Congratulations to the award winners at our recent 42nd Annual Conference!

Up until this year, Western Colorado Alliance has offered two awards each year at the Annual Conference:

The Rising Star Award is given to people who are new to our Alliance but who have made a significant contribution during the past year. This year, the award went to Adriane Moline and Juliá Peréz-Chavéz. Adriane first became involved with the Alliance through some of our local foods efforts, but has quickly become an integral member and is currently our Board’s Acting Secretary. And Juliá has been extremely active, as part of our recent “Deep Listening” campaign, and in working with Western Colorado Alliance of Mesa County. As part of their awards, both Adriane and Juliá will receive $200 toward any personal development education they choose.

Meanwhile, our other award, the Worley Award, was established in 1999 and named after Alliance founders and celebrated activists Chuck and Betsy Worley. The Worley Award is given to an Alliance member who has, over the course of their career, significantly contributed to making Western Colorado communities more healthy, just, and self-reliant. This year, the Worley Award went to Robyn Cascade, who has actively worked on the Alliance’s Local Food and Agricultural Committee and the Alliance’s Public Lands Committee, participating in policy analysis, legislative actions, providing comment and testimony, attending coalition retreats, and leading hikes for the GMUG Forest Plan and the CORE Act. Beyond her work with our Alliance, Robyn has also participated in WORC’s Regional Food and Agriculture Team and is currently a member of the WORC Equity and Learning Community, dedicating herself to self-growth and understanding of these values while also putting these values into practice for our campaign work. Robyn has worked to build personal and professional relationships with Ute Tribal members and actively seeks their input and council on public lands initiatives. She has also represented our organization at the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Assembly where she has helped vote and shape statewide policy with our coalition partners.

We salute Robyn, Adriane, and Juliá for the commitment, positivity, intelligence, and fortitude. Thank you to these great new and old friends!

There was one more bit of award news at this year’s Annual Conference:

Starting at next year’s Annual Conference, our Alliance will offer a new award, the Rawlins Award, for members who have shown “determination and grit and fearlessness in speaking truth to power.” We associate this trait with Peggy Rawlins, our long-time Board member and fearless defender of healthy, just, and self-reliant Western Colorado communities. For that reason, the award is named after her, and we were thrilled that she was able to join us via Zoom during the announcement of the new award on August 20!