Mayor Michael B. Hancock has appointed Community College of Denver’s (CCD) Nicole Taylor to serve on the Denver Latino Commission.

The Latino Commission is part of the agency for Human Rights & Community Partnerships (HRCP) and serves as a bridge between the Latino community, HRCP, and the Mayor’s office. The committee meets once per month to respond to legislative issues impacting the Latino community and to formulate new initiatives.

“Nicole is a natural choice for this committee as she maintains active membership in the Aurora chapter of the NAACP and is the vice-president elect on the Montbello Organizing Committee,” said Dean of CCD’s Office of Student Life Meloni Rudolph Crawford, “Nicole has maintained focus in the areas of equity in Denver’s underrepresented populations while serving in various roles pertinent to cultural change in education.”

In her current role as Student Conduct Officer at CCD, Taylor brings awareness of cultural competencies and social justice to faculty, staff and students. This makes perfect sense as she was a first-generation student and began her college career at CCD. When the opportunity presented itself for her to be employed with CCD, she couldn’t think of a better way to “give back.”

“One of the most inspiring reasons that caused me to seriously consider CCD and ultimately accept my position is that CCD is a federally recognized Hispanic Serving Institution,” Taylor said. “When you consider the growth of the Latino population in Colorado and across the country and the fact that institutions fail to enroll and graduate Latinos in proportionate numbers, I knew CCD would provide a great opportunity to utilize and hone my skills while benefiting our Latino and students of color.”
 

Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree in law and society from University of Denver, and a master’s degree in criminal justice from CSU-Global. As an undergraduate, she completed research exploring access and equity in higher education, teaching and learning in racially diverse classrooms, and diversity and inclusiveness in and out of the classroom. She cites her undergraduate work at University of Denver as key to helping the Denver Latino Commission mitigate issues facing the Latino community, including higher education students.

“It works with my whole focus while I was studying at University of Denver, which was issues of equity vs. equality and how students of color process through higher education,” said Nicole.

The appointment is a two-year commitment, which commenced October 3, 2016.