Tonight on studio 12.

From handcrafted wood to heartfelt conversations, we're discoverin functional art in its best form.

And a lifetime achievement award to one of Colorado's greatest tech leaders, David Cohen.

Frannie Matthews sits down for one on one interview with him.

Also, an in-depth conversation about the status of mental health her in Colorado with Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen.

Plus, think winter fun has to be expensive.

Think again.

One mountain town proves you don't need to spend a lot to create life long memories.

We've got all of that more right now on studio 12 from the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Hi, I'm Bosie Kanani, and I'm Ryan Hare.

Welcome to studio 12.

In a world of mass production, one Colorado artist is choosing to build by hand.

Tonight in our heart of the West segment, we meet Drew Graham, the founder of Switch Wood.

Drew loves to pull together natural materials, precision design and craftsmanship, and what he calls functional art, from watches to sunglasses and jewelry.

His work reflects both fine art and an entrepreneurial spirit shaped right here in the West.

Join us no as we step inside Drew's studio.

These could be interchangeable if I really wanted to make them interchangeable, and so I put magnets on them in order to hold them all together.

I made a wooden bow ti to wear to one of my openings.

And this I made out of a whiskey barrel.

Having enough people being interested in the tie.

I started a Kickstarter campaign and we raised $10,000 in order to get our first batch of wooden bow ties.

My name is drew.

My business is switch wood.

And we make a variety of different products at this point.

But, started with a interchangeable wooden bow tie for the wings are magnetic, so you can switch the, the look of the tie based on the type of wood and the fabric watches.

As you saw, we make out of skateboards, concert tickets, various different types of wood, stone, all sorts of stuff.

We also do our own jewelry as well.

But, yeah the primary focus is using wood or natural element as a medium within each piece.

Functional art is what I would say is which wood does primary?

As an artis and my background being in art.

I'd see every product that we make as a piece of artwork, and so craftsmanship is top priority.

Making things to our best ability and to have the highest quality is really important for us.

That' basically it for the table saw.

I went to a Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and I was an international business major.

After a year of doing that, I absolutely hated it.

And, I, after doing probably a week of economics classes I knew I was going to fail out.

So I changed my major to art.

Ever since I was a little kid, I was always drawing, and, it really took hol in terms of my ability to focus and really want to do, the best that I could at any project that I was.

So then, from here, once it's all nailed down, go back in the shop, in the office.

And that's where I'll put together the lunch.

I moved here about, eight years ago, but I was in DC for about three years.

Starting the company and the moving here was kind of funny.

I only had bow ties and, like, cufflinks and formal wear.

And when the first, the first show that I did here a lot of people thought tha the bow ties were for their dog.

And so I was like, all right, this may not be the place for bow ties, but, we still keep in our in our inventory.

But, I pivoted to focusing more on sunglasses and watches and things that I was like to, to wear, and especially in Colorado.

Sunglasses seem to be ou our most popular selling item.

There we go.

Something like that.

I actually did a project with, International Tennis Hall of Fame, and they wanted me to to make earrings out of their tennis rackets.

And then I had some leftover pieces, and I was like, this kind of looks like a like a key, you know, like the handle on the tennis racket.

So I did a few pieces out of the tennis rackets.

Then I'm a golfer.

I was like I should do this with golf clubs and, started doing barware out of the golf clubs.

And then of course the watches we've highlighted.

Repurposing material.

That was kind of the first thought was, what could I tak and turn it into something else?

Take something discarde and turn it into something else.

So the, the sunglasses or even the bow ties, it was a lot of scrap material that I was using from my sculpture to, to create the, the bow ties.

And then from there it was like, well, the scraps from the bow ties could be something else, too.

So and even though is a small piece of scrap, I could turn that into a pair of cufflinks and, from there it was like, all right, well, what other fashion accessories can I make?

The watches?

I've always been obsessed with watches.

My grandfather was a watch wear, and I always was checking stuff out on his wrist, and, it seemed impossible for me to make.

So I did have a manufacture for the watches for a long time.

And it got to a point where I was like, I could do this myself.

I really wanted to.

I dove headfirst into it and fell in love with the whole process, and really going from making sculptural art that was super large scale, you know, like ten feet wide dow to doing something teeny tiny.

It was a really nice job for me.

Yeah.

So finished product right there.

So I've been doing i for 11 years now and, I never I, I was always doing it by myself and I always envisioned myself just grinding it out on my own.

So three years ago, again, I was doing everything by myself.

And thank God I, I asked my sister to help me ou at that market three years ago because there's no wa I would have been able to do it.

The demand for everything I had was exceeded my wildest expectations.

We sold out of products, and by the last week that we were there, we practically had nothing on our table after I did Chris Kindle, in fact, three years ago or four years at this point, it actually I was able to generate enough income from that singular show to think about opening up, brick and mortar.

It's amazing.

It can also be stressful at times because everything is on your shoulders to to succeed.

You know, you can't look a anybody else and point a finger.

You always have to look in th mirror and, you know, say that you're at faul for your own success and your, here onl because of your own ambitions.

What I lov is that I don't have to wake up at any particular time in the morning.

I can get up and get my thoughts going on what I want to do and what projects I want to focus on.

And so in that way, it's the most liberating, freeing feeling, not having to spend my time on somebody else's dime.

Really incredible work, and I love that.

Drew says that each of those pieces tells its own story.

You can tell tons of passion from drew and he also focuses on building not just a business, but an art community.

Two very important to him.

For more information you can go to switch wood.com.

In February, the Colorad Technology Association honored David Cohen with the Robert Newman Lifetime Achievement Award, the association's highest distinction named for longtime Colorad technology leader Robert Newman.

The award honors tech leaders for their innovation and commitment to advancin Colorado's technology ecosystem at Colorado Startup Week.

PBS Twelve's Frannie Matthews sat down with David Cohen to discuss the evolutio of Colorado's startup community, the power of mentorship, and what it takes to build companies that last.

I know when founders go in to do a first pitch, it's really unnerving.

What advice would you give to founders and what do you what really peaks your interest?

Yeah, I mean, generally speaking, I'd say, you know, you got to make sure that that someone listening to your pitch has a reason to care, right?

Like, why should they care about this thing?

If they're an investor, what are they going to care about?

You know, building a big, world changing company.

And so, you know it's really about storytelling.

It's about a vision of the future.

Or it's always often about the team who you are when you're pitching.

Those are the key things that I, when I practice or coach people you know, around this it's always like, you have 60s right to get across to me wh I should care what you're doing.

Make it clear what your vision is and who you are and why you were put on this earth.

And do it right.

60s otherwise I'm going to pull out my phone and I'm going to start playing with my email.

Right.

Like, you got to capture my interest quickly.

So that's the difference fo a lot of people is just being, you know, being clear about what that story is.

Do you just feel the passion?

Is it is it a matter of life?

Yeah.

When I first was pitched Uber, I was an angel investor in Uber, for example.

You know, in 60s, I was like wow, this is either going to be horribly stupid and fail which are often the good ones, or it's going to change the world.

You know, the pitch was simple.

I'm building a company that, you know, can get you a car in 30s.

You're holding a powerful computer.

It knows where you are.

You don't need to walk to the hotel to get a taxi.

We're Uber cab.

We can.

And it was like, yeah, you know, we're going to deliver that and change the world.

And you just sort of felt like they might do that or it might fail.

Either one is okay I'm here to take a risk.

Right.

But if it works, what if, you know, what would the world look like in 20 years?

And today it's a product we all use.

Yeah.

What are the mistakes that you don't like to see when you're talking to somebody?

You got to get they've got to get your attention in 60s.

I would say not knowing who else is in your space, you know, it's sort of you want to build confidence.

And when I say, oh, I saw a company like this the other day, you know I'll say Uber was pitching me.

I, you know I saw this company Lyft, right.

That was doing somethin similar.

How are you different?

And they're like, I don't know who that is.

I think you really need to know your, you know, competitors and not only now, but the ones that might have tried in the past.

Why didn't it work?

Was that timing?

Was that a failure in some of their way?

Because the investors likely to have researched that right to try to understand the market, the fact that they've taken the meeting means they're kind of interested.

So that's that's one, you know another is any kind of extreme over positioning, bordering perhaps on lying, you know, I'm going to figure that out.

And that's not somebod that I really want to work with or ho I want to start a relationship.

So, you know, marketing of course, is natural and okay, but now he's going to tell me something that I find out isn't true or really stretch the truth.

That' going to be uninteresting to me.

What are some of the key attributes that you're looking for for that funder to move forward on?

And I would think that mentorship also would be part of that after that first meeting.

You know, I' probably thinking a lot about, you know, how do they execute, right?

Like, okay, I like the idea.

I like the people.

You know, this feels interesting and exciting.

Now, do they do stuff?

Right.

Because I have this theory, and I'm pretty sure it's true that the entrepreneurs actually do stuff right.

They don't wait for permission from someone.

I was just talking to a founder that was telling the story that when we invested, they didn't know how to code.

And it was a software company, right.

But they taught themselves how to code whil we were considering investing.

And they built a prototype, and it was crappy and terrible and didn't work.

But you know, they were running through that brick wall.

And that's what entrepreneurs do.

They figure out how to mak progress even without resources.

And so I want to work with them a little bit.

One of the things I might do is introduce a mentor.

A mentor is just someone that has specific experience in an area that's willing to share it and doesn't really want anything.

They're willing to give first.

And so if I connect you to someone that might have relationships or knowledge in an area, now they get to work with them.

And let's see what that entrepreneur does with that.

Let's see what they turn that into.

Right.

Here's a new resource, a new introduction or a new set of experiences to make the product better.

Then I want to hear how that's reflected back.

How are we making progress?

Where are we going?

If the answer is, well, I introduced them and they didn't ever reach out or connect with the person, it's like, okay, I'm not goin to be able to be helpful, right?

If you're not going to follo through and do what founders do.

So you're just testing and, you know, trying to find, you know, their ability to execute.

I think I like being a mentor, I like being mentored.

And I find that it's not a hierarchical thing.

You just it's, it's it' part of building the ecosystem that you need.

I just said in the room to the crowd, everybody here is a mentor.

You know, you can turn to your left and right, and you have something to teach those two people.

For sure, you're better at something than they are.

Yeah, right.

And if the whole community takes that attitude, it's super powerful.

One of your quotes that I really liked was, if your mentor gives you advice and you follow it no sale, it's still your fault.

So there's an element that you believe in, personal responsibility.

So along with follow through and all of that, the ownership seems to be important to you, too.

Yeah.

And you know, with with mentorship.

And of course, that's what Techstars is all about.

That's my investment business.

You know, we have thousands and thousands of experienced mentors that help founders be successful.

You know, it's really just data.

It's just input, right.

When it when a mentor says, you know, here's my experience, I've faced this problem.

Here's what I did.

It worked or it didn't work.

That's all data.

Right.

And your job as the founder entrepreneur in this case, is to process all of that dat and then make your own decision.

And the best mentors are very, very happy for you to say, I disagree with that.

I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to make the other choice fine.

The mentor gets to learn either way, the mentor gets new data either way, and it's symbiotic and helpful, right?

Even if you decide not to do it, where it doesn't hel is when you decide not to do it.

But you give them no feedback.

You don't tell them you'r going to go the other direction.

You say, like, I consider that input.

I heard different things from different people.

I'm going to choose door number two, you know, and I'm going to let you know how it goes.

They still are and they still feel involved in the process.

And the best mentor will not say, I told you so.

The best mentor will say, okay, you know, here's some different ideas, right?

And I learn from that as well.

So mentors don't forget, are also wanting to learn.

That's that's their motivation.

In many cases it may be good advice, but I don't think it fits for my situation completely.

Yeah.

And I think you need to be really, you know, weary of a mentor who says, well, if this is the answer, this is what you need to do.

This is what you should do.

Versus a mentor who says, here's what I did in that situation.

Here's what I learned and what the outcome was.

Right.

Because just because it works in that situation doesn't mean it's going to work in yours.

I have witnessed where startups get a lot of money upfront, and the funder is expecting to spend the money to get customer that may or may not be viable.

Customers.

Yeah.

I mean, when the investor is going to put in, you know, $20 million, bu you're not really ready for it, it creates a pressure to spend it, use it.

And you may not have product market fit yet.

And those are really dangerous situations.

I've seen it kill portfoli companies that we've invested in just too much, too soon.

And it's one of the reasons why we invest a little bit of capital and a lot of mentorship in the very beginning, and then we follow on as companies make progress.

That, that mentality with investors comes and goes depending on you know, the fads of the day.

You know, five, seven years ago, you were seeing, you know, a lot of $100 million checks, right?

You got to go spend it, use it quickly.

We were coaching the founders.

You know, you got to be you, right?

Everybody else take on, I think is the the language.

Yeah.

If you're not the type o founder that wants to go and try a bunch of experiments at once, but you want to, you know, produce that product market set and then scale it, that may not be the right thing for you to do.

As exciting as it sounds, that's starting to come back in the age of, you know, AI, which of course is just software, but it's smarter software.

You're starting to se these mega rounds again, right?

We'll see it with quantum computing and other things like that, where, you know, I'm going to put all my chips on the table, right.

Make a huge bed becaus I really believe in this person.

Usually the investor has worked with that person before.

So they're familiarity.

That's why they offer so much money.

But it can be really dangerous dynamic for the wrong company in the wrong time.

You know, I recently, was listening to a podcast where Mark Cuban was being, interviewed.

And, and one of the things that he talks a lot about is profitability.

He's not you know, he's not looking at the ability to get top line revenue.

Going back to the conversation about spending too much money to buy customers, but really looking at profitability and also in those early stages, cash flow.

And, and it made me feel goo because I kind of feel like it's going back to the basics of business.

Are you feeling that too?

I mean, well I think Mark is totally right.

In terms of like the business needs to be able to operate profitably should it choose to do so.

That's my add to it.

I think there are situations where business is right in the right way, choose to not be profitable.

And I've been on the sorts of boards and you know, you're investing in, you know, market share and capture.

And so you're not profitable.

But the difference is you could be overnight if you wanted to be.

Right.

And I think that's the nuance.

And what I've, I've heard Mark talk about, that I would add as an end now, generally speaking, you know, this is a pendulum that swinging back and forth as the capital markets, you know, come and go and IPO markets open and close, is it becomes fashionabl for investors to say, you know, whatever we don't need to be profitable.

You know, just invest.

And I mean, you know, I told you I was involved with Uber and and then we're not profitable for a very long time.

But I think they though we could be if we want it to be.

Right.

They were really investing in the growth.

And that was the right decision that companies very valuable because of that.

It's when companies that don't have that same opportunity, right, choose to operate EBITDA negative, right.

For a long time.

They don't have a path to profit to profitability.

I think that's problematic.

So I think he's pointing out not only are we in, you know, the swing of the pendulum that it's fashionable to say be profitable.

The ability to do so at an moment is what really matters.

I have one more question.

As we close, we've got a lot of, tumultuous things happening in our world right now.

If you were to give a little bit of a view into the next, you know, 12 to 18 months and what this looks like for accessibility to capital and, you know, what the a founders experience is going to be?

One thing that's going to be valuable is going to be networ who you surround yourself with, who you know is on your team and in your gang.

And maybe that's your board and your investors and your early customers and your employees really, really matters.

And you can control that, right?

And if you do a good job with that, you will be able to access capital 2 or 3 times better than somebody else in a good market or a bad market, which you don't know whic one of those are coming.

Right.

And so focus on what you can control is what I would say, and build the best business you can with the best team around it.

You can, this human relationships ar valuable even in the age of AI, I agree.

Well thank you, David.

Thank you so much.

Funding for the Business of Colorado on PBS 12 is provided in part by Collegiate Peaks Bank.

And from the generous support of viewers like you.

Thank you.

With Colorado's growing tech industry, data centers are rapid expanding across the state.

There are now about 60 in Colorado.

Massive, powerful facilities that help support everything we do online.

And because of their might, they're also controversial.

Our Colorado Inside Out panelists took a closer look at the debat unfolding at the state Capitol about whether or not to open more data centers.

Let's check in now with Kyle Dyer for more.

Hi, Bosa and Ryan.

You know there is so much to talk about when you think about data centers, those huge buildings going up all over the country that power up online services streaming, cloud computing, AI, you name it.

And even though those kinds of facilities provide all that we need, there is a lot of pushback as well.

We discuss what is happening with data centers in Colorado on our latest Colorado Inside Out.

Let's now talk about data centers because they are back at the focus of debate at the state Capitol.

Supporters say they can really boost Colorado's economy and support the growing digital infrastructur that so many businesses rely on.

But then the critics warn these facilities just eat up water and energy resources and really ask whether our state should be offerin tax incentives to attract them.

You know, in Denver, there's now a temporary pause on building new data centers.

Adam, this is reall a national conversation as well.

But when you think about how dry it is, especially this winter and how much water these facilities use, we really have to get this right.

Yeah.

And there is a real giv and take in this conversation.

Right?

I think the primary plac to start for a lot of people is what are data centers.

What are we talking about?

How big are they?

What do they look like?

What kind of wate use and energy use do they have.

And I think lawmakers are also playing catch up a little bit on those conversations.

So we really have two bills at play right now.

Senate bill 26 102.

This is more of an environmental focused bill.

It has direct ties to climate and consumer protection and sort of forcing these data centers to pay for their own energy with renewable resources.

You have a second bill.

That's House Bill 26 1030.

Totally different path, right?

We're going to offer tax credits.

We're going to offer sales and use tax exemptions.

And we are going to give long term benefits to data center development in Colorad to drive that development here.

We obviously know we we need data.

I mean, we're all on our phones all the time.

We're using ChatGPT and it's you know, creating goofy images, and it's driving up the cost of data t the tune of millions of dollars.

But there's a fine balance between economic development versus regulatory, you know, oversight.

And is we as a state are lookin at a massive shortage in water.

We've all it's what 65 degrees every day this week.

There's a real factors.

Lawmakers are going to have to debate about how we approach this.

I'll talk about the tax incentive piece of it.

I think it's really interesting that the legislature here in Colorado, a number of Democrats are proposing bills to give data centers tax incentives, while during the special session last year, they tried to increase taxes on businesses.

And typically they don't support, big corporations or big technology companies getting benefits and incentives from the government.

So I find that very interesting.

Now, of course, you can see economic impacts in Colorado.

They probably want to welcome data centers here for the economic boon.

They think it would be to the state.

And then they're also in a budget crisis.

So that also makes it interesting that they want to give tax incentives during a budget crisis, but say tha they need to find ways to cut.

So I think the messaging coming out of the legislature isn't very consistent.

It's kind of hypocritical.

From, from again, liberal who tend to prefer to shut down big corporations instead of welcoming them and giving them tax incentives.

So I tend to think you shouldn' single out specific industries and give only them particular tax incentives.

And because you're going to have to increase taxes on someone else when you do that.

And so I tend to think have a fair playing field.

Let everyone pay their fair share of taxes and cut taxes across the board.

If you're going to do that rather than singling out industries.

Part of your take when you do have the Economic Development Commission of the state, that's always looking at different proposals.

So do these data centers need a special exemption?

And I think it's it is not a good move for the legislature right now, especially if you saw what happened Tuesday nigh when there was the discussion, kind of a town hall on core site, which is in the Globeville area, already grandfathered in.

So not affected by Mike Johnston' moratorium that he's proposing.

There are it's in a already, standing structure, adding two more.

And what I was hearing was the second one will take all the resources that it would take to power and cool Boulder.

So that is the kind of use you're looking at in a neighborhood that already feels put upon.

It's been the labeled the most contaminated zip code in the country.

You don't need to keep encouraging and actually pay for that kind of abuse.

So I think the city Johnston was smart to put a moratorium on.

He should have started talking about it a lot earlier to cool dow what's going on in Globeville.

But I just don't see this passing the legislature.

Do you make a really good point?

Because guess Globeville, Elyria, Swansea is feeling put upon, and rightly so.

And so the thing that really concern me as a communications professional is how caustic kind of chickened out and did not go to that community meeting.

I mean, there comes a time you just have to stand ten toes in and say, this is what we believe.

These are the benefits, and you have to stand there and take the heat.

So that was very concerning to me.

And now there's also a reaso that people really need to tune in to the narrativ because like you mentioned the like the water usage and the water consumption.

And I literally saw someon on TV a few days ago saying that all they would consume are the water fountains in the toilets and the restrooms because they say, well Colorado is the perfect climate.

You can just throw the windows open at night and keep your equipment cool.

I'm like, yeah, I think that's a bit of a stretch.

But the urban rural part of it's interesting too, because think o some of the parts of the state where, say, the prison industrial comple has been shut down a little bit.

Who's to say they may not say, well, we need something, we need jobs, we need construction jobs.

We need something.

So who's to say they may not put more of those in in the rural areas?

So keep out.

Stay tuned on that one.

Okay.

That was just one of the topics we talked about on the latest episode of Colorado Inside Out.

You can catch the entire show on YouTube, the PBS passport app, or liste in on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

And we're already talking about what might make for some good conversation this coming week.

So make sure to catch Colorado inside out on any of those places, or right here on PBS 12 at 8:00 on Friday.

Mental health is always an important topic for Colorado as our state continues to face one of the highest youth suicide rates in the country.

And advocates warn access to care may get even harder.

Proposed Medicaid cuts and funding changes may impact rural hospitals, mental health providers and families already struggling to navigate the system.

We spoke with Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen abou what's at stake and how her own family's experiences drive her work.

Ensuring that people have access to mental health car is not just a democratic issue.

This impacts everybody across the United States, across Colorado, in Colorado.

We have one of the highest suicide rates in the country for our young people.

It is absolutely unacceptable that we aren't supporting our kids and making sure that they have the ability to thrive in our state an get the support that they need.

I'm a co-chair of a bipartisan task force where we do work together on some of these issues, that we come together to support each other.

Bills for substance use disorder treatment and recovery services, making sure that we're supporting access to mental health care.

It's hard to even fathom what is about to happen in our state and our country.

The Medicaid cuts that are going to hit us, the provider fee limitation, those hospitals in rural areas and, people who aren't covered by insurance or Medicaid and showing up for uncompensated care and making sur that we actually have providers in the hospital system to support them.

The entire system is set up to make it impossible to qualify for Medicaid and to stay qualified for Medicaid.

So they have exemptions for people with substance use disorders, peopl with mental health conditions.

But that is not the actual, the system that they created.

Because just because you exempt these populations, they still have to go through all of these hoops.

They are the most vulnerable and actually filling out the extensive paperwork requirements that they're putting in front of Americans.

Right now.

And it is not about increasing access to care.

It's not about reducing costs.

It's about increasing paperwork and bureaucracy to kick people off care.

When I think about, my mom, when she was struggling with her substance use disorder, having her navigate anything while she was in the midst of that disease was impossibl without constant family support, ensuring that she got the help that she needed.

We have a huge, workforce issue when it comes to people who are going into the fiel for for mental health support, really across our entire health care system.

We have huge gaps in our ability to meet people's needs.

We need significant investments in the infrastructure where there's health care deserts and lack of access.

We need to be able to utilize all health care access, to continue to be able to take ointments online and utilize that and really help serve people in rural communities.

And, and we need to actually fund the treatmen of behavioral health services.

They should be treated and compensated like we do with physical health.

And that is not the case right now.

And so we are unable to actually build the capacity necessary to, to have a sustained system that supports people's mental health.

One of the most important things that we can do is supporting our schools, you know, showing up at school, making sure that they have access to somebody who talked to tal to who's there to support them.

It's also, is something that I'm concerned about as a mom and I think, Americans, parents across the nation.

I feel the same way.

What our kids are watching, the ways that they'r being targeted with algorithms, how social medi has impacted their mental health and what we can do to protect them.

I talk a lot about, you know, my mom struggles with a substance use disorder.

And what I saw in our broken system, fighting to save her life.

But I've also unfortunately seen, the devastating impacts of, my older brother, who I fell through the cracks and wasn't, diagnosed, and, you know, didn't have access to health care and, and struggled financially.

And we lost him to suicide.

I think it's really important that we reduce the stigma and tell our stories, because that's how we bring an understanding to what's happening and what we need to change.

What's really important is that we have that we increase access and we make it easy for families and for kids to get the services that they need.

And the best place that we can do that is at school.

When I think about how critica my school was to saving my life and making sure I didn't go down the path and follow, my mom and, you know, the struggles that she faced.

It was my teachers that believe in me and my counselor that were there to support me.

My personal experience drives my priorities in Congres and in addressing the barriers that people face.

You know, having a mom who struggled with a substance use disorder for decades and seeing how broken our system was, and the lack of access to the treatment that she desperately needed on top of having a brother who struggled with mental health issues and ultimately fell through the cracks and died from suicide, and it informs the empathy that I have for people, the lack of judgment that I have for people knowing that, substance use disorders are a disease, that it demands medical treatment.

This is a unique opportunity to remind people about what we did provide, why it's so important, how do we rebuild in a way that actually supports people and addresses the, the constant feelin that they're being left behind?

The greatest power that we have is reducing the stigma around those who are struggling with a mental health issu and talking about how critical the services are that are being taken away.

Patterson says behavioral health must be treated like physical health, with stronger school based support, workforce investments and fewer barriers to care.

And we want to let you know that if you or someone you know needs help, you can call or text 988 for Colorado's free 24 hour crisis line.

Up next, this week's sneak peek of The Doodle Desk, a new series where PBS Twelve's Kyle Dyer sits down with familiar faces from the Colorado inside Out table for a deeper, more personal conversation as they tak on a playful artistic challenge.

This week, our guest doodle artist is Penfield Tate, discussing the importance of civic engagement, mentorship, and hetfield's long time involvement here at PBS 12.

Stretching all the way back to the very first days of the station's history.

Penfield Tate has spent decade serving the people of Colorado as an attorney, as a state representative, as a state senator, and really as someone who always leans i where the community needs him.

He is one of the most plugged in people you'll meet, especially when it comes to Denver.

And that's because he genuinel loves this city and this state.

So, Penfield.

Before we get to all the chapters of your life and embarrass ourselves with our drawings of one another, we've admitted we both don't have any artistic ability.

Let's start at the beginning.

Was your early childhood in your teenage years, when your dad was involved in Boulder politics?

Is that kind of how you go involved and so civic minded and and thought, you know, one day this is kind of where I want to go.

You know, it it sort of was a start.

But but part of my activism began before that, you know, before we came to Colorado.

We were a military family.

And so I grew up on Army base around the world for the first 11 years of my life, traveling every year except for a couple of years we spent in Germany.

And so being engaged and involved kind of came with the territory, because you're on a base and you don't get off the base very often, so you have to find activities and things to do.

So I spent Cub Scouts and all of that stuf starting out on military bases.

But yeah, watching my da get involved in the community, clearly.

Louis park.

Yeah.

Okay.

We should start getting.

We have limited time to create each other, but we can keep talking.

I understand that you used to ride your bike around and help him campaig when he was running for mayor.

I did when my dad first ran for.

And actually he ran first for city Council.

They would do these, rallies and events.

And so my job with some of the other younger folks is we would tape campaign signs to our bikes.

And while the adults walked and shook hands, we would ride around and wave and talk about tape for city council and stuff.

Boulder was going through a lot of change then between that election and the one two years later, most of the incumbents lost.

Student activism began to grow in Boulder.

It it brought out a different demographic for the vote and that sort of change.

Boulder.

And I don't think it's looked back since all my years, 30 years almost in Colorado.

I've known you as, a state rep, state senator, someone who ran for mayor of Denver, someone who recentl was hugely involved in keeping what was the Park Hill golf golf course, open space.

Why is it so?

Why have you been so motivated to be a part and to help lead this city?

You know, I think it's always been important to, invest and have a say in your community.

I always wanted to be someone who played a role in determining where we went as a community, rather than having people dictate to m where they think we ought to go.

And so that's driven a lot of my, civic activism.

Do you think you'll ever run for office again?

I don't know.

You know, it's it is the sort of thing where you never say never, I've heard a lot of peopl tell you that there are issues that I see that still concern me in the city.

And you know, when the thing you always have to ask yourself is, are those issue best addressed by you engaging or b you helping someone else engage?

And so that's something I'll continue to, evaluate.

But I think, I think this mayor has made huge good strides with homelessness.

And the unhoused.

I think affordable housing is a national issue.

And I don't thin as a community, we've addressed it real well, throughout the Front Range.

And the cost of health insurance and medical care is something that also concerns me.

You you talk a lot with younger generation of people who want to lead.

Why is that important for you to be a mentor to others?

Well you know, I think it's important because you can't experience enough in your life to help you figure out where to go and what to do.

So you have to rely on the experience of other and what they've been through.

To help give you a guide.

So I mentor a lot of young people.

College students.

Young lawyers and others.

Because it help accelerate the learning curve.

If you mentor other people, I have found.

So that's what I try to do.

All right.

How's it coming along over there?

Not well, but I'm working.

I'm working.

Well, I'm lucky with you.

I have a must.

Those fabulous mustache and your eyebrows.

So that's my focal point.

But, yeah.

You're so sweet to do this.

As our all our insiders you've been on the show is color and say it.

For how long?

Oh, mercy.

This is 2025.

I left the legislature oh three.

Probably since, man, maybe off and on for ten, 15 years.

So why why, why is this show important to you?

I mean, again, you're very nice to do.

Go along and play along with us today.

But it' because you care about the show.

You're you're always so involve and so engaged and so prepared.

Why is color inside out important to you?

You know, I have a unique connection with Colorado inside out.

My dad was one of the founders of channel 12.

And so as a kid years ago, I didn't know that, I would, do volunteer work when the, channel 12 was in the old Quonset hut up on a hill and in Broomfield.

Oh.

And so my dad had a, public affairs show.

Oh, we did.

And I remembe he taped a segment with Federico Pena, and I think Governor Lamb appeared on one.

And who was then Treasurer Romer.

But you would come in and watch behind the scenes, watch behind the scenes, and help do stuff, helped set up the the do the set and just kind of be an Aaron guy.

Yeah.

Wow.

That's cool.

I didn't know that.

I remember a couple times when the, the wind blew so hard, the building would shake and some of the set would fall over and, stuff.

It was kind of.

It was interesting times.

It was community television at its best.

So we've grown up then?

Yeah.

We don't have things falling over now.

Not now.

We have fanc Transformers and everything now.

A lot different than what I experienced as a kid.

So you've been here long enough to know that back in the 80s, when things weren't good, th city invested big time, right?

And it really created what Denver is today, right?

Your dad was also really involved with Coors Field making that all happen.

There are still some people that just don't get why the city is investing.

Why is it important for us not only the city, to invest money wise, but for us to care.

And it's important.

And, you know, I worke for mayor and his administration when a lot of the the building occurred, in the early 90s, and late 80s to sort of transition Denver from just an oil and gas cowtown.

Yeah.

To a more to a more diverse, community economically, culturally and civically.

And I think it's importan because most people want to live in a place they like that they feel is vibrant, that touches a chord within them and gives them outlets fo different parts of their being.

And not all of those can b created by the private sector.

The private sector won't invest in all of those things.

And so sometimes government needs to be the jumpstart catalyst to invest in a few things to get other activity flowing.

And so that's why we all are to care.

Now I'm not necessarily sayin we have to approve or we have to finance every sports venue and every this or every that.

I think it's fine for voters to be selective, but I think we're fooling ourselves if we think we can sit back and just say we have a wonderful place and all of a sudden people are going to come here and businesses are going to relocate because we think it's wonderful.

You've got to work to make a place wonderful.

It doesn't happen on the town.

Okay, I'm calling this Time's Up.

Because if I do anymore, it's just going to be unfathomable.

Okay.

So shall we?

Okay.

All right.

My goodness.

I love you, Penn.

Right?

Yes.

Remember, we're still friends.

We are always friends.

I made your head much bigger there.

Oh, wow.

That's good.

Oh, is that all right?

Then fields, hey, thank you for sharing little bit more about yourself.

We so appreciate it.

Thank you.

My pleasure for being kind.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Please take this drawing out and burn it properly.

You are such a great, dedicated member of our community and of our talent and our team.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

That was just a snea peek of one of our conversations with our panelists.

For our full conversation with all of our insiders, check out the doodle Desk on the passport app.

PBS Twelve's YouTube channel or on our website, PBS 12.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

We look forward to seeing you th Winter adventures in th mountains can feel out of reach for many Colorado families, especially when the price of lift tickets and gear can add up quickly.

Certainly can.

As a mom of a busy family.

WBZ Twelve's Erica McLart is always searching for fun ways to make memories.

This time, she headed to Frisco to find winter activities that are both affordable and easy to access.

Take a look.

Right, go find friend.

If you think winte fun in the mountains has to cost a fortune.

Frisco might just prove you wrong.

Tucked in the cozy heart of Summit County, Frisco calls itself Colorado's main street to the Rockies.

And in the winter, it becomes a playground packed with family friendly adventures.

But the best part?

You don't have to have lif tickets or luxury prices to make it memorable.

You still have that small town vibe, but a lot of amenities, a lot of things to do here.

So we have the adventure Park.

They've got tubing.

Cross-country skiing.

They have a beginner ski and snowboard until you even have ice fishing in the winter too.

A lot of shops, a lot of restaurants where you can go hiking, fat biking.

First stop rebel sports.

I'm trying fa biking for the very first time.

I welcome man.

Think mountain biking.

The winter edition of that bike is.

It's a mountain bike just with really large tires.

So it's got a 4 to 5 inch wide tire typically on the bike instead of, kind of digging into the snow pack.

It helps you to stay on to of the snowpack and, you know, get good traction.

I mean, it shouldn't be intimidating just because there's trails of different abilities to ride.

You don't necessarily have to g and ride on a difficult trail.

You don't need to ride.

You know, for 20 miles.

You can also just go out and ride a bike for an hour.

You don't need much in the way of special equipment for riding the bikes.

We recommend waterproof boots and gloves will provide a helmet for you.

But we start our rentals at a two hour rental which is $31.

Then we do just a $ an hour, additional after that.

For the most part, we're directing people to go on to the rec pat between Frisco and Breckenridge because that trails maintained in the winter time.

You have Rebel Sports.

You have a family owned company.

It's one guy and his family have owned the business for.

He took it ove maybe 30 years ago and it's not we're not a big corporate shop just mom and pop and of place.

It's a good place to work.

It's a good crew.

My boss is a good guy to work for, and so people tend to stick around here.

So, yeah, we've got helmets and all different sizes.

Normally you'd want a little bit of, space for a hat under the helmets but it's so warm out these days.

Okay.

Yeah, this is good.

Nice and grungy from yesterday.

So the bike trails are jus right at the end of Main Street.

Just cross down at that traffic light there, and the bike path is on your right.

So do you think I'm gonna survive?

You'll be fine.

Okay, so we tried the rec trail and agreed.

Great for beginners.

It was really fun, but we wanted to do something a little more advanced.

So we are on Miner's Creek, and I am huffing and puffing.

And I will not lie, it's very difficult for me.

But it is beautiful out here and every second is just some real.

Tire.

I'm fine.

Oh.

Here.

The Frisco Adventure Park we have.

Our main activity is snow tubing.

Very popular.

But then we also have th downhill skiing.

Snowboarding.

We have that for beginners.

And we also have it for advanced level in our terrain park.

Have great instructors at our Nordic center as wel for kind of teaching activities that a lot of people have never heard about.

So yeah, it's a it's a great entry area.

You don't need a skill set in order to go snow tubing.

Are you excited?

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're not there.

Resorts.

Right.

So we're a little bit more affordable than that because we are just part of the town of Frisco.

And we try and keep our pricing considerate of that.

But w do have some safety requirements specifically for tubin the height requirement of 36in.

So generall that's around three years old.

Who's gonna win?

I think for me, yeah.

Yeah, I think for you for sure.

And have you tried it yet.

You.

Yes, I tried it.

And this is two bites drilling another big boy.

So what was it like going down?

Oh, man, it was fun.

Okay, I won't do stuff like this often.

How about get all my money's worth?

Okay.

Yeah.

Any tips for me?

Oh, yeah.

Make sure you this speaking.

You guys, any tips for me?

Because I'm going to go down, keep both hands on the scraps and just scrape.

And it's my turn to test this out.

I'm a little nervous but how could I not be inspired by this little brave one?

Right.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Oh, no!

You.

Whoa, whoa oh.

From there, it looks like you have to hike up this hill to go down it.

But you don't.

You can just wait.

Enjoy the view till you get to the top.

When you're on.

Here we go.

Whoa, whoa.

000.

Ha ha!

Woo!

That was awesome.

It is such a a welcoming place that we have here.

Lots of different variety of activities.

Something for everyone.

And that makes it really easy to say yes to people.

And that makes my my day so much better.

This is a really, really great group of people that we have at the first Adventure Park, so I love it.

Another amazing option for your family that is free.

That is Creek Pond.

We're here bright and early an it is just beautiful out today.

You do have to bring your ow skates, so remember that part.

But other than that, it's open until 10 p.m.. I am trying hockey skates for the first time as well, and I'm learning that my, new mantra is do it scared.

It's love.

Be.

So, Meadow Creek, if you have your own skates, you can stay on the pond.

A lot of people practice for hockey there too, and you can definitely check our website to keep up to date on conditions of the ice, just to make sure that it hasn't thawed out.

Now.

Nice save.

Finding a place that was budget friendly, full of hometown character, and close to the activities was key.

The historic Frisco Lodge turned out to be the perfect cozy base camp.

So one of the nice things is, is Frisco is really accessible if you're walking.

Main Street has pretty much everything you need with all the shops and restaurants.

But if you need to go to the grocery store or Walmart, you can hop on a free bus and get there pretty easily.

Fortunately, we do sit square in the middle o little old downtown Main Street.

Super convenient.

Once you get here, you really don't have t get in your car and go anywhere.

The Frisco Lodge has been here since 1885.

It is the oldest building on Main Street left.

If my mom and dad bought the Frisco Lodge back in 1961, the only thing up here was Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge was being built and the Dillon Dam was starting constructio and the streets were all dirt.

No stop signs, no stop.

Like as kids growing up, we actually stayed upstairs with the guests that were here, and we had people from all over the world.

So we got a lot of exposur to a lot of different cultures.

We have the big community table.

We do have individual little tables and a retreat room, but it always amazes me how people come down and sit together.

Total strangers just sit down and start having breakfast together and visiting with each other.

And now you can stare at this cute llama because there's no footage of my morning conversation at the community table.

The connection was so genuine and refreshing that filmin it never even crossed my mind.

I have to say, it was my favorite part.

I tell people there's something about the walls of this building that that are very calming.

I love that we live in an area and work in an area that provides easy, accessible activities for everyone, and I can't wait for me as well.

I'm Erica McLarty in Frisco, Colorado.

Looks like a total blast, and I'm really impressed with Erica there that she chose to take o that more difficult bike trail.

I'm not surprised at all.

Eric is super adventurous from fat biking and tubing to skating, Erica says Frisco is quite the gem.

For more family friendly adventures across Colorado you can go to our YouTube page.

You can also visit Town of frisco.com.

Thanks so much for joining u for this edition of studio 12.

Don't forget, you can also check us ou on YouTube and on social media.

I'm bossy, Kanani, and I'm right here.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next time.