E-introduction

[Deirdre Sullivan]

Hello John and Jacob,
John, it was great to see you at La Familia’s fundraiser yesterday. I so appreciate how many things you attend and connect with your community.
I wanted to e-introduce both of you to the most amazing new member of our this community, Lori Rasmussen. Lori recently moved to Fort Collins and immediately jumped onto UWLC’s Community Impact committee, bringing decades of expertise is economic mobility and workforce development from her experience most recently in St. Louis and elsewhere in her career. I will let her elaborate more on the incredible organization she is currently working for remotely and her interest and plugging into volunteer boards here in our community. I truly believe the work she has done is a critical missing link here in Larimer county and hope you will find her skills as amazing as I have.

May you all find each other as wonderful as I do,
Deirdre

[John Kefalas]

Deirdre,

Thank you for this connection with Lori Rasmussen and Jacob Castillo (LC Economic & Workforce Development Director) and look forward to conversations about our mutual work and potential collaborations. At Friday's State Board of Human Services meeting, we had a presentation on the Cliff Effect and the Cross Purpose Financial Planner software and the CrossPurpose organization in Denver, https://www.crosspurpose.org/.

	John Kefalas County Commissioner, District 1
	Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St | 2nd Floor PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190 W: (970) 498-7001 Cell:  (720) 254-7598 jkef...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org

.

[Lori Rasmussen]

Thank you Deirdre for the lovely introduction.

John - For the past 6 years I've had the pleasure of working with Jeff Mazur, one of your Kennedy School classmates. Jeff leads LaunchCode, an organization that prepares folks for careers in web development (for free) and places them in paid apprenticeships. 

Prior to LaunchCode I was COO at a couple amazing education nonprofits in St. Louis - all focused on securing family-sustaining pathways for traditionally under-represented folks. As I look at the CrossPurpose site, it strikes me that a much stronger employer-skilling connection would be beneficial... (might exist but not be obvious from their online info). Employer buy-in (and investment) is so key in upskilling and placement. 

I'd love to explore how I can contribute to the vibrancy of Larimer County's workforce in a non-paid role. Let me know if we can connect over coffee at some point.

Warmly, Lori

Lori Rasmussen 

(314) 703-4743

[Jacob Castillo]

Deirdre- Thanks for the introduction. I always appreciate you connecting people throughout the community. 

Lori- I would welcome a chance to get to know you better and learn from the work you've done in St. Louis. The stuff you're talking about is right up my alley. Are you okay with me reaching to set up a meeting?

Commissioner Kefalas- Thanks for sharing the slide deck. 

Onward and upward, 

Jacob

--

	Jacob Castillo  Director
	Economic and Workforce Development Department 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, CO, 80521 | 5th Floor W: (970) 498-6605  |  C: (970) 222-2384 jcas...@larimer.org | www.larimerworkforce.org

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[John Kefalas]

And I would like to participate in such a meeting if that is okay with you all; thanks Jacob. Lori, It sure is a small world, and yes I remember Jeff well from our 2011 Harvard Kennedy School of Government Executive Training Program and will look at the Launch Code site. Thank you.

	John Kefalas County Commissioner, District 1
	Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St | 2nd Floor PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190 W: (970) 498-7001 Cell:  (720) 254-7598 jkef...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org

[John Kefalas]

At our July State Board of Human Services meeting in Pueblo, we received this presentation from a CBO out of Denver called Community Works that is working with CDHS to address generational poverty..FYI.

	John Kefalas County Commissioner, District 1
	Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St | 2nd Floor PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190 W: (970) 498-7001 Cell:  (720) 254-7598 jkef...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org

[Deirdre Sullivan]

I love seeing these connections of wonderful people bloom—please keep me in the loop as needed and things unfold. UWLC is going through some refinement of our pillars and funding and financial stability is an area we need guidance and infusion of programs proven to increase economic mobility in families/community. I am so glad Lori is serving on our CI committee to help inform this work too. Now…if I can convince Jacob to join our board in next round of openings….we’ll really make some changes happen! ;)

Gratefully,

Deirdre

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 8, 2022, at 8:12 PM, John Kefalas <kefa...@co.larimer.co.us> wrote:



[Lori Rasmussen]

(Removed Deirdre to spare her inbox)

Looking forward to connecting. I‘m happy to reach out to your offices to get the ball rolling. 

Warmly, Lori