Updated March 16, 2023

The Denver Streets Partnership (DSP) is a coalition of community organizations advocating for people-friendly streets in Denver.

Our Vision

We envision an equitable and vibrant Denver where human dignity is the guiding principle for our transportation system and communities, with living, public spaces that allow everyone to thrive and connect to what matters most to them.

Our Mission

We advocate for the cultural and systemic changes necessary to reduce our city’s unsustainable dependence on cars and to design communities that put people first.

Our Values

• Joy: We seek to share the joy, autonomy, and sense of belonging that comes from communal space and moving freely and safely through our community.
• Common Good: Our work focuses on the wealth of assets we all share—including our streets and public spaces—and ensuring that everyone has access to and can benefit from this shared commons.
• Imagination: We look beyond what we see on our streets and in our public spaces today, envision what’s possible tomorrow, and optimistically engage in creative problem solving to realize that future.
• Courage: We forthrightly state a bold vision, challenge the status quo, ask for what’s needed, take risks, and learn from our mistakes.
• Authentic Relationships: We invest our time and resources generously in developing long-term relationships that honor the wholeness of the people, communities, and allied organizations that we work with. We collaborate closely with our partners to understand issues, create shared goals, and take actions that increase our collective impact.
• Inclusiveness: We put people at the heart of everything we do, and strive to amplify the voices of people and communities that have been historically marginalized and disproportionately negatively impacted, such as communities of color and low-income communities.
• Health and Environment: We seek to raise awareness of the connections between the built environment and personal, public, and environmental health and to improve outcomes in each of these areas.

Our Commitment to Equity

Our commitment to equity informs our work in three primary ways:

• Systems Approach: We believe that access to reliable, affordable, and safe transportation options is essential for addressing systemic disparities in health outcomes, criminal justice, and access to housing, education, employment, and recreation. We recognize that many decades of transportation policies and practices have perpetuated a complex web of inequities including racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and ableism. Our work aims to dismantle this systemic racism and oppression.
• Representation: We continually strive to ensure that DSP staff, coalition members, and supporters reflect the makeup and concerns of the city. DSP actively cultivates partners from a variety of neighborhoods and communities with different lived experiences who can fill gaps in our collective perspective.
• Distribution of Power and Resources: We seek to use our position as a leading advocacy organization to amplify the voices from communities that have traditionally been excluded from decision-making. We work to ensure these historically marginalized communities have the resources and support they need to move their own ideas and solutions forward in culturally relevant ways. The responsibility is on us to earn the trust of our community partners and to co-contribute to the work that needs to be done.

Priorities (what we’re working toward)

• Policies and funding that increase access to walking, biking, rolling, and transit
• No policies that reinforce dependency on driving
• Quality, people-oriented streets and public spaces that reflect the culture and support the vitality of the communities that use them
• Majority of trips made by modes other than driving
• Zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries

The work of DSP focuses primarily on the City and County of Denver, however we strategically engage with decision-makers and planning processes at the regional, state, and federal levels, as it relates to our policy priorities. We strategically build relationships with allied organizations and individuals within the larger Denver metro area, using the regional High Injury Network, equity, and other considerations such as transportation connectivity across municipal boundaries and opportunities for transit-oriented development as a guide.

Strategies (how we’re going to get there)

We will achieve our vision and make progress toward our priorities through:

• Policy Advocacy: We lead a coalition of community-based organizations who work together to research, develop, and carry out campaigns to win policy and funding in our priority areas. We track implementation of policy and funding to ensure intended outcomes.
• Organizing: We engage, train, and support community members to build momentum for our shared priorities.
• Community-Led Initiatives: We help residents to assess transportation challenges and opportunities in their own neighborhoods, work in teams to identify solutions, and plan and implement neighborhood projects.
• Spark Imagination and Joy: We work with community members to demonstrate possibilities for our streets and public spaces to evolve and meet the needs of the community through events, projects, and temporary installations.
• Research and Analysis: We conduct original research and learn from that of others to develop and maintain a clear understanding of the primary causes of traffic crashes in Denver, the barriers that prevent people from walking, biking, and taking transit, and the factors that reinforce car dependency.
• Communication: We elevate stories of community members and leaders and develop clear messaging to affect systems and culture change.