The founders of a food-oriented nonprofit in Westwood are moving on.
In a statement Tuesday, Re:Vision announced Executive Director Joseph Teipel was leaving to become executive director of the Chaffee County Community Foundation in his hometown of Buena Vista. Director of Impact Eric Kornacki is launching THRIVE Partners to continue his work on community economic development and will serve as a consultant on the Denver Public Market, a new food hub and market in West Denver.
Teipel and Kornacki, friends who were together on a service learning project in Nicaragua as students at the University of Denver, co-founded Re:Vision in 2007. They leave at month's end and JoAnna Cintrón, currently Re:Vision's director of communications and individual giving, will take over as executive director July 1. Cintrón is a fellow of DU's Latino Leadership Institute and sits on the board for the Westwood Creative District.
Re:Vision started by helping neighbors in Westwood start a few gardens to improve food security. It has since helped establish more than 2,000 home gardens, in part with the help of promotoras, or navigators, hired from the community who also work as community organizers who can connect their neighbors to resources on immigration, health and other issues.
Re:Vision also helped incubate the Westwood Food Cooperative.
In 2014 Denver's Office of Economic Development issued a $1.2 million loan to help Re:Vision buy a former junkyard at 3738 Morrison Road. Earlier this year construction began at the site on a campus that will include a full-service grocery store owned by the Westwood Food Cooperative, an arts and culture center, a community classroom, a commissary kitchen to support local food entrepreneurs. An urban farm and a hydroponic garden already on the site will continue.
