Este episodio de Voces de Resistencia fue grabado en Ingles y Español. Para escuchar en español, avanze a once minutos y veinte segundos. This episode of Voces de Resistencia is recorded in English and Spanish. To listen in Spanish, fast forward to eleven minutes and twenty seconds.


We’re dusting off the whitewashed history that often masks our current work and staff. We’re now led by a group of powerful women of color who are writing their own history. 


Welcome to Voces de Resistencia: A 9to5 Colorado podcast where we dive into our work as the Colorado chapter of the 9to5 National Association of Working Women. My name is Katherine Garcia. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I'm the senior communications strategist of 9to5 Colorado and I'm your host for this episode. In this pilot episode we’re introducing ourselves—breaking down who we are, what you can expect from this podcast and why you should keep listening.


Let's start with 9to5’s origin. You've probably heard Dolly Parton’s hit song or watched the classic film entitled “9to5” released in 1980 and that collection of media was inspired by our work here at 9to5. Our organization initially began as a worker’s rights movement led by a group of white secretaries based out of Boston to stop workplace harassment and provide childcare to employees. After decades of implementing better practices in the workplace, passing legislation across states and at the federal level, 9to5 grappled with its identity as a union branch, as a policy-oriented organization and eventually as a key player in the economic justice movement. Now as a multi-chapter, grassroots organization operating in Colorado, Wisconsin and Georgia, 9to5 intends to build and sustain a thriving workforce that uplifts women of color and non-binary community members. In 2023, 9to5 celebrated its 50th anniversary–a tell-tale sign that despite challenges our organization has endured, we can expect to overcome many more in our future.


As for our chapter here in Colorado, our origin story is more recent. Our team officially formed in 1996, our work started with a single organizer to present sexual harassment trainings to low-income women in the Denver metro. According to former staff members, 9to5 national had the intention to start small but grow a thriving chapter. With only a handful of staff members leading the chapter for several years, most of the work was supplemented by dedicated members who volunteered their time. Additional help came from part-time workers and interns. And as 9to5 began to plant its roots in Colorado, the political landscape shifted significantly. At one time, the state’s capitol, a-k-a “the dome”, was once filled solely with legislators, presenting an unwelcoming space to the general public. But 9to5 began bringing its members *to* the dome to share their stories and reshift the Capitol’s environment and that work is still in progress.


On the same political front, Colorado once was led by a staunch anti-progressive government leadership leaving many of our bills dead or hanging in the balance. Even in recent years despite more progressive leadership, many of our more so-called radical efforts would have been scoffed at under the dome. But we’ve shown our power and the power of the people through the passage of multiple ballot initiatives. Former 9to5 staff members say those initiatives took years of base-building, coalition work, and old fashioned trial and error. Some of those initiatives include Paid Family and Medical Leave, and Equal Work for Equal Pay, and a campaign *against* an effort to end affirmative action in Colorado. 


In the legislature, 9to5 has also helped expand the definition of sexual harassment and increased access to benefits including TANF and Medicaid across the state.


In more recent years, our organization has done work to ensure tenants have increased rights through the passing of the “Rights in Residential Lease Agreements” bill that rebalances the legal power for tenants facing an eviction and reduces rental late fees. We helped reshape the Mobile Home Park Act to better protect mobile homeowners. And in 2023, led the work to pass Mobile Home Park Water Quality to ensure residents will have access to clean water.


Our past and future wins could not have been possible without our membership. Now, some of our more involved members steer our work on the Economic Justice Advisory Committee. Let's talk about some of that work. 


For many years, 9to5 Colorado has built its base within mobile home parks. Many of our members there are women of color and those in the low-income bracket. Those roots are grounded in our housing work in which we strive to ensure our members know their rights and enact policy to restore power back into tenant and mobile home park communities. Typically tenants do not have support systems they need due to the imbalance of power and oftentimes mobile home park landlords manipulate and retaliate against those tenants and manufactured homeowners to gain profit. Many of those residents aren’t *aware* of their power much less know they can fight together to advocate for themselves and their neighbors.


Another area of work that is quintessential to our identity is worker justice. Our most recent campaign win in that work has been Paid Family and Medical Leave. In 2020 Colorado voters passed ballot initiative 118 with flying colors. Later coined under the acronym “FAMLI'' spelled F-A-M-L-I, the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program in Colorado now gives workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave. During the rule-making process, our team was able to expand the definition of ‘family’ ensuring those non-biological family members are included and the program is accessible to most workers. Equal Work for Equal Pay passed in 2019. Following the exposure of discrepancies with pay transparency, Ensure Equal Work for Equal Pay passed in 2023. 


Our newest area of work is centered on climate justice. In 2021, we decided to enter the climate space to highlight the intersectionality between climate, racial justice and economic justice. More specifically, we want to educate our membership how climate issues affect the day-to-day lives of Coloradans, especially our families of color and our low-income families. Our team is currently researching the most critical climate issues that affect our membership in order to draft a plan of action and potentially pass key climate policy in Colorado. As mentioned before, a big climate justice win for us came in 2023, when our mobile home park water quality bill was signed into law and in 2024 the state of Colorado began testing water quality across the state’s mobile home parks per resident complaints. 


As a chapter, we have also found there is more power in numbers. 9to5 Colorado has been a member of, or has led, several different coalitions across the state since our inception to pass many of our policies. We’ve worked closely with other key progressive organizations to show up in solidarity at the dome.


So who is 9to5 Colorado now? We’ve moved past the imagery that was once portrayed in Dolly Parton's song. Following our 50th anniversary celebration, 9to5 unveiled its website redesign, its new logo and overall branding as a signal that the future of 9to5 is here. We’re dusting off the white-washed history that often masks our current work and staff. While we give praise and nod to the brave women who started the organization, we hope our audience and supporters of 9to5 recognize we’re now led by a group of powerful women of color who are writing their *own* history.


9to5 present day is centered on progressive values. We can’t accomplish our goals without first creating expectations and norms within our team to be accepting and mindful of the world we live in. We put the ideas of anti-oppression and race/class narrative at the forefront when developing strategy. Without recognizing our own privileges, the structure of white supremacy and how those affect our day-to-day lives, we cannot truly understand the meaning of our work and how it affects people, especially the people we serve.


A big reflection of 9to5 Colorado's power and our ability to move policy and organize is through our grassroots strategy. This allows us to uplift voices within our community that might otherwise never reach the surface. Our members, who are primarily working women of color,  make up our organization. They provide testimony at the state Capitol, canvass alongside our staff, develop strategy by serving on internal committees and they have the potential to become leaders within their own communities to affect real change. They’re the stakeholders *and* the decision makers of 9to5 Colorado.


And, because we’re grassroots, our interests are focused on developing policy and best practices to create a more equitable space for working women of color. Our ties are not to the agenda of elected officials or to money-hungry corporations or even to the state of Colorado. Our work is centered on the people and their lives. 


This work cannot be accomplished of course, without the passion and tenacity of our amazing staff. Right now, many of our members live in the Denver metro area, but our organizers reach multiple corners of the state to identify more Coloradans who want to make an impact. They’re meeting with community leaders, educating residents on our recent policy wins and presenting know-your-rights training to empower current and potential members. As our policy interests expand, our staff leadership is making waves in the state Capitol to see those organizing efforts come to fruition *and* to intertwine 9to5’s name with the historical policies we’re fighting for. 


In a three-year span, 9to5 Colorado’s staff has more than doubled. Our recent growth and future successes now fall into the hands of our state executive director Cesiah Guadarrama Trejo. Cesiah first began her career with 9to5 as a canvasser where she worked her way up, building community relationships and fighting for the values and goals of 9to5. Now, she moves the organization ahead with an exciting vision.


Cesiah adds regardless of *what* areas of work we do in the future, she wants our chapter to remain member-led.


So, now that we’ve established who we are as an organization you’re probably wondering what is the purpose of Voces de Resistencia. It’s important to know not only what our work is but how we do it and who are the people that make it possible. 


So throughout the rest of this season, we’ll talk about our work more in depth and highlight some of our plans for the future. We’re breaking down the details and trials to implement Family and Medical Leave Insurance, the woes of fighting against Colorado’s housing crisis, the purpose of our involvement in climate justice, the ins and outs of how organizers do their work on the ground and a deeper discussion with our state executive director who will explain why and how we organize in mobile home parks. 


That wraps up episode 1 of our podcast. Thank you for joining us on Voces de Resistencia. 


 If you were inspired by today’s episode, please visit 9to5.org to learn more information about our mission and vision. There, you can also give a monetary donation to help uplift our voices of resistance. 


My name is Katherine Garcia and this is Voces de Resistencia: a 9to5 Colorado podcast. Thanks for listening.