2009 Annual Report

As many long-time Denver residents may recall, the original Denver VOICE was a grassroots newspaper created in large part by homeless people for homeless people. During its 10-year span, the paper went through numerous transformations and reincarnations, and in the spring of 2006 it temporarily ceased publication.

Since then, Rick Barnes, a Denver businessman and philanthropist, began having conversations with homeless individuals he encountered on his way to his office near the 16th Street Mall. Moved by their stories, he felt compelled to ensure that the voice of the homeless would once again be heard. He researched the operations of other street papers around the country and began to take the steps necessary to revive the Denver VOICE.