Tonight on studio 12, we're taking you inside.

I Bottas big move to the 16t Street Mall in downtown Denver.

We're also breaking down Colorado's housing market with insight from our Colorado Inside Out panel.

Plus, we're celebrating broadcast legend Mark Kaunda and his induction into the Colorado Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

And we hear from Zella Kelse from Access Mode on how to keep our entrepreneurial ecosystem moving forward.

All of tha and more right here on studio 12 from the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Hi, I'm bossy Kainani, and I'm Ryan here.

Welcome to studio 12.

Across the country, companies are still wrestling with the future of work.

Should employees be at the home, in the office or some mix of both?

Here in Colorado, a Denver based tech company has made a deliberate choice about that one they say is strengthening their culture and downtown.

PBS Twelve's Frannie Matthews takes us inside.

I bought his new approach and why they're investing in collaboration, connection and the city's core.

Brian thank you for joining us today.

I am at a modest headquarters in downtown Denver with Brian Leach, the CEO.

Tell us about Ibotta I bought it was born right here in Denver about 13 years ago.

We started out at 18 and Blake and the basement of an old fire station, and we were a direct to consumer cash back app.

So you downloaded a mobile app, you bought things in the grocery store.

You took a picture of your receipt with your app or your phone, and we gave you cash back reward directly on to a PayPal account.

Talk to me about this commitment that you have made to downtow Denver with this office space.

You know, I bought has always been very proud to be a Denver company from the very earliest days when I would fundraise and people would say, why aren't you in California?

Why are you in Boulder?

I would explain to them that I'd rather be in Denver than in either of those places, because it's actually a fantastic place to find talent to build a business, a community that's really inclusive and supportive of each other.

And so when we began, not only were we located in LoDo, but we also made sure that everybody knew we were a Denver company for the first several years when you loaded our mobile app and said, designed and built in Denver, Colorado with the little mountains on it.

I think the thing that you have to think about when you are making a decision, like the one we did to invest in in a place like this for our employees, when certainly a lot of businesses are making the choice to go fully remote, save on, the overhead of rental expenses, you have to think abou who you are as an organization and what, what are what are the things that are most important about your culture?

And so sense of place has always been really important to Ibotta, and we've always been a compan that highly values the idea of bringing people together to collaborate in person.

We're on the 16th Street Mall, which Denver just completely renovated.

And, you know, it's it's vibrant, right.

And we want to be not only part of that ourselves, but we want to lead a movement back into downtown Denver and lower downtown Denver, amongst all the other tech companies that are deciding, well, should we be an office, should we be downtown should we be in the tech center?

We want them to come to the the urban core of Denver and be part of a critical mass of innovation.

Tell me a little bit about your thought process on creating the space for your teams.

Yeah we always want to create a place where we can convert the highest percentage of our teams good ideas into reality.

So one of our values as a company is a good idea can come from anywhere.

And what we first do is create a sense of shared context.

So we want you to understand what our mission is.

Make every purchase rewarding.

We want you to understand what our strategy is, what our metrics are.

And then once you understand that, we want you to boldly suggest ideas, and know that we'll run with the best ideas, even if they're not my ideas.

And very often they're not my ideas.

As the founder, we want to create a space where you can tease out those ideas and where we can teach you how to present that as a business case.

And the more unconventional, the better, because if it's a conventiona idea, it's already being done.

If it's unconventional we want to teach you to look for the merit in those possible breakthrough ideas and not, just sort of scuttle the right at the outset by saying, oh, that's already been trie or that will never work, because so we create spaces that are designed to be those collaboration zones so that people can whiteboard idea or they can riff back and forth.

And we want that to be a place where they can spark off of each other.

There's a term, called accidental collaboration.

Have you seen some accidental collaboratio in the in the environment here?

Yeah.

I think a funn story is actually, we were just in our little huddle space and chatting about, you know, what's the next big thing that we can d for Thanksgiving, for example?

And it turned into, like, an impromptu brainstorm where we just started thinking of new, you know, messaging and creative approaches, and we actually kind of joked around and threw it on the calendar retroactively and said, oh, that was a brainstorm when it was really just us talking, next to our desk.

I think when we ar in those collaboration moments in, in person, it's allowed me to think more strategically about marketin and working more in that space and push me to think a little bit differently.

So now I think that's kind o developed where I want to be and how I want to grow my career.

And it's through thos conversations and opportunities that have allowed me to think more strategically.

We are increasing our space by 20% in a time that a lot of a lot of companies are kind of going in the opposite direction.

And part of that was to say, we want to create a space where people are going to come together.

We want to create a space for both our folks here who are hybrid, who work in the office three days a week, can have remote interactions that are productive and, creative and inspiring wit their fully remote colleagues.

And we want a place for our fully remote colleagues want to come into the office.

So whether that's, you know, they come in occasionally, because they live within commuting distance or whether that's because they fly in and spend a week here working with their peers, we wanted it to be an exciting place that drew them kind of into the center and the hub of who we are as an organization.

How have you taken the space and also, kind of elevated your mentoring, structure and programs at a border.

So my background is in organizational, improvement and learning and development.

So mentorship i really important to me as well.

And so I think there's tw things from the physical space, it was really important that we create spaces where people feel comfortable having conversations.

And I think that's at the cor of what good mentorship is, is you have to be in a in a relationship where you trust the person, and the physical space can aid in that.

So a lot of what we've built here is, of course, formal conference rooms, boardrooms, you know, places where you can take private phone calls.

But it was equally important that we create what we call breakaway spaces, kind of soft seating corners where you can kind of be more casual, almost, you know, recreating a coffee shop feel, where you might go and have that conversation with that mentor about whatever that deep problem is that you're working on or whatever that wisdom is that you're kind of looking to impart in that next generation of leaders who you might be mentoring.

So, it's reflected in our space.

And then as an organization we invest heavily in mentorship.

So we have, mentorship program that we run.

We have, different employee resource groups who are engaged in mentoring.

And, you know, one of the things that we really did when we designed the space was go to our employees and kind of ask them what what are they hoping to get out of it?

And so we hope that, you know, bringing people in, whether it's long term mentoring, relationships, people that they've been mentoring with for a while or, you know, just just the opportunity to run into somebody at our at our water cooler, which we now actually have that people.

I see people there.

But for the last three mornings, I've seen people there every mornin kind of filling up and talking.

And, it reminds me that that's that engagement, that interaction, that person to person communication is really healthy.

I think from a mental health standpoint, you want to feel connected to your team and to the mission of what you're doing.

And so if you're just a bo on a screen with your colleagues and they're just a box on the screen, your investment in them as a person, as a friend as a mentor is just different.

Doesn't mean it's not valuable.

But over the long run, we believe strongly that getting people together physically is critical to creating a a culture that cares about each other.

And there are different forms of mentorship that can't happen online.

So one of the things that happens a lot with young people in their career is they they kind of are working on something and they're not sure they're doing it right, and they kind of swivel around their chair and they say to their colleague or mentor, could you come look at this?

Am I thinking about this the right way?

Some people call this the is there anything in my teeth for a mentorship?

Right?

Like could you just quickly give me a gut check on this?

You're not going to set up a zoom call just to walk through that because it occurred to you and you want to keep moving on your project.

I've read several studies that have said if you just have one friend at work, it it, changes your, point of view on your job and your job satisfaction.

Talk a little bit about wha it's doing for your team mates.

Mental health.

Yeah, I think maybe I've read a similar, a similar study.

And I do think it's it's really important.

I think, to think about the fact that as humans, we are social creatures, even even the most, you know, I'll use the term introverted of us, of which I actually count myself in that group.

You know, we still need that human connection.

And a lot of that can certainly be met through digital tools.

And so I think that that we bridged a lot of those gaps.

But there is real new no substitute for kind of the full human interactions.

Yeah, that that is a good point, because one of the things I love about being with people is that collaboration, the magic that happens between humans that you can't recreate on a virtual call.

But the need for, being able to do deep work.

So that's kind of interesting to be able to do it here.

Some are there some architectural and space things that you did specifically for that purpose?

Yeah.

So I the most important thin that we did and that, our design company worked with us on is really making sur that we have soundproof spaces.

So we have a couple of different ways, that we're controlling the sound.

One is just through, enhance doors and walls and, and making sure that there are the physical barriers that hold sound in, the other piece is, just creating enough space for people to kind of hop into a phone booth and close the door and sort of shut out the world, behind them so that they can do that deep work.

I can see all over the integration of technology to actually help humans collaborate.

Can you talk to me a little bit about what you've done with technology to help that collaboration?

Yeah.

So we really tried to take a look at the old offic and coming into the new office here at 16 market and say, what works and what do people actually need when they're integrating with tech?

And so the, the biggest pain point that we always want to tr to solve for is the ease of use.

Every single use wants the technology to be able to not be a barrier to their workspace, but to actually, propel them forward.

And so we really looked at how can we integrate our technologies in a way that empowers the user to be functional faster?

So we really looked for ways that the conference rooms would be, something as simple as the schedulers on the outside of every conference room.

So at a quick glance, you can see, hey, this room is availabl or somebody is working in there, you don't have to press your face against the glass to go, oh, I probably shouldn't walk out of that conference room.

Yeah Look, people work differently.

And so some people need to block out time even while they're in the office where they don't have meetings.

And you can do the deep work here from your office.

Some people need quiet spaces in the office where they're not going to be constantly interrupted so they can write the code they need to write.

We need to respect that.

That needs to exis within the office environment.

And some people want to have a day where they can get caught up on everything for 3 or 4 hours on a Friday afternoon and not have to be pulled into meetings.

And so should we have a moratorium on meetings in the summe after a certain period of time?

There's a lot of different creative ways to think about accommodating how folks want to work.

I have one more question on the idea of coming back to the office that every leader I hear talk about, which is, there is a push back in many organizations because, teammates might feel like it's a, it's a control thing rather than a collaboration thing.

How do you work that into your cultur so people don't feel like it's, I gotta do this as I get to do it?

I mean, I think if we told people before the pandemic we were going to give you the opportunity to to stay at home geographically, you know, for a significant portion of the week, they, they think we are the most progressive, controlling organization of all time.

Now the norms shift and they're shifting back.

And so what control is, is relative to what your expectations are when you take a job.

We're very clear with people.

This is how we wor before they sign up to work here and there or signing on to to that way of collaborating.

And I thin you get the best of both worlds.

And I think the kinds of people that want to come work here can't wait to get into the office and collaborate.

They don't view that as a negative or they wouldn't sign up to work here.

There are plenty of fully remote companies out there you can choose to work for.

We're not one of them.

We've always focused o how do we reduce the friction, how do we make the space easy to use?

And then how do we make the moments meaningful so that people who are here are doing things that they couldn't be doing if they were working from home and they were in a remote environment?

We have this lovely collaborative process where we ask employees to nominate, famous people, who embody our values, and they have to tell us why they embody the values.

And then we go through a process of review.

And so you'll find a lot of ou conference rooms are named for, yoga coach, which is the room that, that we're in.

And then we also have a conference room named for, our training room is named for Ernest Shackleton and our, our we have a several conference rooms tha are named for poets and artists.

And we really feel that the naming process is something that reflects who we are and also reflects who we aspire to be.

And they are the folks that if they were, if they were working for us in Hobart, we would know what values they represent personally.

What's your favorite?

My favorite is we named a room after, Fred Rogers.

And so that was that was on that I was very, excited to see.

And up on the list, I did not nominate, Mister Rogers, bu we were excited to have a room, that we were able to name for him.

Brian thank you so much for spending time with us just today.

And, this is a beautiful space, and I, look forward to coming back.

Thanks for having me.

I bought a story.

Is part of Denver Story.

It's a company choosing to grow in the heart of the city, investing in people and designing spaces that bring ideas to life.

And it's a reminder that the future of work isn' just about where we do our jobs, but how we stay connected while doing that.

Colorado Gives Day isn't just a one day event, so you can start giving right now all the way through December 9th.

Colorado Gives Day helps support thousands of nonprofits that are doing meaningful work all over our state every single day.

This year we sat down with Kelly Duncan, the CEO of the Community First Foundation.

That's the organization behind Colorado Gives Day.

She tells us how this statewide movement continues to grow and why community giving matters now more than ever.

Here's more with Kelly.

I imagine anybody who's in Colorado for any length of time knows what Colorado gives day is.

But why don't you go ahead and let's just for anybody who's uninitiated, what is Colorado gives day?

Well it's the best day of the year.

So Colorado gives day.

This year is December 9th, bu giving starts on November 1st.

And what it is is a statewide movement where donors throughout the state come together to show their support to nonprofits by making donations through the website Colorado Gives Day Dawg this unique to Colorado.

It actually is not.

But I will brag that Colorad Gives Day is one of the largest giving days in the country, but there's about 100 other giving days throughout the country.

We're coming up on our 16th year, which I cannot believ we're 16 years old with Colorado Goods Day.

And the way it started in 2010 is two things sort of came to pass when peopl were starting to do more online.

E-commerce was growing.

I think Cyber Monday finally reache $1 billion in sales that year, and a report came out that showed that Colorado was 30th in terms of state and philanthropic or charitable giving.

So we ranked 30th.

That's not very good.

And so first Bank and Colorado gives foundation though we could do something about it.

And could we create this day that allowed us to boost charitable giving throughout the state.

So we no longer ranked 30th.

And it worked.

So we're in our 16th year.

We've seen Coloradans donate every single year.

Last year alone, it was $54.8 million.

And now we're ranked sixth in the nation in terms of generosity.

Well, that's that's fantastic.

And congratulations that saying congratulations there.

But in Colorad to do exactly that.

You did it.

How many nonprofit are considered in this program.

How many people are participating.

So nonprofits can use Colorado gives.org for free so they can sign up to get on the website.

And they just need they just need to have a couple of things in place.

One, they need to hav their designation from the IRS.

It says they're a bona fide charitable organization.

That they have that.

And if they're in good standing with the Secretary of State, they can participate on the website.

And be part of Colorado Gift state.

And then for donors, we take donations starting at $5 up t however much they want to give.

And donors can go to the site and pick as many nonprofits as they want to support.

And it's just like shoppin online.

So you pick a nonprofit, you decide how much you want to give.

You pick another nonprofit, decide how much you want to give, and you put them all into your cart and you check out in one easy transaction.

So basically it's like online shopping for giving.

Yes.

And you can search.

A lot of donors come in, they know exactly who they want to give to.

But some donors come and think, I'm not really sure who I wan to give to.

I care about kids.

So maybe you can search by kids.

And I really want to give in my community, you can search by zip code.

So there's all kinds of ways to search on the site to find the nonprofits you care about.

And one of the things I reall appreciate, what you just shared was this idea of that these are nonprofits been vetted.

I think there's a hesitancy by so many people.

There's so many places that that need money and need support.

And sometimes it's a little hard to tell.

And I think it sounds like that whole process has been sort of figured out and simplified for people.

Is that correct?

Absolutely.

We like to give donors some assurance that they're giving to bona fide charitable organizations, and they're not going to be scammed.

So they know if they come to Colorado kids.org.

We vetted the nonprofits and they are in fact, nonprofit organizations, and they can get a tax deduction allowable by law for their donation.

So we take that piece tha we provide that peace of mind.

I want to go back to something you just said a minute ago about, like, you know, you talking about donations can start as low as $5.

And I think that's important because we talk about like, what does it mean to be a philanthropist?

And I think that a lot of times we think about philanthropists as being these folks who have just giant piles of money or trying to give away, but that's not really true.

No.

And in general, philanthropy means love of mankind.

So anyone can demonstrate that by donating online.

And what I love to say is if I donate, I get a boost.

So it actually feels good to donate.

I get a dopamine rush, but the best thing about that is I get that boost, that well-being.

But it spreads to the people immediately around me.

So it really is the best day of the year in terms of boosting that feeling of well-being and sharing it with the people you love.

What are you hearing for th nonprofit community this year?

I know for us, a PBS, an interesting year.

A lot of our models change this year.

A lot of the things that used to be funding we counted on is gone.

And I think that I thin that's true for a lot of groups.

So what are you hearing from different nonprofits around the state in terms of need?

Yeah, it's a tough year.

What we've been saying is the need is urgent, and the moment is now because we're seeing more and more nonprofits who have seen funding cut, whether it's been federal funding that's been cut to them or, just some uncertainty in the environment in terms of what they're going to get from the state.

We've seen state budgets sort of consolidate, and there hasn't been as much money from either state or federal funds to support nonprofits.

So we are seeing nonprofits really worried.

But the good news is we're also seeing giving continue to increase vi Colorado get soared year round.

So we're really hopefu that this Colorado gives state donors will continue to step up and support the nonprofit that keep our communities going.

Let' go ahead and recap from the top.

Anybody who wants to give the start with dates, places and methods of giving take it away.

Yeah.

Okay.

Dates.

You can start November 1st through December 9th.

That is the time period to count towards Colorado Goods Day.

You can look on the site.

There's almost 5009 prophet who are participating in this year's Colorado Give day.

You can use this site.

We take various methods of payment.

You can do Apple Pay.

You can do Google Pay.

You can do a credit card.

You can do a direct, wire fro your bank account if you want.

And if you happen to be an older adult who has an IRA, an individual retirement account, and you have what's called a QCD or a qualified charitable distribution.

So what happens is if you have an IRA at a certain age, you have to take money out every year.

If you don't need that money and you don't want to be taxed on it, you can donate it to charities.

And al that is clear in Colorado gives it is so clear, so you literally as you're checking out, you put all those donations into your cart.

Just like most websites where you're shopping, you get to choose how you want to pay.

Same thing.

You click that little drop down arrow and you choose how it is that you want to pay for those donations.

And then you get one receipt.

So one tax receipt with everyone you gave to.

And most importantly, you're joining all these other Coloradans in really making something special happen that day.

Well, sincerely, from all of us in the nonprofit world.

Thank you.

And you can count on my support.

And, you know, I imagine a lot of our viewers as well.

Well, thank you very much It's easily the best day to get.

Again, you can explore Colorado's nonprofits or donate any time at Colorado gardens.org.

A recent report found home sales in Denver are now slower than in most major U.S.

cities.

And it's not just a Denver problem.

Homes are sitting on the market longer across the state, adding to the challenges, fewer potential buyers are choosing to jump in and buy.

Right now.

It's something our insider panel discussed on our most recent Colorado Inside Out.

Let's check in now with Kyle Dyer.

Hi Bosa and Ryan.

We talk about affordability all the time right.

And Ryan you know what it's lik out there in the housing market.

As a respected realtor along the front Range prices are overwhelming and some are having to wait longer to buy their first home.

Here's what our insiders have to say about this reality, and the latest idea being tossed around to possibly make homeownership more affordable.

A lot of the news this week als had to do with home ownership, including a report that says 40 is now the average age of a first time home buyer in this country.

And there is also local data to back that up that says millennials are not house hunting as often.

And this week, the presiden floated the notion of creating 50 year mortgages as a way to help people afford homes.

I mean, is it a way for people to afford homes, or is it a money grab for longer interest rates and higher interest rates for a longer period of time?

If you do the math, it's almost double interest that you're paying on a mortgage than you would in a 30 year mortgage.

So it's they're lookin at affordability the wrong way.

It's holistic.

We have to talk abou wages, meeting what people need.

We need to talk about the cost of health care, the cost of childcare.

It's, it's not one issue.

It's all of these issues.

And as long as corporations ar not paying what people deserve, the people who are working and also on Snap benefits, I mean, there's never going to be the right answer nobody will be able to afford.

And also, does that mean that more lik local landlords will just buy up a bunch of properties and then rent them out because it can be an investment?

I mean, this is like a generational wealth.

It's just a bigger problem than a 50 year mortgage.

It's not going to solve anything.

It's going to line the pockets of investors, shareholders and banks.

And we have investors from out of stat already doing that exact metro.

Yeah.

Patty.

Yes.

Driving up the prices.

So the 50 year mortgage is not the solution to this.

The other thing we have to look at though, whenever you see these kinds of surveys, is we also have a different world right now.

And people in that generation are not out there to create the nuclear family.

You hav you have the birthrate dropping.

You have people not getting married as young.

So the demand is different.

A lot of people just like renting.

That doesn't mean they should have their prices be gouged.

Let me push back though, Patty, because is the reason why like this generation isn't that way.

Because it's so far out of reach, because of the the cost of childcare and health care and building a family.

Like, is it so far out of reach for them?

It's not even in their mind set anymore.

I think it's both.

And that's why if you want to talk about polling, that's really what we need to have is see what are people talking about?

Is it, you know, they're the people who say, I don't want to bring childre into how uncertain the world is.

It's not money.

It's just looking at the international situation that's fair.

For us well it' interesting there's a HUD report that came out recentl that says that the current way that affordable housing is being handled right now is actually dissolving the nuclear family and, and leading to peopl leaving and living single lives.

But you know I want to push back on the 50 year mortgage with you.

I' not necessarily in favor of it.

I'm not necessarily against it.

I'm not quite sure.

And here's why.

Lower monthly payment with a 50 year mortgage.

More affordability for people you know that haven't gained some wealth in life.

Yes, you are building less equity, but you are still building equity.

Does it make sense for somebody who's maybe 25 or 30 to be able to get into a home?

That is, if they could be approved for that 50 year mortgage at a higher rate, and then somewhere within five years, ten years or something like that.

Refinance.

Just a question.

I have now someone my age, perhaps the 50 year mortgage isn't great because I don't know if I could get that paid off in time.

I am in my second hom and I have a 30 year mortgage.

I would not see myself in a 50 year mortgage.

However, my plan for my 30 year mortgage is to eventually refinance and perhaps take on a 15 year mortgage.

So is it a foot in the door mechanism?

Maybe.

But there are also other implications.

But if it gets somebody in the door where they can't get in the door right now, maybe it's good.

I would love it for my kids to buy a home much younger than I was.

When I bought my first home, I was in my 50s.

Okay, so do some math.

Okay.

All right.

And Adam, you know, trying to clarify the housing market, which is a microcosm of larger market trends and issues, I think could be really confusing.

For anyone who's kind of looking at all this data.

So I tried to sort of solidify a few of the things that I think.

And our firm thinks this may kind of mean and what we're watching.

So the slower growth of the flat prices suggests the market may be stabilizing or correction, but not necessarily a rapid appreciation.

So something to watch is kind of will the market suddenly shift to what could be a a market trend that's based more on kind of the prices we've seen historically?

We know high mortgage rates continue to keep buyers sidelined.

So even if home prices are going down until rates go down, you'r probably not going to see people scrambling to jump into the market.

The longer term loans with the 50 year.

I think it's such new terrain that we don't really know yet what it means.

It could lower monthly payments, but then you'd also have the trade offs, right?

You have slower buildup of equity, you have more interest paid over time.

And then, of course, you have uncertainty.

How will regulators trea someone with a 50 year mortgage versus a 30 year versus a lower mortgage?

You also have changes coming from the Consumer Protection Financial Burea that could look at eligibility for who's able to get a mortgage, something that could also shift trends.

And then, of course, if the buyer demand remains weak and supply loosens, we may see a shift towards more seller concessions where people are coming to the table offering more incentives for home buyers.

These are trends we may see nationally.

They're also kind of looking more locally.

It is a wild time for this housing market, and I don't anticipate us getting a ton of clarity very quickly.

But it should be interesting.

The other thing is Dodd-Frank, which was passed i 2010, would have to be changed.

And so there would be a whole process of approval and talking it through and figuring out structure and all of that.

So that Dodd-Frank was set up in 2010 following the the housing crisis.

And so nothin is going to change anytime soon.

I think it'll slowly shift.

If you're out there looking for a home, I don't know.

I can't sa now's the greatest time to buy, but we don't know what the Fed's going to do.

Yeah.

With credit, I would love to see rates come down.

I would love to refinance agreements.

As you know, we have four topics every week on Colorado Inside Out.

That was just one of them.

To watch the entire show.

You can check out the PBS passport app or YouTube or listen to our podcast and of course, we're working on a show for this Friday night.

We'll see you Friday night at eight.

The Colorado Broadcaster Association is the state's main trade organization for radio and television stations here.

And tonight we're celebrating a new inductee into the CBA's Hall of Fame.

For more than four decades, Mark Carona helped shape the way our communities connect from leading TV stations across the state to supporting future generations of journalists during some of Colorado's most difficult moments after devastating wildfires and flash floods, Mark helped unite broadcasters statewide, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for relief.

He also played a key role in developing the CBA's Broadcast Education and Development Scholarship, which is now supporting the next generation of storytellers.

A respected leader known for integrity, collaboration and service, Mark leaves a lasting legacy o Colorado's broadcast landscape.

Take a look.

It's my pleasure to introduc our next Hall of Fame inductee, someone I've had the pleasure of both serving with as a director on the CBA board and later working with as the presiden and CEO of the Associate Nation.

When Colorado was ravage by wildfires and flash floods, he was the first to make sure the association had a path to unite Colorado's broadcasters for a statewide fundraiser, netting hundreds of thousands of dollars in relief for those who were affected.

And if memory serves right, I believe this gentleman was a key participant in the developmen of the CBA's Broadcast Education and Development Scholarship, which to date has distributed over a quarter of $1 million to Colorado's broadcasters.

He's a driving force in Colorado, broadcast and guiding innovation, growth and change.

He's a respected leader, known for his integrity and vision, leaving a lasting impact o Colorado's broadcast landscape.

Let's take a moment to learn more about tonight's Hall of Fame inductee, Mark Coronado.

I don't know anyone who's more passionate abou broadcasting than Mark Cornetto.

Mark demands excellence because as broadcasters, we have the unique opportunity, the unique responsibility to make our community better than it is today.

Mark cares deeply about people and on more than one occasion has quietly shown me the true definition of friendship and compassion and the way he is truly supported others in their hour of need.

So Mark, congratulations on achieving this honor and thank you for continuing to lead, to push, and most of all, to care.

I worked as Mark for more than 30 years and when I say this guy works all the time, it's true.

He is usually the first in and the last out each day.

I don't know how Mark has tim to be a movie buff, but he is.

And he clearly remembers critical lines from so many movies.

He uses these little quips to have fun at work and sometimes just break the tension.

So I'll close with congratulations, Mark.

It's about time.

And then something he says all the time.

Time for milk is.

One of the things I admire about Mark is his self-awareness.

He knows that we learn by listening.

Mark curated a platfor for dialog between media, brass, journalists and the community that is Colorado, a state longing to honor the dignity of its residents.

My name is Blair Nelson Marlin and I have had the pleasure of working directly for Mark Cornett, US, since 2018.

Mark is dedicated in every aspect of his life.

He would do anythin for journalism, our communities, his coworkers, his friends, and most importantly, his family.

Mark is a competitor.

He does not let up.

He expects excellence.

And that starts first with himself.

Cheer to you, Mark.

You deserve this.

I tell you, I'm.

I'm so humbled by this.

And emotional at the same time.

I couldn't believe when Justin called me.

I thought he wanted me to just buy a table.

I also think I'm probably in a third category.

All the gentlemen that preceded me have great hair.

I'm not an expert in this area, as you can tell.

But, maybe I'm in the bald category.

I want to, recognize all the honorees thi evening, and congratulate them.

I know many of them.

Certainly seeing the plaques with with some that are no longer with us.

It's it's an honor to be included in this group.

I'm truly humbled by it.

I want to thank, Dom Perez, Tim Diet and Tim Ryan for nominating me.

I, you know, from time to time you get these nominations, and I put, out a note, like, who can we nominate for this?

Who's really deserving?

Little did I know, they were working behind the scenes to do this.

When I arrived in Denver back in 1984, I was an account executive, thinking I might stay here for a year or two, get some experience, and move back to New York, which is where I'm from.

Who knew?

41 years later, I'd still be here?

I started a CNC, and a few years later I moved over to KUSA, and it's it's a move that changed my life.

I, I think about all the things that I've been able to do, for the last 38 years.

Working at KUSA and probably the most memorable to me is serving the community, making a difference.

It's the one thing that I think all of us as broadcasters have in common, and it's the one thing I'm probably most proud of about what we do as broadcasters.

I came up through the sales ranks, and for the past 20 years, I've been fortunate to be, the president general manager at Nine News.

Along the way had some opportunities, corporately, to work with othe broadcasters around the country just to have a front row sea to what broadcasters are doing and all the many challenges that we're dealing with.

I was blessed to work.

You know with the Colorado Broadcasters Association on the boar where I served, and represented all the broadcasters throughout the state.

And I'm really proud of that.

I'm probably most proud of, you know, we're all competitors here, but the thing I'm most proud of, is the way that we work together when we really need to do something that matters.

And back in 2009, the television broadcasters went through the transformation to digital.

And I remember working with, many of the broadcasters that are here.

Byron.

Grandy, you know, we worked collaboratively to make sure that that was a successful transition.

And that's one of the things I'm most proud of.

Today we're faced with a great many more challenges.

I think we all know the advent of of digital has brought on a great many things, and invited a great many folks into our business.

Technology companies that are much, better able to to, fund what they're doing.

And so there are a great many challenges for broadcasters today.

We we see some changes on the horizon, however, and I'm hopeful that, regulatory changes will actually give our industr a chance to, to remain healthy and also give our broadcast journalists a platform where they can really work for their communities.

I'm working behind the scenes to champion all these things.

And and it's something that, we should all be concerned about as we move forward.

I'm optimistic, though.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the many people that I've been fortunate to work with.

My team at Nine News is tremendous.

Their friends, their colleagues, they're passionate, they're hardworking and they're extremely talented.

I feel blessed to be able to go to work every day, to have that group of people with me.

It's it's truly a blessing.

And finally, as we all know, these jobs, can take us away from family.

We spend a great deal of time.

You know, at the office or in the community, doing things in the evenings, on weekends.

And I have a very supportive family.

My wife, Lori, who's here this evening, my daughter Claire.

I've missed a lot of things over the years, but they've been my foundation.

And tonight, you know I consider this award as much.

Theirs as it is mine.

So I want to thank everybody.

As I said, I'm humbled, to be here and, thank you.

And God bless.

From his early days in Denver in 1984 to nearly four decades at KUSA, Mark Cornett has valued innovation mentors, and community service.

Mark also credits his family, his wife Lori and daughter Claire for supporting him through long nights, busy weekends and a lifetime of service to the community.

We'll be showing interviews with all of the Hall of Fame inductees.

Coming up on studio 12.

So keep an eye out for those.

Colorado's entrepreneurial spirit was on full display at Colorado Startup Week.

And among the leader helping shape that ecosystem is Zenaida Kelsey, co-founder of Access Mode.

After a career in corporate tax, Anita turned her focus toward supporting founders historically excluded from building and scaling tech businesses.

PBS Twelve's Frannie Matthews sat down with Santa at Startup Wee to learn more about Access Mode and the vibrant community rallying behind it.

Zenaida, I can't tell yo how excited I am to talk to you.

You and I have talked for years.

I'm just thrilled tha you were able to join us today.

Well, thank you for having me.

I'm looking forward to this.

So we're at Startup Week.

This is not your first Startup Week, for sure.

Tell me a little bit about what you think Startup Week means to our community and to your founders.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I think this may be my sixth or seventh Startup Week.

When I was kind of new t the tech scene here in Colorado, the Colorado Technolog Association was my first foray into the tech community.

But then I kind of blended it with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and started coming around Startup Wee when I was at Arrow Electronics, running a couple different areas of global marketing.

And I was surprise at how vibrant the community was and to learn that this is the largest startup Week in the country, and I imagine in the world don't know that for sure about the global footprint.

But I recognized immediatel how important this community is, and especially how important it is for entrepreneurs to find each other.

Now that I've moved from corporate in the past five, six year and into entrepreneurial areas, it's so such a lonely journey to be an entrepreneur.

To be somebody who has this vision for changing the world, for starting something new and not necessarily maybe havin a team, or having a team here.

And then you have the pandemic that hit.

And so that kind of put Colorad Startup Week or Denver Startup Week at the time, virtual and the community changed.

And so this is the first column, the first Startup Week.

Now that it's called Colorado Startup Week, where the community I feel is back.

Well, I'm excited about wha you're doing with Access Mode.

Can you tell our viewers what Access Mode is and what you your vision for the operations?

Yeah, absolutely.

So Access Mode is an entrepreneurial support organization.

We support entrepreneurs, primarily tech entrepreneurs, that are those who've been historically excluded from opportunity to buil and scale tech based businesses.

And this idea came about during the pandemic that we just talked about.

You know, I had left my corporate role and was thinking to launch out or had launched out on my own to do some consulting and got involved with Energize Colorado.

That was set u under Governor Polis direction, to help funds that were coming in from the federal government help small businesses.

And there were kind of different focus areas, women owned businesses, veteran rural front range, and as I kind of move into helping out with the Bipoc, which that term stands for, black indigenous people of color, moved into helping with that group of that segment of businesses quickly began to understand how much more the impact was being felt on that particular segment of businesses.

They were dropping out of the pipeline, and closing doors and not able to get the funds that they needed.

That's where I met my co-founder, Kevin, who's actually originally from the DC area, like I am, which is we grew up probably about 20 minutes from each other but we didn't meet until here.

And he kind of told me his story of moving to Colorado from the DC area, moving he and his family to start his third venture, and he had already sold a tech based business.

He went to Wharton.

He'd worked on Wall Street, has a really storied, professional career, and came to Colorado for an opportunity to start his next business because he learned about our vibrant ecosystem.

But when he got here, he did not get the help he needed.

And I started thinking, my gosh, if this guy with all of these credential came to Colorado as a black man and is not able to move a tech based business forward, Colorado, we have a problem and he and I talked about it and decided that, you know, instead of just talking about it, not complaining about it, we were going to do something about it.

Because, as you know, I like t do things about things, right.

Nobody is going to save me.

You're going to save yourself.

That's absolutely right.

And so we kind of began interviewing other founders in the state, founders, from black and Latino, Asian American indigenous communities, asking them about their desire to build base, to build tech based businesses and how they were going about their journey.

And they just were kind of stuck.

And so we took that idea to, Brad Feld was the executive director of over at the board at energize, and Wendy Lee was the CEO.

And they were incredibly supportive.

And that is the kind of gold the gold mine in Colorado is this kind of give first, this opportunity for when you have an idea, when you recognize a problem and you bring it to people who are typically used to helping to solve problems, they also get stuff done.

And so, you know, Brad was a major supporter of ours to get us going.

And we looked at different models we could do where are we going to do an accelerator, a boot camp, an incubator, just kind of some classes and and talking to the folks at Techstars, we figured Techstar is actually such a great model.

The way they set up their content, the way that they connect people, that give first mentality.

And we said, you know, why don't we create something to help those who are people in thi community who have great ideas, who want to spark ideas and innovation, who want to build MVP's, which are minimal viable products, their first kind of product in the market.

From a tech perspective, why don't we help them in this way?

So we went through the Techstars program.

We got set up as a 50 C3 nonprofit and got launched.

And so the reason we chose 500 1C3 is because this is a social impact issue.

It's not just it's it' also an economic issue, right?

Economic mobility issue.

But you can't take this underserved population who's been historically underserved with a massive amount of, gaps and opportunity and say, hey, let's just do it the same wa we've done this thing over here.

It takes a different type of model, it takes a different type of support.

So, for example, we have, women who have com through our accelerator program who have children and they have different needs of being in a full time entrepreneurial program than a typical, you know, folks, a guy who's maybe been working in tech for a while and is able to, you know, make different types of decisions about his time.

And so we want to make sure that we are creating kind of an all, a compress plan in a way to support so that we don't kind of forget founders started and then watch them drop off.

We want to make sure we say we cultivate the entrepreneurial journey of tech founders and in the communities that we serve.

And you're not ignoring obstacles.

That's right.

Yeah.

We are trying to break down as many barriers as possible.

Barriers to capital, barriers to network, barriers to financing, barriers to subject matte experts, barriers to education, whatever it is that these founders need from our community, we want to bring that to the forefront and address it in very unique ways.

Well what I love is you didn't talk.

I mean, money is is important.

Money is really important.

But that's not what you started with.

You're talking about support.

Absolutely.

And mentorship.

Absolutely.

So yeah, I was going to say, you know, they're all types of programs that we run.

One of them we just ran this morning and this is what I call my CEO signature event.

It's speed mentoring for women business owners.

And we did that just this morning.

We this is our third time doing it.

And so there's no exchange of, capital involved.

There's no, exchange of, of, you know, they don't pay to to come to the program.

It's a morning during Colorado Startup Week where we find the best subject matter experts across Colorado.

We put them around, in a room, and we pair women up and have them go get free mentoring in a particular subject matter area where they are stuck and need help.

Well, as, I think you're doing wonderful work.

And as you've been doing this for a little bit, you've had a few obstacles that have come up for sure.

Tell tell me about some success that you're really proud of.

Oh, gosh The success I'm really proud of.

You know, I appreciate this week in particular, Colorado Startup Week.

Because it doe it does help me measure success.

So when we first started three years ago, came to Colorado Startup Week, you know, not a lot of people were stopping by to say, hey, how's it going or what?

You know, what do you or what are you guys into?

What are you doing?

And then you get to a couple of years down the road, a few years down the road and, you know, it's like I can't walk in the elevator without seeing somebody.

I know and somebody who's helped access mode along the way.

Or, you know, just walking dow the street around the building.

And it's constant hugs and love and the support that we need to continue building access mode, has really been a product of one of the products of this community that we're in here in Colorado, for sure.

Well, you've, talked about the give for, first ethos and, I feel it every day.

We really do have a growth mindset.

If you win, we can both win.

It's not a win lose kind of proposition.

So I love that about our state.

Can you tell me as we kind of close up, what community members can do to, to be effective and helpful to you and the entrepreneurs?

There's there's many ways for that to happen.

Where it access dawg and on that, on our website, we have a, opportunity for someone to sign up for being a mentor being an investor, an investor in, not just access mode, but in.

And that's more of a donor, but into the companies that we're bringing forward.

We have, VCs, venture capitalist that are here in Colorado that, you know, are supportive of, of making connections for our founders.

We want them to do more about investing in them.

And, we also are doing a breakfast on October 1st.

I don't know when this airs, but, we very much appreciate Seth Levine and Wendy Lee, but also, Bradford is raising a paddle, to come out and continue the the support of our nonprofit.

So, you know, we are we take donations tax free and, just come around and give support, from a mentorship perspective, from a hierarchy going perspective.

But, you know, financially for sure, as government grants have, you know, been pulled back for the types of type of work we do now, I took the main stage on Monday here, and one of the things that people there was a line of people that came up to me afterwards, I was shocked and one of the thing that kept resonating with them, I said, you know, the term dei, I'm not afraid to say it, and it may be dead right.

Like, and that's okay.

I don't mind this ar being dead, but I'm still here.

The community that I serve, we're still very much alive and still very much needing t bridge a gap in our community.

And I want to see Colorado continue to help bolster up this community, because, like you said, when we when everybody wins.

So now it's always uplifting to spend time with you.

Thank you so much for your time today.

Stay with us here on studio 12.

In the weeks ahead, as we dive deeper into these stories of entrepreneurship, the challenges, the breakthroughs, and the connection shaping the future of our state.

In the meantime, you can also catch all of our interviews from Colorado Startup Week on our YouTube channel or listen to the podcasts on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon podcasts.

Hunger and food insecurity issues affecting families in every corner of Colorado.

And for many, the need is urgent.

But alongside that need is a incredible amount of generosity.

Neighbors helping neighbors and organizations stepping up to support communities across the state.

Today, we're spotlighting a way you can donate.

Here's a message from PBS 12 President and General Manager Bobby Springer.

Hunger and food insecurit on a lot of our minds right now.

The need is great, but so is the generosity of everyday people like us.

There are many ways to help, and I'm here to share two of our partners with you.

Nine CARES Colorado shares has been filling Colorado food banks across the state for over 40 years.

Donations to nine CARES Colorado shares will directly support five food banks across the state.

Karen.

Share food bank.

Community.

Food share.

Food bank for Larimer County.

Food Bank of the Rockies and World Food Bank.

You can donate using the QR code on your screen or by visiting Feeding Colorado Mortgage or nine News.com.

Closer to home Studios Metro Caring is a food bank that serves the Five Points neighborhood in Denver with a free, fresh food market and a priority on collecting and delivering food items from Colorado growers.

You can support them by visiting Metro Caring Board.

Finally, if you are in need of assistance, a call to 211 Colorado can get you connected to resources.

Let's work together to mak Colorado a better place to live.

If you'd like to help, here's the website feeding colorado.org/give.

It shows you a map of organization operating food banks statewide.

And there you can find more info about them and make a donation.

And again, if you or someone you know needs assistance, you can also go to 211 colorado.org, which can help you get connected with immediate resources.

Thanks for watching studio 12.

Don't forget to follow u on social media and on YouTube.

We look forward to seeing you again next Tuesday night at eight.

I'm Bosa Canady and I'm Ryan Hare.

Have a great week.

And.