NEWSED Community Development Corporation has served Denver since 1973, helping families and entrepreneurs build lasting stability. We offer HUD-certified housing counseling and homebuyer education, free bilingual financial coaching (English and Spanish), and small business training and retail incubation for BIPOC entrepreneurs at The ZONE Marketplace on Santa Fe Drive. Support NEWSED today!
“Don’t tell me I can’t do it, I’ll find a way!” Debra says as she sits with cane in hand at her large dining room table complete with plastic cover and lace placemats. The table she waited a long time to get out of storage after living at the Savannah Suites hotel on Sheridan Boulevard for years before she was able to afford her new home. 55 year old Debra Thompson now lives in a spacious three bedroom home in Thornton with her two sons. To say that she’s had a hard life would be a complete understatement. Debra was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles she was one of four siblings. Her father was abusive who at one time broke three of her ribs. Her mother was the one who urged her to move out of the state which she eventually did but after that nothing ever came easy. Debra had ten children, mostly boys and three girls. A few years prior to working with NEWSED one of her sons was murdered in West Denver and around the same time she lost her house and became homeless. On top of that she couldn’t work at her long time security job because of a severe on the job injury and was living on disability. “Everything just happened at once, it all came down on me,” Debra recalls while staring down at her table. “I made it through, but it was hard.”
Debra walks around her impeccably clean house which lingers with the smell of eggs she made herself for breakfast. She’s most proud of her large master suite. “Isn’t it big?” she beams with a big grin. In her living room there’s shelves she had her son put up that hold her limited edition McDonald’s glass collection and ceramic clown dolls. She has a lot to be proud of in this home she can finally be comfortable in, on her own terms. She found NEWSED through a computer search while working with Mile High United Way’s IDA program. “I saw that there were other agencies but I had a feeling about NEWSED,” she recalled. When Debra and her son first entered NEWSED’s doors on June 3rd 2013 she had no FICO score and several collections. Her son’s collections were double hers with a score in the low 500s. NEWSED Housing Counselor, Mercedes Fuentes, knew that their case would be challenging and would take a long time to get them to the point of home ownership, but in August of 2015 they made it. Debra and her son did it together and now they join the ranks of hundreds of NEWSED success stories. Don’t ever tell a strong and resourceful woman like Debra Thompson that something is impossible it’s not in their vocabulary. As she walks out on her front porch to have her picture taken she takes in a deep breath of cool Colorado fall air and tells us to, “hurry up, it’s getting cold!” Debra is the reason why NEWSED works to build self-sufficiency for people who are considered beyond help. It is her lead that we follow.
- Debra Thompson
NEWSED promotes community development to underserved populations in Colorado by providing navigation for housing services, nurturing small businesses, and promoting asset creation.
In 1973 NEWSED was founded as part of the national Community Development Corporation (CDC) movement. NEWSED began its work in one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods, La Alma Lincoln Park. The organization’s early work addressed issues of neighborhood blight and lack of services and businesses. In the early 70s West Denver was experiencing an exodus of White, middle income families to the suburbs which was causing businesses to close especially; grocers, laundry mats, restaurants and many others. In response, NEWSED and other neighborhood groups formed. NEWSED’s initial focus was specific and worked in conjunction with the City of Denver to usher in community development block grants and other funding methods to redevelop Santa Fe Drive through street renovation projects and small business initiatives that assisted in loan creation and job development. In the late 70s into the 80s NEWSED built over 100,000 square feet of retail/commercial development which assisted in the influx of restaurants and artists to Santa Fe Drive creating the beginnings of what is now Colorado’s official first state designated Art District. Later NEWSED began developing affordable rental housing units for those living at 20 to 80% of the area median income level as well as single home rehabs. At the same time NEWSED implemented its HUD certified housing counseling program and in the last 20 years has placed thousands of individuals and families into their first homes, provided down payment assistance and has helped mitigate foreclosures. In the most recent decade NEWSED has continued on the self-sufficiency path for its clients and created Denver’s first Retail Incubator program in 2013, NewSeed Lending in 2020 and Financial Literacy Training in 2024
Organization name
NEWSED Community Development Corporation
other names
NEWSED
1973
Tax id (EIN)
74-2275534
Category
Community Improvement & Capacity Building, Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy, Public & Societal Benefit, Arts, Culture & Humanities
Organization Size
Large Organization
Colorado State Tax Credits
Colorado Enterprise Zone Credit
Address
725 Santa Fe DriveDenver County, CO, US