Events

Racquel’s background includes building five grassroots organizations and businesses from the ground up; Coaching clients one-on-one and cultivating other coaches to build their best lives; presenting and training organizations and donors to de-stigmatize and educate on the reality of overcoming substance misuse, systemic and familial obstacles, advocating for underserved populations; and speaking on Racial Equity, Power of the Peer/Coaching Professional and Criminal Justice Reform. She owns HardBeauty LLC and is the Executive Director of the HardBeauty Foundation. The first and only Peer led organization in Douglas County Colorado that serves the entire state with virtual coaching and programming.

Jenny Hill serves as the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment’s (DDPHE) Homeless Health Policy Analyst. She is a member of the Denver Joint Task Force on Homelessness, the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) Homeless Task Force, DDPHE Liaison for the Homeless Leadership Council, and the programmatic administrator for a Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Health Disparities Grant. This grant includes funding to reduce the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including behavioral health, with trauma responsive, person focused strategies through partnerships and research with service providers and people experiencing houselessness.

Dr. Heidi McMillan is a board-certified pediatrician and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics whose passion is bringing quality care to where there is a need.  She received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and completed both her medical degree and her pediatric residency training at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. McMillan served in a physician shortage area in rural Utah as a National Health Service Corps Scholar from 2005 to 2011 prior to joining Pediatric Partners of the Southwest where she practiced both primary care and hospital medicine.  In addition to general pediatrics, Dr. McMillan is interested in developmental/behavioral pediatrics and increasing access to care. ​

Butch Lewis worked on the original legislation that created CARR’s structure in Colorado as a board member and drafted many of the policies and standards under which recovery residences in Colorado are governed. He is regarded as a go-to source for finding creative out-of-the-box solutions for struggling organizations with unique problems.

Allison Harden’s personal recovery journey led her to employment roles in Community Outreach at the Betty Ford Center and the Center for Dependency Addiction and Rehabilitation (CeDAR). She has a Master of Science from the University of Denver in Organizational Leadership.

Donna Mae Baukat – Peer Support Professional President/Co-founder and Executive Director, Community Compassion Outreach, Inc.

DENVER MOORE was a dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery – in
the 1960s. RON HALL was a successful art gallery owner who had a healthy bank account but
emotionally was running on empty. Although worlds apart, their destiny collided when Ron’s wife
Debbie insisted that Ron join her in serving food at a local homeless shelter. As soon as she met
Denver there, she had a vision that he would change the city and that her husband must befriend
him. Sadly, she didn’t live to see the incredible result of the unlikely friendship she initiated.
Their story, immortalized in the New York Times best-selling book, Same Kind of Different As Me,
inspires people to take off their racial, social, and economic blinders in order to find common
ground..