Activation Tour 2025 Impact Report
Last spring, from Grand Junction to Fort Morgan and Cortez to Fort Collins, the Courageous Colorado Listening Tour convened roughly 150 community members, civic leaders, and local officials across nearly 20 cities and towns. This cross-partisan effort was designed to uncover how Coloradans define courage & representation in our politics and what reforms they believe will create a more responsive and representative democracy.
This fall, we moved from listening to building. We wanted to focus on the question: What are you ready to build at home? During our time on the road, the importance of place-based solutions was reinforced. We intentionally centered local choice and recognize that courage looks different in each community. Together, we can work together to shape change in communities we care about. Read the highlights and the report below.
Our purpose
This fall tour was designed to:
Reflect back what was heard during the Spring Listening Tour and test resonance across communities.
Deepen conversation around courage, representation, and place-based impact.
Prioritize reforms communities are ready to explore locally.
Identify leaders, partners, and pathways for 2026 action.
Build connective tissue across Colorado’s civic ecosystem.
Key takeaways
As we traveled to communities across the state, we learned about their unique identities, listened to local leaders, and heard directly about the issues impacting them. Through these conversations, it became clear that people wanted to focus on a range of solutions and shared priorities.At nearly every stop, participants returned to the same foundational values that anchor Courageous Colorado’s work. Below are the most common solutions and themes that emerged across our meetings.
Common community solutions
Campaign Finance Reform & Clean Elections
Ranked Choice Voting
Citizen assemblies & Deliberative Democracy
Civil Education
Open Primaries & Election Timing Reform
Common community values
Public courage
Openness Across Difference
Imagination & Urgency
Place-based Impact
Collective power