For Aaron Uhl, creating an atmosphere where everyone feels welcome — and safe — to enjoy his beer has been a top priority.
“When I'm behind the bar and I'm seeing things happening, I interject,” said Uhl, the head brewer at Renegade Brewing. “I do not just stand still idly and let a situation get out of control. It shouldn't even get to [that] position.”
Renegade is one of a handful of breweries and other alcohol-based proprietors taking part in the fifth annual Change on Tap fundraiser, which aims to educate workers and help make up for budget cuts caused by the state’s loss of federal Victims of Crime Act dollars.
Alcohol is 'a big part' of sexual assault
Since January 2023, an estimated 1,900 sexual assaults have been reported to the Denver Police Department, but the actual number is likely much higher. Data from the U.S. Department of Justice shows just 310 of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to police.
Many of those instances include alcohol. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it’s around 50 percent overall and up to 77 percent on college campuses. “We know that alcohol does not cause sexual violence, but it is a big part of it,” said Kaity Gray, Community Education Director for The Blue Bench, a local nonprofit committed to eliminating sexual assault.
“Part of making the community safer is working with alcohol serving establishments to make sure that people can recreate and drink alcohol safely. Because really the worst thing that should happen to you if you drink is that you have a headache the next day,” she said.
This year, Mile High Spirits, Renegade Brewing, Fort Greene Bar, First Draft Taproom & Kitchen, Denver Pub Crawl, and Fiction Beer in Parker are participating in the initiative.
They’ll donate a portion of their sales for the month of November to The Blue Bench and they’ll get training from the organization on preventing, recognizing, and intervening in sexual assault. In 2024, the state’s Victims of Crime Act budget was slashed by 45 percent to just $13 million.
Change on Tap aims to make up for lost federal funding
The cuts have been happening since 2018, when the state had $58 million in the pot to serve organizations protecting and serving crime victims. The loss in funding has impacted nonprofits like The Blue Bench tremendously.
“We’ve had to cut down almost our entire therapy department so we can only see people who are uninsured or Spanish speaking. That's a huge loss to survivors who really, really rely on our services,” Gray said. “We've had to reduce our hotline and cut back on doing school programming. It's a really devastating loss for us, and our hope is that with more funds, we will be able to rebuild [and] move forward.”
Part of the cuts to VOCA funds will be made up for through a new excise tax on guns that was approved by voters this month. But, organizations helping crime victims won’t see that money until 2026, leaving them scrambling to raise funds in other ways. The Blue Bench hopes that the Change on Tap fundraiser can help to bridge the gap.
A ‘Safe Bar Certification’ means patrons can trust their bartenders
Besides raising money for The Blue Bench, bars and breweries can also work with the nonprofit to train their staff in sexual assault prevention.
Uhl’s goal of providing a safe place for people to drink led him to get Renegade “Safe Bar Certified.” It’s an option for hospitality establishments provided by The Blue Bench that Gray hopes all Denver bars will look into.
“People will see that Safe Bar Seal. They'll say, ‘Hey, I know that this is a place where people are paying attention to me, where people know what to do if they see that behavior that seems risky,’” she said. The goal is to fight back against sexual harassment and other behavior that is too often tolerated in bar culture.
“More verbal things like sexual remarks and sexist comments are more tolerated in these recreational environments, especially when people are drinking alcohol,” Gray said. “Those behaviors move up to things that are more recognized as sexual violence like groping, sexual assaults, and rape. So the hope is to create more intervention early on because the risk of intervening is maybe awkward at worst, but at best, you're preventing an assault.”
Keeping patrons safe
Uhl agreed that early intervention is key to preventing sexual assault and is happy his space can give people peace of mind. “Now, my patrons know this is a safe place that they can come to. A place where they can enjoy their time, a place where they can bring their friends without harassment,” he said.
Gray hopes the Safe Bar Certifications and the Change on Tap initiative inspire people across the city to speak up for strangers, especially with the national shift away from funding victim services.
“We must be resolute and clear about what kind of community we want to live in. We know that perpetrators test the waters, see what they can get away with, see what people are going to allow within the environment. And so not tolerating those things, looking out for each other, and practicing what we say in those times is really important,” Gray said.
In a statement, the Denver Police Department told CPR News it “applauds The Blue Bench and their efforts to create safer environments in local bars and restaurants by educating staff on sexual assault prevention, intervention and recognizing unsafe behaviors.” DPD also participates in the Start by Believing campaign which aims to transform the way the nation responds to sexual assault.
