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Denver names director of community empowerment

By January 16, 2026 | updated 2 days ago

Stephanie Laing, a longtime captain with the Denver Sheriff’s Department, has been named as the Division of Community Empowerment has named its first director. (Courtesy of the City of Denver)

Almost a year after its creation, the city’s Division of Community Empowerment has named its first director, Stephanie Laing, a longtime captain with the Denver Sheriff’s Department, according to a statement from the Office of Human Rights and Community Partnership, which houses the new division.

The position comes with an annual salary of $135,000, which was funded in the city’s 2026 budget.

Launched back in February 2025, the new division, officials said, aims to help more than 270 registered neighborhood organizations become more involved in their local government.

The division is housed within the human rights office to ensure its eventual work aligns with “diversity, equity, and inclusion” goals, officials said.

The director position was funded following the Nov. 5, 2024, election, when voters approved Ballot Measure 2S, which created the Human Rights and Community Partnerships agency, HRCP spokesperson Heidi Rodriguez told The Denver Gazette on Friday.

Denver passed a registered neighborhood organization ordinance in 1979 to give neighborhoods a voice in how they are developed and maintained. Residents and property owners who meet regularly form those RNOs.

RNO contact information is kept on file with the city’s Community Planning and Development Department, where notification of proposed zoning amendments, landmark designation applications, planning board and board of adjustment hearings, liquor and cabaret licenses and other activities occurring in the neighborhood are shared.

In short, RNOs act as a formal link between Denver residents and property owners and the city government.

“The new director is now establishing a coordinated, citywide approach to community empowerment, including strengthening engagement frameworks, supporting improvements to the registered neighborhood organization system, and developing shared tools, metrics, and reporting practices,” Rodriguez said.

District 6 Councilmember Paul Kashmann has been a driving force behind the idea for years, first pitching the concept to former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

He then pitched the idea to Mayor Mike Johnston, moving away from an office of community engagement toward an office of community empowerment.

“Engagement is too easy to check the box,” Kashmann said at a February 2025 neighborhood meeting discussing the new division.

“Empowerment means you’re going out of your way,” he said, adding that “We’ve got 730,000 people in the city and county and, if we’re not mining that community, we’re missing a lot of great ideas and a whole bunch of great volunteer resources.”

“Community empowerment starts with listening, trust, and action,” Laing said in an HRCP announcement. “I’m honored to help build this division from the ground up and excited to work alongside community members and partners to ensure every neighborhood in Denver has the tools, voice, and opportunity to shape its future.”

Deborah Grigsby

Reporter

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