Photo courtesy of Denver Leadership Foundation: http://denverleadership.org/tosa-finding-denver-home/
Since 1999, 9NEWS has recognized outstanding leaders in the community. Partnered with the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, the alliance has been honoring exceptional leaders who are transforming their communities for good. Core Roofing + Solar is proud to announce that one of our founding partners, Andrew Schmidt, has been nominated as one of the top three finalists for 2019.
“Our three finalists are making a real impact on our communities,” said Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation Executive Director Dan Lewis. “They each embody the values of how we work in Colorado, what we call Colorado’s Civic “DNA” collaboration, inclusivity, shared vision, leadership and responsibility.”
Andrew’s business ethics and leadership through Core have been meritorious, but it’s his extraordinary work on The Other Side Academy, or TOSA Denver, that have set him apart. In January 2016, unimpeded by the time demands, frustrations and loops he’d have to jump through, Andrew saw how TOSA could impact people’s lives and pledged to spearhead the fundraising effort to make TOSA a reality. He’s spent the last two years working to bring this innovative, self-sustaining, two-year vocational training school to Denver.
The Other Side Academy Denver or TOSA is set to open in January 2019 and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, social enterprise modeled after the Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco. Repeat criminals and chronic substance abusers, many of whom experience homelessness, can change their lives, free of charge, in a two-year, residential, non-clinical, work-oriented environment. TOSA functions as a school where students learn vocational, pro-social, and life skills so they can succeed on “the other side” of addiction and criminal behavior.
We encourage everyone to research the work of the other finalists, Anthony Aragon and Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler, as each finalist selected has impacted our community in a different and similar extraordinary manner. Finalists were selected by community leaders and in 2019, Leadership Foundation alumni, as well as members of their new partner, B:CIVIC, and their longtime partner, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, will have the opportunity to vote to select this year’s winner.
