Our Mission
Colorado Rising For Communities is powering a grassroots movement to protect our health, safety, quality of life, and the future of our climate from the harms and impacts of oil and gas operations.
Who We Are
History
Colorado Rising for Communities is a statewide 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to protect Colorado’s health, safety, wildlife, environment, and the future of our climate from the impacts of oil & gas development.
The organization was founded in September, 2019, to focus on litigation, state agency rulemaking, administrative processes, and public education due to a growing public concern over a number of explosions, spills, leaks, and other catastrophic oil and gas accidents in Colorado.
Commitment to People
We honor diversity. Our board of directors and leadership team is 60% women and BIPOC-led with representation from Latinx, Chicano, Indigenous, African American, LGBTQ and non-binary genders. We are not only committed to increasing diversity, inclusion and representation within our organization at all levels, but within the climate movement as well.
colonialism is a current ongoing process
Land acknowledgement
We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future, and to all those who have stewarded the land, air, and water for generations.
We affirm that this acknowledgment expresses our commitment to protect the health, safety, quality of life, and future of vibrant Indigenous communities from the injustices of environmental racism along with the exploitation of their precious lands while upholding their sacred relation to our delicate environment.
Meet The Board
Dar-Lon Chang
Board President
Dar-Lon Chang transitioned from being a Ph.D. research engineer at ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company for 15 years to being the Director of New Product Development for GeoSolar Technologies, a start-up company focused on getting gas out of existing homes through retrofits with technologies used at the Geos neighborhood in Arvada, Colorado. Dar-Lon is a Geos resident and moved to the net-zero, all-electric neighborhood in 2019. He also advocates for whistleblower protections and a just transition for oil and gas workers to move into clean energy jobs.
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BRIAN KLOCKE
Board Member
Brian Klocke has advocated for economic, social, and environmental justice since the late 1980s as a student, freelance journalist, professor, workshop facilitator, academic writer and co-editor, non-profit director and manager, board member, and citizen. He has lived in Colorado for 16 years and earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of Colorado. Brian is also a skilled nature photographer. He has exhibited his photos in galleries in Vermont and Colorado. He is passionate about doing more to collaboratively increase environmental sustainability and mitigation of the climate crisis, from the individual to the global levels.
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BRIDGET WALSH
Board Member
Bridget attended the University of Nevada, Reno, and studied at university in Grenoble, France. She began her professional career in DC performing research for the National Welfare Rights Organization, the Legal Services Corporation and the National Paralegal Institute. In 1976, Bridget moved to Denver where she served as the Nursing Home Ombudsman before obtaining a real estate license in 1979. Since then, she has worked on campaigns to rid the Denver Zoo of a planned waste-to-energy incinerator, served on the Vasquez Bl./I-70 Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) for five years, and fought to stave off the destruction of the historic City Park Golf Course as a member of the Registered Neighborhood Organization - City Park Friends and Neighbors.
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Ed Behan
Board Member
Ed Behan retired to Fort Collins with his wife, Pam, in 2016, after living in Boulder County from the 1980s - 1990s. Having left behind the oil patch of Texas and Louisiana, he was shocked to find it had moved into the Front Range region with a vengeance. Ed has worked with various environmental advocacy groups and is currently a media liaison for the Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety, and the Environment. He is proud of the work his team has done advocating for better regulation of the oil and gas industry, and for improved air quality monitoring and enforcement. Ed has done too many jobs of one sort or another to describe a “career” in any traditional sense. In his off hours, he enjoys hiking, camping, travel, and distracting himself with mystery books and shows.
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SHONNIE FISHER
Board Member
Shonnie is the Urban Resilience Training Manager at Groundwork Denver where she leads programs that connect young adults to careers in climate resilience, environmental stewardship and community leadership. Through workforce development, mentorship and strong community partnerships, she helps emerging leaders, especially those from historically underrepresented communities, build pathways into green careers. She brings to Colorado Rising a deep commitment to environmental justice, youth leadership and building equitable systems that put community voices at the center of climate action.
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Dar-Lon Chang
Board Member
Dar-Lon Chang transitioned from being a Ph.D. research engineer at ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company for 15 years to being the Director of New Product Development for GeoSolar Technologies, a start-up company focused on getting gas out of existing homes through retrofits with technologies used at the Geos neighborhood in Arvada, Colorado. Dar-Lon is a Geos resident and moved to the net-zero, all-electric neighborhood in 2019. He also advocates for whistleblower protections and a just transition for oil and gas workers to move into clean energy jobs.
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