CSU Pueblo Community

The grant was recently awarded to Colorado State University Pueblo, which will serve as afunding “conduit” for the communitywide project, said Fred Galves, project investigator andCSU Pueblo special assistant to the president.

“This is not just throwing money at the problem,” Galves said. “It’s a very well-thought-out,intelligent, efficient way of investing in the community —

NAACP Pueblo and the city also hosted a volunteer clean up of downtown following the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day “CommUnity March.” The march drew community members of all ages and backgrounds — including students from both Pueblo school districts and Colorado State University Pueblo athletes, said Roxana Mack, NAACP Pueblo president. About 40 volunteers stayed after the march to pick up trash.

In the late 1970s, there was a very popular television show entitled, “Welcome Back, Kotter.” It was about a young man who, after high school, left his hometown and then returned many years later as a teacher wanting to “give back” to his community. The iconic lyrics of the theme song for that TV show are quite applicable to Puebloan Fred Galves—who, like the TV character—left many years ago, and now has returned to engage his former community.

PUEBLO, Colo. — About 30 to 40 years ago, apprenticeships were mostly used for trade jobs. Now, that’s no longer the case.

“It’s really a collaboration of the university, the school districts, the high schools, the high school students, and, of course, the Pueblo employers,” said Fred Galves, special assistant to the president of community engagement at CSU-Pueblo.

Significant momentum toward a solution over the Christopher Columbus statue dispute is building between both sides of the issue.

A plan imagined by City Council President Dennis Flores that would see an outdoor museum created where the statue sits in the Mesa Junction that would present a broader scope of history has been agreed upon by both sides of the issue during mediation sessions that have been held, according to Flores and Fred Galves, the mediator who has overseen those sessions.

Protesters in Pueblo have gathered every Sunday for more than a month at a statue of Christopher Columbus. Long revered by Italian Americans, Columbus is also seen as opening the doors to the brutalities of colonization. In a community like Pueblo, which is rich with both immigrant and Native history, the conversation about the explorer and his legacy has gone on for a long time.

Pueblo City Councilwoman Lori Winner has questioned whether Mayor Nick Gradisar tried to take the decision of whether the city should hire a mediator for the Christopher Columbus statue dispute out of council’s hands.

A initial consideration of an ordinance to approve a mediation service contract between the city and professional mediator Fred Galves passed City Council unanimously on July 27 and was set for a final vote on Monday.

At a busy intersection in Pueblo there’s a monument topped by a bronze bust of Christopher Columbus, a figure whose legacy is controversial. Two years ago a group of Puebloans embarked on mediation regarding what to do with the statue.

Pueblo is known for its ethnic diversity, including many descendants of immigrants from around the globe who came to work in the steel mill. That includes a large Italian community, which gifted the Columbus monument to the city in 1905. Since then they’ve come together there annually to celebrate their history, according to Puebloan Jerry Carleo.

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