Dear fellow Coloradans,
As we gather with family and friends to celebrate this holiday season, please accept my warmest wishes to each and every one of you.
As your Governor, I am proud to serve such an inclusive and vibrant state. In 2024, I will continue to work towards a bold future where every Coloradan has an opportunity to thrive.
I want to make sure you saw that I released a Roadmap to Colorado’s Future: 2026.
In a little over two years, we’ll celebrate Colorado’s 150th birthday. That milestone is an opportunity to ask ourselves: How do we as Coloradans want to live? What do we want the future to look like? Over the past few months, I have traveled the state with my cabinet and staff hearing from Coloradans about what they love most about living here, the challenges they are facing, and the changes they want to see when Colorado turns 150.
Housing & Transit
Informed by our many conversations with Coloradans across the state, this roadmap outlines my ambitious vision for 2026 – one in which Coloradans enjoy a high quality of life at a cost everyone can afford. We know that housing, transit, and affordability are all linked together. This roadmap provides a practical plan to ensure our state has more housing so that people can afford to live where they want to live, and that more Coloradans can live nearer to where they work. We deserve an affordable and accessible multi-modal transportation system that works for everyone; a thriving economy with vibrant urban, suburban, and rural communities; clean air to breathe, fresh water to drink; and the natural beauty of an accessible parks system and open space.
This week, I visited the Commons in Colorado Springs with Mayor Yemi Mobalade to highlight the need for more housing that people can afford, that can be built close to job centers and along transit corridors.
The Newcomers Fund
Since December 2022, Colorado has experienced an unprecedented influx of migrants in the Greater Denver region. The Rose Community Foundation in collaboration with The Colorado Office of New Americans and the City and County of Denver established the Newcomers Fund to aid newly arrived migrant families in Colorado. The state is working to establish immigration legal assistance pathways to provide eligible individuals with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and work authorization for new Coloradans.
As you celebrate the holidays this season, please consider supporting our newest Coloradans as we continue to work towards a more prosperous Colorado For All.
On Track for Front Range Passenger Rail
This week, the Federal Rail Administrator, Amit Bose, visited Colorado to announce initial funding for Front Range Passenger Rail. In 2021, Colorado’s legislature created the Front Range Passenger Rail District to start facilitating the creation of the passenger rail system. Front Range Rail will link Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Fort Collins, to Denver. By providing a new travel option along the 173-mile corridor that contains the majority of Colorado’s population, we will relieve growth and congestion pressures. Click here for more information, including a map of the proposed route.
Climate Preparedness, Disaster Recovery
Passed in 2022, SB22-205 created the Office of Climate Preparedness and Disaster Recovery. The Office was charged with creating a roadmap to be submitted to the legislature by December 1, 2023. This roadmap shares state government agencies’ actionable and achievable near-term steps toward climate adaptation. Included in this roadmap are next-step actions across multiple agencies and offices for near-term implementation.
Where needed, these actions are coordinated with any other plans or actions to avoid duplication amongst ongoing state efforts. Updated every three years and based on iterative learning, the Climate Preparedness Roadmap charts the next steps on the path for a climate adapted, healthy, and prosperous future Colorado. Take a look at the road map here.
Holidays at the Governor’s Mansion
This holiday season, we hosted over 500 guests for open house holiday tours of the Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion and were named the Top Weekend things to do in Denver and beyond in The Denver Gazette. This year’s theme, “Let it Snow” showcases white and silver decorations, including tiny snowy transit-oriented neighborhoods throughout the residence, including trains in every room…
Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season!
With warm regards,
Jared Polis
Governor of the State of Colorado
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