500+ Miles, 20 Town Halls, a Challenge for our Students & Colorado Peaches

Hello Friends!

It has been wonderful being in the 2nd Congressional District this month during our August work period! I've been crisscrossing the district since I arrived, holding more town halls to hear from as many of you as possible, visiting our local businesses, our schools teachers, the regional forest service and so much more. Just in the last week and a half, we have been to 11 cities in 5 counties and traveled over 500 miles; it has definitely been an incredibly productive month!

VISITING OUR MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES

I always treasure the opportunity to visit our beautiful and unique mountain communities, and this month was no different! I had the opportunity to visit with small business owners in Breckenridge who shared ideas of ways we can support their innovation at the Federal level. I also had the opportunity to visit with teachers and administrators in Frisco at Summit Middle School who were excited to start welcoming their students back at the end of the month. Finally, I connected with the Forest Service and local leaders in Nederland to discuss fire mitigation restoration and forest management and other important forest issues in West Magnolia, Blue Creek and Breckenridge. Our mountain communities hold so much natural beauty and inspiring innovation. It is a true pleasure to hear from the citizens in these areas and to represent them in the U.S. House!

FORT COLLINS PEACH FESTIVAL AND BUSINESS TOUR

I had the great pleasure of serving pancakes at the Fort Collins Peach Festival! As a staple of the agricultural community throughout Colorado, peaches are one of the sweetest ways to enjoy the summer and support our local economy. We love knowing that the proceeds from the Peach Festival went to the The Boys and Girls Club of Larimer County. What a delicious experience for a great cause!

While in Fort Collins, we also held a small business tour to hear about the ground-breaking work of Northern Colorado's small businesses. Mayor of Fort Collins Wade Troxell and I met with the co-owner of Noosa Yogurt and toured renewable energy innovation happening at the Colorado State University Powerhouse Energy Campus. I am so proud of the innovation and forward-thinking endeavors taking place in Fort Collins' many businesses!

OUR 20TH TOWN HALL!

I've also jumped right back into our town hall tour, holding events in Estes Park, Lyons and our 20th town hall in Loveland ! We were thrilled to visit with constituents in Lyons and Estes Park to hear about the issues most important to them. We also hosted the fourth in our series of service town halls - where we not only had a community discussion about federal legislation and the issues important to the 2nd Congressional District, but we also took the opportunity to give back to our community through service. This time we served at the Larimer Humane Society where we created “adopt me” bandanas for dogs, cat mobiles and shelters, and laminated dog tags. The common endeavor in our service town halls unites people through a mutual cause, while still allowing the space to discuss the pressing issues of our time!

Our next service town hall will be in Broomfield on August 26th from 5:00 to 6:30PM. We will be serving at Broomfield Fellowship In Serving Humanity or simply "FISH" which provides food to over 6,000 individuals and families each year. You can find more information for this event here. I hope to see you there!

CONGRESSIONAL APP CHALLENGE

I am excited to announce our district's first congressional app challenge! This coding challenge for middle and high school students is designed to encourage student participation in computer science and coding. The challenge will be open to students of all skill-levels across the district for the next 12 weeks, giving participants the opportunity to code a unique app individually or in teams of up to 4 participants and compete against their peers. The challenge will encourage students to develop STEM and computer-based skills, essential for economic growth and innovation across Colorado.

By some estimates, the U.S. may be short by as many as 1 million programmers by 2020, making investments in STEM and computer-based skills absolutely essential for economic innovation nationwide. I am incredibly excited to host a district-wide app challenge to showcase our students drive, intelligence and creativity. You can learn more about this challenge here!

From our beautiful mountain communities, to the cities of Northern Colorado, and beyond, I am always encouraged and inspired by the people of the 2nd Congressional District. At their core, each and every individual in these communities is committed to lifting their neighbors and societies up, to creating a supportive world that encourages the best in each of us, and to ensuring the opportunities of this nation are guaranteed not just for ourselves, but for each generation that will follow us. It is a tremendous, humbling honor to represent this incredible district and I look forward to a productive fall working on behalf of this community in Washington, D.C.!

Sincerely,

Congressman Joe Neguse