Strat Labs

Welcome to Strat Labs’ Changemaker Spotlight Series! This blog series is dedicated to showcasing the inspiring journeys of remarkable individuals who have transformed their passions into purposeful endeavors, leaving a significant impact on the world around them every single day. Join us as we delve into the heart of innovation and commitment, celebrating the extraordinary stories of those who are not just dreaming of a better future but actively shaping it in their journey as a changemaker.

Ethan Hemming joined Warren Village as the President and CEO in May of 2016. Prior to Warren Village, Ethan served for more than four years as Executive Director at the Colorado Charter School Institute (CSI) and held several leadership positions at Denver Public Schools (DPS). Beyond these professional achievements, his volunteer work has included board service at GALS Charter School and Samaritan House Shelter.

Ethan holds a Bachelor’s degree from Colorado College and a Master’s from Colorado State University. In his spare time, Ethan enjoys downhill mountain biking, hiking, and camping with his wife Nicole, and their two children.

What inspired you to embark on your journey in the social impact space?

My inspiration starts with the community and its needs. For Warren Village, these apparent needs are education, housing, and early learning for single-parent families. I have always wanted to be a part of transformative positive solutions for the community, specifically for people who have been systemically and systematically denied an opportunity. That’s what I love about Warren Village – it is opportunity-based, constructive, and transformative. 

Can you describe how you and Warren Village are making a significant social impact?

It is Warren Village’s 50th anniversary, so we’ve been reflecting on the last 50 years and what’s been accomplished. In that time, we’ve served well over 8,700 moms, dads, and kids at all of our campuses. There are many ways to look at impact, but I believe the person-by-person change is most important — or in our case, family-by-family. 

As we look into those families, there are some most important stats that demonstrate our true impact. For example, 80-90% of the families who leave us every year move to a more stable housing environment. That is critical because housing in Denver particularly is a major issue faced by families. We also track mental health and personal competency stats to measure the change in the people that come to us, whether the mom or the dad or the child. 

We’re really adept at showing where our services thrive but will explain where things are not working. Last year, we noticed that scores in the measure of occupancy were lower than we wanted, but took that as an opportunity to be constructive and collaborative.

Can you tell us one story about a particular individual who has been impacted or helped by Warren Village?

I always preface community stories by acknowledging that I won’t use the real name of an individual, but I always have their consent. In this case, I’ll call her Nan.

Nan came to us around six years ago while facing a difficult pregnancy and a difficult partner circumstance. She had her baby with us and within six weeks, her child was put into our Early Learning Center. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she stayed with us for five years, while normally our program is only two to four years,  but she really took advantage of her time at Warren Village.

During her time with us, we found out that her dream job was organic farming. Today, Nan has a two-acre farm up in Louisville. She now visits Warren Village weekly in the summer and provides organic fresh produce to our residents free of charge. She understands their circumstances, and now she’s trying to give back with her resources.

While I love highlighting Nan’s story and other successes, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of stories that cannot be told. Many family’s stories aren’t positive. For example, if a family has escaped a domestic violence situation, sometimes the person they were fleeing follows them and continues to create problems for them and their child. Fortunately, these negative experiences are a minority, but it happens, and we need to acknowledge that it can be the reality for families. 

How is Warren Village celebrating their 50th anniversary?

First, we are paying respect to those who founded Warren Village – all the work that our co-founders did to finally open in 1974, facing amazing obstacles with the federal government while trying to get funding.

Additionally, our largest celebration took place in May. We hosted a community celebration block party, where we invited alumni, residents, board, and donors. It was a beautiful and fun celebration.

Still upcoming, we also have a gala to continue formal celebrations of our 50th anniversary and will be hosting house parties with our donors.

In some ways, our celebrations are going to lead into the next year when we open our new Warren Village at Alameda campus.

Tell us about that next big milestone of the new Warren Village at Alameda campus and what it means for your community.

We have been working on this new Warren Village Alameda campus for three years. The new campus is going to consist of two buildings in Southwest Denver at Valverde Park with 89 total apartment units, an early learning center that’ll serve up to 100 kids at any one time, community space, program space, physical health space, and mental health space. It is all set to open in October of this year! 

It was always part of our vision because we knew there was more need. We’re driven by the need in the data and created a partnership and a pathway that involves the federal government, state government, city government, the housing authorities, donors, architects, and general contractors.

How would you describe a Changemaker? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

At a high level, a Changemaker is anybody or any group that sees something in their community that they believe needs improvement, to be addressed, or to be resolved — and can achieve that in a collaborative format. Everybody is going to choose their path, but a Changemaker is usually someone who wants to do something different and is not satisfied with a situation. 

Our Warren Village residents are Changemakers, not at the policy level, but at the family level. People often deal with intergenerational poverty, racism, lack of education, domestic violence, and other challenges. But, what our residents are doing in response to their situation is so inspiring, and Warren Village gets to be a part of their Changemaker journey. We provide an opportunity, but they’re the ones who are taking advantage of their opportunity and putting in the hard work to change their life. 

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own journey as a Changemaker within the social impact space?

My advice is to study the space that you want to impact. What is the community you are serving? What do they want to do? There are a lot of good ideas, but it’s important to identify what’s already happening. You don’t need to recreate the wheel in many cases, and you can do so much more with partnerships. Think about what your idea is, what your solution is, and what’s already going on out there, because we need efficiency and impact in the nonprofit sector. We need people to work together more through partnership. Then, just always be curious. Ask a lot of questions. If that means you’re having coffee with people to figure out where you want to go, do it and be intentional about it.

What are your aspirations and goals for the future of Warren Village and how do you plan to continue your journey as a Changemaker?

My number one goal for Warren Village is to focus on our new campus, Warren Village at Alameda and its operational excellence. 

Next, in the next 1-2 years, we’ll focus on optimization, culture, and evolution. We have a great work culture, but that culture will change as we get bigger. It will be imperative to develop board agreements to ensure cultural continuity can happen, but that we will not stifle necessary change. 

Then, another future goal will be to ultimately look for the next opportunity to serve more people. As a community, we should hope that we don’t need an organization like Warren Village, but the numbers in Denver and Colorado show that while we will make a big dent in supporting single-parent families with our Alameda campus, the community will still need more support in the future. 

To learn more about the impactful and important work that Warren Village is doing, visit their website at warrenvillage.org.

If you are interested in connecting with Ethan Hemming to learn more about his Changemaker journey or connect with Warren Village, you can contact him at ehemming@warrenvillage.org or connect with him on LinkedIn.