At MANAUS, we gave ourselves the freedom to make any initiative our key initiative, as long as it has the potential to strengthen the community. Our guiding principle of human-centered design allowed us to execute across a wide range of topics, fields, and partnerships.
By our thinking, investment success at the local level is also success on a global level. Every community is in some way intertwined with the rest so when you embolden even one group you are accelerating progress everywhere. This is how we thought of our investment dollars: As fuel for change across the globe.
Our Projects:
The Third Street Center
The Third Street Center is an invaluable multi-tenant, mixed-use facility that models sustainability in its design and practice. The Center continues to be a critical professional and cultural hub, housing nonprofits, artists and the community alike since its launch in 2010. It is now home to 42 tenants: nonprofits, artists, and small businesses.
Valley Settlement
Valley Settlement was a multi-year MANAUS project and was successfully launched as an independent nonprofit in 2016. Today it is a vibrant, self-sustaining non-profit of national recognition. Valley Settlement works with immigrant families in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys to promote early childhood development, advance opportunity and reduce barriers to accessing vital community resources.
Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation
MANAUS’ most recent project, the Roaring Fork Community Development Corporation’s mission is to preserve and create vibrant, diverse and livable communities in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys. The RFCDC preserved a mobile home community in the region and is working with the residents to transition ownership.
Mountain Voices Project
MANAUS launched Mountain Voices Project in 2019; it is an independent, membership-funded organization of local institutions, nonprofits and neighborhood organizations who share a concern for families, a tradition of faith and passion for democracy. Mountain Voices Project builds civic leaders in the community and helps to hold our public systems accountable.
The Savings Collaborative
MANAUS piloted a digital-financial literacy and savings platform for nearly 5 years and today, The Savings Collaborative is an independent nonprofit. Designed to be bi-cultural and bi-lingual, The Saving Collaborative suports community members by providing a safe place to save money, build a habit of savings, and in the event of an emergency, access loans at reasonable rates.
CECE Coalition
Housed within MANAUS since 2017, the Confluence Early Childhood Education (CECE) Coalition project is composed of community leaders who work to ensure that all families in our community have equitable and affordable access to the programs that prepare children for kindergarten. The CECE Coalition transitioned to the Aspen Community Foundation in the summer of 2024 to continue its collaborative work.
Equity Action Project
The Equity Action Project (EAP) began in 2021 with the goal of creating a regional community of organizations and individuals that work to dismantle oppressive systems with the support of anti-racism facilitation experts and community-wide partnerships.
Community Schools Initiative
A community organizing initiative with the Roaring Fork School District and Two Rivers Community Charter School. Both schools are implementing strategies to demonstrate the power and potential of the community school model in a rural setting.
Housing Innovation Project
MANAUS partnered with GRID Impact, an international social-impact organization, to conduct a human-centered design (HCD) approach to foster housing innovations in our region. The housing innovation project was launched in the fall of 2019.