After 40 years, our eyes are still on the road ahead - Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action

As 2020 draws to a close, our Alliance is reflecting not only on a historic year, but 40 years of grassroots organizing across Western Colorado. And looking back, we have such deep appreciation for the road we have traveled together.

It all started one sunny day in a farm house outside of Montrose with a group of everyday folks who knew together they could accomplish more than they could as individuals. In the face of imminent threats to our Western Slope communities — coal mining, clear cutting, and oil shale to name a few—we organized to create a united voice for Western Coloradans who believed in a different future for our region.

Thus Western Colorado Alliance was born — an organization dedicated to community organizing and working with local people to build power over the decisions that impact our lives. Over the ensuing decades, we have won many precedent-setting victories for ranchers, workers, consumers, and this beautiful place we call home.

In 2020 alone, we:

Won comprehensive oil and gas reforms, rewriting hundreds of rules to put public health and safety above industry profits. New protections include 2,000 foot setbacks of oil and gas facilities away from homes and people, legal standing for property owners, and more (see Historic wins for public health & safety!).
Registered hundreds of Western Slope students to vote, helping achieve record turnout of youth voters in Colorado in both the primary and general election. In Western Colorado, 63% of eligible 18-34 year olds voted in this election.
Organized rural electric co-op members across the region to move Tri-State Generation and Transmission away from coal power to more clean and renewable energy sources. Tri-State has now pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 80% by 2030.
Passed the RECLAIM Act out of the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill which would invest $45 million back in Colorado coal communities, ensuring workers and communities are not left behind as rural economies move away from fossil fuel-based economies.
Worked with FarmAid and other regional partners to dispense thousands of dollars of emergency COVID relief aid to farmers and farmworkers across the Western Slope.
And so much more, both this year and in years past.

Our victories over the decades are possible only because of members like you. Your time, knowledge, skills, heart, and, yes, monetary support has kept our Alliance strong. Now, as we are setting the stage for the next 40 years of grassroots organizing in Western Colorado, please consider an end of year gift so we can keep it up into the future.

Regardless of the issue, we will always be committed to working with local people for that better future our founders envisioned 40 years ago. We are going to keep up the work knowing that right now, today, we can build a future where engaged local voices are leading communities across Western Colorado.

Thank you for all you do. Onward!

Please consider giving an end-of-year gift to Western Colorado Alliance!

About the author

Emily Hornback

Emily stepped up as our staff director in 2017, but originally joined our team as a community organizer in 2013. Born and raised on the Western Slope, Emily graduated from Colorado State University and then had the privilege of learning from and working alongside organizers in Central and South America as well as Appalachian coal country. They returned to their home state to protect the land they love and work with fellow Coloradans for a healthy, just and self-reliant future for our rural communities. Emily enjoys organizing, exploring the Colorado Plateau, country music and punk concerts with equal passion.