The Co-LEADS conference was established in 2009 by a
group of individuals on the Auraria and DU campuses as a way to bridge
discussions of leadership and social justice in a meaningful way. The
Summit invites college students from across
Colorado to join in discussions of social justice, activism, advocacy,
and social change. Throughout the day students participate in a number
of workshops that challenge, grow, and inspire them to make change in
their own lives and their communities.
This year, the conference will be exploring the theme: Justice for the Vote: Electoral Equity in a Diverse Democracy. Keynote and breakout sessions will engage self-awareness, social systems, personal skills and collaborative action
through this lens.
The keynote this year is Joe Salazar:
Joe Salazar is the representative in House District 31, which includes
most of Thornton and parts of unincorporated Adams County. Rep. Salazar
is vice-chair of the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and
also serves on the Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Salazar has spent his entire career making sure the rights of
hard-working Coloradans are protected, and has brought that same focus
to the legislature. In the 2014 session Rep. Salazar passed legislation
that reduced the fees an individual must pay when
making a a request for public records under Colorado’s Open Records
Act. He also sponsored legislation that prevents individuals with
serious mental illnesses from being being placed in long term solitary
confinement. Rep. Salazar also sponsored a bill to
formally outlaw court-ordered jail time for being unable to pay court
fines, a practice that in previous centuries was known as debtors
prison.
During the 2013 legislative session, he was co-prime sponsor of a bill
that updates Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act, allowing employees to
seek damages and attorney’s fees in cases of intentional discrimination
or harassment for factors including race, gender
and sexual orientation.
Rep. Salazar is a Colorado native whose Spanish and indigenous roots in
Colorado and New Mexico go back hundreds of years. He was a civil rights
and criminal investigator for the State of Colorado, working for the
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies
in the civil rights division and division of insurance.
Rep. Salazar left the division of insurance in 2000 to attend law school
at the University of Denver College of Law, where he became a founding
member of the American Bar Association, Law Student Division, and a
member of the Native American Law Student and
Latino Law Student Associations. He continued to assist the civil
rights division on cases, and in 2001 the State of Colorado awarded him a
“Subject Matter Expert” certification in the area of civil rights.
After law school Rep. Salazar started his own firm focusing on cases
involving employment law, civil rights, constitutional law and federal
Indian law. He has successfully taken on many cases involving employment
and constitutional issues, and in 2012 he was
recognized by the publication Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the
area of civil rights and constitutional law.
Rep. Salazar’s family has owned farm and ranch land in Colorado’s San
Luis Valley and in northern New Mexico for generations. He was four
years old when he moved with his parents to Thornton, and grew up as the
city grew, attending Woodglenn Elementary, Northeast
Junior High School and Thornton High School, where he graduated in
1989.
