“I challenge you to acknowledge your sacredness” – Jerry Tello
Our Story
The founders of the Denver Healing Generations Network have been active in their community for 30 years. They began in community activism and organizing to gain attention to systemic issues that were affecting the Chicano/Latino community around issues of education, criminal justice, and other root causes of trauma, which was personal, familial, and generational. Their first organization was called Barrio Warriors and sought to engage barrio and gang-involved youth in community events and cultural expression outlets such as youth-created magazines to highlight the fact that a warrior takes care of their communities and its people and does not harm their community. In their definition of warrior, a warrior seeks to resolve conflict instead of creating it.
Founder Francisco “Cisco” Gallardo began Denver Healing Generations Network in 2013 with the intention of creating a perpetual movement of intergenerational healing. We began holding spaces for women’s and men’s healing circles for adults and facilitation of Joven Noble and Girasol youth development programming. We also held a Wisdom Keepers Gathering in 2016 to bring in local and national organizations doing healing work within Chicano/Latino communities and encourage healing-centered approaches for agencies active in various modalities throughout marginalized populations.
As a result of the pandemic, many young people felt disconnected in an increasingly virtual world. The need for an increase in La Cultura Cura programming became apparent so we officially incorporated as a 501c3 in 2022 and began facilitating groups throughout the Denver Metro area. This also led to an inevitable need for advocacy work as young people of color became inspired by the George Floyd protest movement and sought to have their voices heard in relation to policies surrounding education, juvenile justice, and environment. As we grow, we are discovering new directions and collaborations to empower and heal communities of color, especially between Brown and Black communities, and invite you to be a part of this movement!
Our Goals
To bring trauma-informed, culturally-rooted, healing-centered work to BIPOC youth throughout the Denver Metro and greater Front Range area in order to give them a sense of purpose, kinship, and responsibility to the greater community.
To inspire adults and parents to hold themselves accountable to the youth and community in which they live by addressing personal and generational wounds and taking an active role in community healing.
To motivate community to heal together through conscious events that focus on rebuilding kinship and unity.
To work to effect change by influencing policyholders and decision makers using culture, arts, and community organizing to elevate voices of thoseaffected by systemic oppression.
The mission of the Denver Healing Generations Network is to facilitate the reconnecting of Chicano, Latina/o/x, Native, and other people of color to our Indigenous and ancestral teachings of community and healing through La Cultura Cura (Culture Cures) conscious programming and events that restore youth, family, and community to their Sacred Self and build kinship.
