In 2015, The Center for Trauma & Resilience, formerly known as the Denver Center for Crime Victims (DCCV), was nominated for the Best Nonprofits to Work for 2015 award and here is why this agency deserves the title. I am a new American and have been in this great country for almost 20 years. I have worked in the human services field for the past 15 years after receiving education in both psychology and social work. My work and academic experience have allowed me to intern, work for and even lead programs and collaborative efforts allowing me to distinguish a great agency when I see one. I have been with DCCV for almost five years now and when I learned about the agency receiving the Best Nonprofits to Work for 2015 award, I thought to myself, this is well deserved and I have to write about it.

There are many reasons why the agency deserves the Best Nonprofit Award, yet I have to start with the culture of inclusiveness. When I first started at the center, I noticed the people working at DCCV were genuinely caring professionals, who love their work and life at-large. The fact that this nonprofit has staff members who represent a wide-range of racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity initially took me by surprise. Yet, I was more surprised about the way the culture at DCCV embraces diversity as demonstrated by ongoing inclusiveness trainings and opportunities to learn more about others who are different from me. I have been exposed to attempts at inclusiveness and cultural competency in past workplaces, but here at DCCV it’s lived. There are no token system efforts; there are no required check-off activities to do to attain cultural competency. Here at DCCV, everyone has a voice to represent oneself, and the culture that comes along with that. We do not need to leave our history and our individuality at home. The expectation at the center is quite the opposite; it is one where we each are valued as individuals who make the workplace richer by fully contributing to the common good through sharing about our experiences, about our cultural heritage and other identifiers. This makes us who we are as individuals and professionals working at the center. As I reflect further, it is the culture of learning that I admire here and that creates the environment of inclusiveness. This model is hard to obtain and hard to sustain, I applaud the leadership staff at DCCV.

Daiga Keller, LCSW
Elder Specialist