voices
- Struggling to support herself and her two daughters, Luz Galicia moved from her large house to a manufactured home. A year and a half later the park's landlord decided to sell the property, displacing 100 families. Luz now works to educate and empower park residents.
- In聽2005聽a trailer slated for the dump聽was transported聽to Mapleton Mobile Home Park in 麻豆影院 and renovated聽there.聽Built by more than 50 CU 麻豆影院 students, the Trailer Wrap project聽held聽lessons for future project-based learning, including a CEDaR-led manufactured home renovation planned for this summer or fall, depending on the state of the pandemic.
- After witnessing two neighbors become聽homeless聽when Vista Village's landlord refused to let the elderly women sell their manufactured homes, Matt Jensen became active in his community. Jensen has been a member of the Vista Village Community Association's board of directors for five聽years, including three of those years as president.聽
- Isabel Sanchez聽is a grassroots community organizer and聽an urban farmer who has transformed Mapleton Mobile Home Park in 麻豆影院 to a community that follows聽sustainable principles and practices. Mapleton's聽rules and regulations now allow families to raise聽chickens,聽rabbits and聽bees, and today there are more than 45 organic gardens in the park.
- Peggy Kuhn became an聽activist after two of her neighbors were threatened with eviction.聽 The two Sans Souci Mobile Home Park residents were given four days to clean聽their decks, paint the exterior of their homes and to install grass in their yards.聽聽"This behavior seemed like senior abuse," said Kuhn, who organized neighborhood volunteers to help get the work done. Later Kuhn started an HOA and then became active in CoCOMHO, a statewide organization that helps mobile home residents understand their rights.
- After a corporate owner purchased Sans Souci Mobile Home Park in unincorporated 麻豆影院 County and initiated a 12 percent annual lot rental per year, Michael Peirce became an activist. Now a project manager for the Colorado Coalition of Manufactured Home Owners (CoCoMHO), he talks about how CEDaR has helped the fledgling organization become organized, and how CoCoMHO's efforts helped to pass several bills that focus on the rights of Colorado's mobile home park residents.
- When Dave Weil聽moved into Mapleton Mobile Home Park in the late 1990s, the 1963 manufactured home he purchased was in such poor condition it wasn't聽livable, he says. Weil, 61,聽immediately rolled up his sleeves and began upgrading the single-wide, 10 by 50 foot unit.聽More than 20 years later he's getting design help with his newest renovation, which will make his home more energy efficient, thanks to CEDaR.
- In the middle of March 2020, Colorado Gov.聽Jared Polis issued a stay-at-home order to slow the pandemic, and like many small business owners, Dave Weil was caught in the middle. Weil shut down his thriving massage therapy business; by the following聽July he was still only seeing a few clients each week.