SCC Wins National Award

The Corps Network (the national association of conservation and service corps) awarded Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) its 2008 Strategic Partnership Project of the Year Award for SCC’s effort to develop The Commons.  The Corps Network will honor The Commons Partnership  in Washington, DC at an awards ceremony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, February 10^{th, 2009.}

SCC partnered with the Durango Adult Education Center and Pueblo Community College to develop the nation’s first multi-site non-profit center focused on education.  The organizations formalized their partnership in 2007 with the purchase of a 43,000 square foot facility and raised $7.7 million for purchase and renovations in 2007 and 2008.

The Durango Chamber of Commerce awarded the partnership its “Non-Profit of the Year” award in early 2008 and the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition chose the project as its Colorado representative in its “50 Projects – 50 States” Report in October 2008.

SCC and its partners used a number of unique strategies to raise the resources to purchase and renovate the facility including New Market Tax Credits, Bargain Sale, USDA Rural Development Loans, and Community Development Block Grants.

Development of “The Commons” -as the facility is known – has provided a bounty of direct benefits to SCC and its corpsmembers:

• Seamless transition on-site between SCC to GED programs at Adult Education Center and post-secondary education at Pueblo Community College, Fort Lewis College and the University of Denver;
• Special $1,000 Scholarships to Fort Lewis College for SCC corpsmembers, renewable annually for four years;
• College credit through Pueblo Community College (in process of development);
• 5,000 square feet of completely re-modeled and customized offices and shop with plenty of parking in downtown Durango;
• Fifty percent ownership of a significant asset (valued at $7.8 million);
• Vastly increased visibility in the local community; and,
• Increased relationships with funders, donors, elected officials and community leaders.

The other organizations – a total of 13 non-profit or educational organizations – in the building have seen similar benefits.  Pueblo Community College and the Adult Education Center have each seen enrollment jumps of 30-40% since the opening of the facility in late 2007.

The Durango Herald summed up the project best in an editorial, “Two Durango nonprofits have joined forces to buy the old federal building on Camino del Rio… The real advantages come in terms of enhanced stability, greater coordination among the various organizations and the cooperation made possible by having such a fertile mix of educational groups under one roof.  It will be a full-spectrum educational center… With a building of their own, the conservation corps and education center can also focus their efforts on their missions without worrying what might happen to the building they rent. Their tenants, too, can rest easily knowing that their landlords want them – not just for their rent, but for their complementary goals as well. In Durango’s commercial real estate market that certainty has great value, and comes only with ownership.  For its part, the community gets the benefit of more and better continuing education. That has to translate into better careers, increased opportunities and an overall better Durango.”