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Andraine Sinaga

The INVST Program is thrilled to welcome Ava Branon, Andraine Sinaga, and Adia Hutchinson to our team. They are our new Undergraduate Research Assistants who will be mapping local community organizing by �山���� and Denver’s social justice, climate justice, and racial justice leaders. Ava, Andraine and Adia will be assisting us as we re-design a beloved INVST course, INVS 4931-4932, Community Leadership in Action, Parts 1 and 2.��

Beginning in August 2025, in these courses, INVST students will study the concepts and practices of antiracist community organizing. By partnering with grassroots leaders from minoritized identity groups (BIPOC, low-income, LGBTQ, undocumented) who work to solve public problems, we will shift how we build and sustain partnerships off campus and with whom.

This re-design work is based on the deliberations and decisions reached by the INVST Advisory Council. Areyana Proctor, Maymuna Jeylani, and Daniel Escalante, as well as staff Allie Van Buskirk and Annie Miller, helped INVST articulate these important choices on how to evolve our program. The results are some important shifts in developing a more culturally responsive curriculum. Andraine chose to contribute to this work because she is "motivated by a deep passion for social justice and community change." She says she hopes to "strengthen [her] understanding of collective leadership and develop skills that contribute meaningfully to today’s world. INVST offers the ideal environment for this professional and personal growth."

These undergraduate researchers will learn about intersectional social movements, differing approaches to change-making, and an array of organizing tactics. They will come to better understand urgent social and environmental problems in the �山����/Denver area, including environmental racism, food insecurity, housing inaccessibility, and the exclusion and oppression of immigrants and transgender people and communities. Ava says that her goal in participating in this research is to “improve diversity, equity, and inclusion on both the university's campus, and in Denver/�山���� communities." She goes on to say,�� “I applied to the INVST undergraduate research position after I experienced culture shock at CU on the basis of race, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. I am most looking forward to the impact this position will have on minority student's livelihoods and the relationships I will form with co-researchers and mentors. As a researcher, I will hold empathy for the populations and demographics being studied, and provide unique personal convictions and lived experience.”

Adia Hutchinson

Thanks to funding that INVST received from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), while this work occurs, we will be able to expose Ava, Andraine and Adia, who are new to research, to hands-on opportunities while they consider their possible educational and�� professional futures. Adia shares, “I am working with INVST to discover the true meaning of “anti-racist community organizing” because of my deep concern regarding issues like the pervasive inequity in education, infrastructure, and general opportunity which so many minority communities face. I am committed to fighting for social, economic, and environmental justice, and seek to build connections and collaborate with fellow researchers as we learn about community organizing in grassroots initiatives from inspiring champions of social justice. I hope our work will build connections between �山���� and the members of our community in the wider �山����/Denver area and help us learn how to create meaningful impact and broaden access for minority community members.”��Researchers will work closely with faculty; connect with inspiring community leaders off campus; and gain first-hand experience with social science, collaborative decision-making, and intellectual rigor.