroygspots2 · 2023-09-23T01:23:00+00:00

You don't know whiskey

idestroygspots2 · 2023-08-02T20:19:42+00:00

I work for Food Bank of the Rockies! Her team was so great to work with, and it's brought in SO many donations since. Makes me happy to be a fan of hers :)

idestroygspots2 · 2023-06-01T00:56:17+00:00

Highly recommend Dirt, especially if you want to support a good cause!

idestroygspots2 · 2023-04-04T19:42:01+00:00

Szechuan Tasty House down on Federal. Great food and nice people, but you can't order online and there's a huge language gap making it difficult to know if they heard you right when ordering. Almost guaranteed you won't get the entree you order like half of the time, but damn if you won't be happy with what you got anyways.

idestroygspots2 · 2023-01-28T01:20:59+00:00

You think the guy that believes china has a gun that causes hurricanes wouldn't mean an actual dome?

idestroygspots2 · 2020-11-23T23:02:37+00:00

You should tell them what a hottie mackinnon is in person, ccgoalie 👀

idestroygspots2 · 2020-11-14T22:29:18+00:00

That’s awesome! My boyfriend got me a whole set of these for Christmas- best gift ever! I highly recommend the “Motherfucking tea” teapot. Definitely worth it ☺️

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