The Colfax Crew Connects with the Colfax Community Network

The Colfax Crew team has adopted Colfax Community Network (CCN) as its beneficiary for GroundFloor Media’s 10th anniversary Get Giving program. For Amanda Brannum, Laura Love, Jennefer Traeger, Kimmie Greene and myself, all it took was a few words about CCN to make us realize that we wanted to be a part of supporting its mission.

Let’s start with one simple question…

What do you think about when you drive down Colfax Avenue and pass motel after dilapidated motel?

I am willing to bet you don’t think very highly of the people who are inside. The terms drug addict, criminals and prostitutes probably come to mind. There may also be an assumption that the motel dwellers deserve to be there, or that they haven’t worked hard enough to find better housing.

However, what if you learned that those motels actually house hundreds of families with young children—children who do not choose to be born into poverty and spend their entire childhood growing up in those conditions? What would you think if someone told you that the grandparents, parents and children in the residential motels are more of a community—a community of good people who are struggling every day to stay one small step above being homeless?

When the Colfax Crew team learned the truth about those “seedy” Colfax Avenue motels, we knew that we wanted to donate our time and Get Giving donation budget to these families and the CCN staff.

Currently, CCN focuses on the following services for the motel community:

• Family Night
• Emergency Walk-In Services
• Access to Services
• After School Program
• Summer Camp

CCN is also always looking for volunteers and donations. We encourage you to visit the “Get Involved” section of the website to review available volunteer positions and current wish list items.

In the coming weeks our team is thrilled to be donating time and resources in several areas. We will attend a Family Night gathering to meet motel families and learn first-hand about their struggles and the support CCN provides. We are also sponsoring six field trips for children serviced by CCN in order to expose them to new, positive Denver experiences and hopefully lighten their spirits in the process. And finally, we will collect clothing and hygiene products for the families to help fulfill CCN’s current wish list needs.

We look forward to sharing our experiences with you here on the GFM blog. Click here to read more about our work with CCN, and please email us at getgiving@groundfloormedia.com if you would like to get involved as well!

~Alexis Anderson

Team Impressionistas Takes a Second Look at First Impressions

Around 55% of another person's perception of you is based on how you look. Fair? No. Human nature? Regrettably so. We’d all like to believe that an employer will choose substance over style during a job interview, but there’s no denying that wardrobe is part of a first impression.

You know the scenario – the golden call for a job interview comes in and, the night before, you’re tearing through your closet trying on every suit you own to decide if it’s “the one.” I’ll admit I’ve probably spent more time prepping my interview outfit than my interview question responses.

But the reality is that not everyone has the luxury of picking and choosing from a closet stocked with professional attire. If you’re a low-income woman on a budget, there’s one place you’re likely to turn for a little wardrobe 9-1-1 – Dress for Success Denver. As part of GFM’s 10^th anniversary Get Giving initiative, the Impressionistas Team is donating money and time to help Dress for Success Denver continue to help women make powerful first impressions in the workforce through updated wardrobes, as well as career training and counseling. And, seeing that it’s the nonprofit’s 5^th anniversary this year, the timing for our partnership couldn’t have been more serendipitous.

The timing is also opportune for you to donate. Are you now working in a more casual or remote environment, yet keeping a stash of just-in-case suits? (This was so me until recently.) Did you lose or gain weight and can’t bring yourself to purge the old-you attire? Label it lazy, hopeful, sentimental or something else, but really… it’s time to put those perfectly good suits to good use.

Here are a few ideas you can do today to help Dress for Success Denver’s disadvantaged women in their journey to economic independence:

• Donate… duh. Drop-offs are the second Saturday of the month at Dress for Success Denver, which means the next one is Nov. 12. Mark it on your calendar today. Heck, go a step further and round up suits from your friends and/or officemates. Help them help others.
• Don’t donate. What I mean to say is don’t donate anything you wouldn’t wear yourself. These women want to feel chic, professional and confident, so bring only new or nearly new clothes with no stains or tears (that means no 80’s shoulder pads a la Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl”). Current wish list items are: white button-down shirts, black slacks sizes 16-26, camisoles, nice jewelry and handbags.
• Financial support. Don’t have suits to spare? Financial donations in any amount help.
• Volunteer. Visit the Dress for Success Denver volunteer page to sign up to be a personal shopper, career center counselor or donation day warrior.
• Show some Facebook love. Follow Dress for Success Denver on Facebook to learn about their events, their needs, help share their cause with your own networks or just to tell them what a great job they’re doing.

~ Rebecca

10th Anniversary Get Giving: Underwearness

As part of its 10th Anniversary celebration, GFM has identified four charities to which staff teams will be dedicating time and effort, as well as donating $2,500 to help the cause. In this video meet Koree Kongphand-Buckman, founder of Underwearness. GFM will be supporting Underwearness in the coming months by helping to fulfill and deliver orders around the Denver metro area, as well as raising awareness for Underwearness through some local media outreach. You can learn more about Underwearness at www.underwearness.org.

GFM is 10!

Celebrating 10 years of what matters most ~ our people.

The cupcakes have been delivered. The custom beer has been brewed. A proclamation has arrived from Mayor Hancock declaring Aug. 26, 2011, as GroundFloor Media Day, and Governor Hickenlooper has sent us a congratulatory letter. The team is busy posting videos of our clients singing “Happy Birthday” on YouTube, and there are (unfortunately) pictures of each one of our team members appearing on Facebook from when we were all 10 years old. Although we may be most thankful for the fact that our hairstyles and wardrobes have seen a marked improvement since the 60s, 70s and 80s, what I believe we are truly thankful for is the fact that we actually have a reason to celebrate tonight.

When I started the company a decade ago in my unfinished basement in Boulder, it was truly out of desperation (I had recently moved to Colorado, bought a house, was weeks from getting married and was without a job due to the recent dot-com bust) and a desire to be the type of company that others were not. I realize it doesn’t sound like a well thought out business plan, and trust me, it wasn’t. My business “plan” was outlined on the back of a napkin at a bagel shop in Boulder. It contained three critical points: 1) I wanted to work with people that I truly enjoyed being around; 2) I wanted to offer a flexible, blended work environment; and 3) I wanted to be able to make enough money to give back to the community. Do you thinkHarvard Business Review called? Not so much. Regardless of my lack of planning, I feel proud of the fact that 10 years later, we have not waivered on any of these principles.

I was once told that people start their own business so they can lead a balanced life. I would like to run into this person again so I could gently tell him that there is no such thing as a balanced life. Your life and work will be intertwined, and there will be no distinct line between the two. There is only one thing to do – make every second of every day count. We tend to call it a blended life around here. Last night I answered an urgent call from a client while my husband pushed our toddler in a stroller, I carried our infant in a Baby Bjorn and we juggled holding the leash so our giant Bernese Mountain Dog could go for a walk before it rained. As I hung up (thankful that we managed to make it through the conversation without any screaming or temper tantrums), I was reminded of how fortunate I am to be a part of a culture that embraces (and even celebrates) this insane lifestyle we all lead.

Someone recently asked me which accomplishment I was most proud of during the past 10 years at GroundFloor Media. It wasn’t the awards, financial stability or the innovations we have helped forge in the industry. It was – quite simply – the colleagues, clients and partners we surround ourselves with each and every day.

For each one of you, I am truly grateful.

~ Laura Love-Aden