A full house gathered at the Montbello Recreation Center in Northeast Denver this week as part of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission’s new citizen equity and outreach program. Hosted by the Denver office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASR), more than 50 people attended.

Berenice Garcia Tellez of CASR, the organizer of the meeting, told The Denver Gazette her team is dedicated to working directly with communities in Denver she said are most harmed by climate change impacts, including people of color and Indigenous people, low-income communities, people with chronic health conditions, babies, children, and older adults.

“Yesterday’s meeting showcases how we can successfully reach communities,” said Garcia Tellez. “Taking the time to listen to the community in their preferred language builds relationships and gets people connected to resources.”

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Because many in the audience were Spanish-only speakers or had limited English skills, English-Spanish and Spanish-English translations were provided by the Community Language Cooperative of Englewood using individual listening devices for audience members and a bilingual translator to provide real-time translation.

“They were so fascinating to watch,” said Gail Connors, section chief of media relations, outreach and engagement for the PUC. “I mean, to be able to swing back and forth as they did so quickly and eloquently was amazing.”

The cooperative provides interpretation services, focus groups, and inclusivity/diversity training to help remove barriers and broaden opportunities for participation and community engagement by non-English speakers.

After presentations by CASR and Xcel Energy, PUC Commissioner Megan Gilman spoke about the mission of the PUC and the state Clean Heat Program. Gilman also answered questions from the audience.

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The meeting was part of a series of public equity and outreach programs scheduled by the PUC around the state.

Connors was pleased with this second foray into public outreach. Earlier in the day a similar meeting was held in Greeley.

“I was quite ecstatic,” said Connors. “Not only was I impressed by the group leading the meeting, I was very interested in some of the responses that Megan (Gilman) got when she was asking questions, because that tells me, as somebody who’s planning outreach, what are the messages we need to focus on? One of them is just educating people to who the PUC is and what we do.”

Connors admits that accessibility to PUC online resources that have been described by critics as byzantine, is not what it should be in terms of transparency and clarity for the general public.

“I’m looking at what I would call priority issues,” said Connors. “How can we make the website more accessible? How can we make the language more accessible to consumers?”

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The commission was ordered by the General Assembly to “provide equity, minimize impacts, and prioritize benefits to disproportionately impacted communities and address historical inequalities” in part by hosting meetings, workshops and hearings that “invite input from disproportionately impacted communities.”

Future meetings are scheduled for Grand Junction, Montrose, Pueblo and Montrose.