If you are an individual Coloradan or a social mission organization that believes that change is needed in our state laws, then this event is for you.

Kathy White, Deputy Director for the Colorado Fiscal Institute, has been working successfully for years to drive change through new laws such as HB20-1420 which increased tax credits for low-income families. In the December 2020 session, Mark Newhouse, founder of the Left Behind Workers Fund, advocated successfully for the passing of state legislation that would provide direct cash aid to workers without documentation for the first time in history.

More recently, Kathy and Mark have been working together on legislation to address the inequity resulting from the fact that workers without documentation who contribute dollars to the unemployment insurance pool are nevertheless excluded from receiving unemployment insurance benefits.

Join Kathy and Mark as they discuss their experience working with our State legislative system in achieving these goals and also their insight into how others can succeed in future efforts at advocacy.

Event Format

This will be a virtual event with a brief presentation and opportunity for audience Q&A / discussion.

Meet the Speakers

Kathy White

Kathy White is a proud lifelong Coloradan who has spent a lifetime fishing, camping, hiking, skiing, and exploring every part of her beloved home state. Kathy brings nearly 20 years experience in nonprofit administration, operations and fundraising to CFI, and is a veteran advocate for policies that enhance economic prosperity for working families.

For more than a decade before helping to found CFI as a standalone nonprofit in 2012, Kathy served as the director of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, where she worked on issues ranging from tax credits for low-income families to immigration reform. Prior to that, Kathy worked in policy research and compliance for a national health insurance company.

Mark Newhouse

Mark has built his highly successful career delivering breakthrough products and businesses that have generated more than $2 billion in revenue in the telecommunications, consumer electronics, and cleantech markets. Mark came to Denver from Shanghai where he was a senior vice president of Corning Incorporated. In 2017 he was named a General Partner of the Innosphere Fund. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of SWIR Visions Systems, Epic River, and Boulder AI.

Mark has also invested much of his time in exploring new models of philanthropy. He was an investor in NPX’s first private-pay-for-success transaction and has helped NPX bring this new model of philanthropy to Colorado in the form of NPX’s Colorado Donor Impact Fund. At the onset of the pandemic, Mark co-founded the Left Behind Workers Fund (LBWF), which is providing assistance to recently unemployed workers without documentation.

Registrations are closed

How to Influence State-level Policy through Advocacy & Community Engagement