“America’s Hidden Gem: Northwest Aurora”

" Aurora, Colorado is one of the top 10 most diverse cities in America and Northwest Aurora, or “Original Aurora”, is its heart center. It used to be affordable, but urban development threatens to dismantle the cultural fabric that makes this place special. Several strategies, including micro-economic development that supports small businesses, coops, nonprofit coalitions, and an official City Department of International & Immigrant Affairs, are all addressing the issue. If this community can keep the diversity and cultural fabric intact through conscious revitalization, it will become a model for other cities facing gentrification." Subjects for this documentary included a wide array of local community leaders, nonprofit Executive Directors, and city and state elected representatives.

I had the privilege of serving on the production of this film as an Associate Producer, Assistant Director, and as a Videographer!

Further below you’ll find a selection of Behind-the-Scenes photographs that I captured throughout the process of filming.

The Fall Food Justice Festival

The Fall Food Justice Festival is an event dedicated to celebrating food access, sustainability, and community, within the NW Aurora Community. The event is hosted annually by Food Justice NW Aurora, a nonprofit. I was granted the privilege of producing a “Sizzle” video for the event highlighting all of the fun that both the attendees and the vendors had, as well as a promotional video to encourage community members to attend.

• The event’s “Promo Video” would go on to become their most-watched and liked piece of content on their Instagram account with a 4% engagement rate, 4,635 views, 122 Likes, 6 Comments, and 57 shares!

• The “Promo Video” absolutely BLEW UP on TikTok with an incredible 9%(!) engagement rate; capturing 3,357 views, 287 Likes, and 14 Shares ! Click on the thumbnails below to learn all about this incredible event and then be sure to swing by next year and grab some locally grown produce!

Northwest Aurora Leaders Learn About Community Development Corporations

Throughout 2024, I had the incredible opportunity to document a series of learning journeys where community leaders from Northwest Aurora explored how Community Development Corporations (CDCs) strengthen and revitalize neighborhoods. From the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston to Lawrence CommunityWorks in Massachusetts, and back home to Denver’s NEWSED CDC in the Santa Fe Arts District, we witnessed firsthand the power of community-led development—revitalizing neighborhoods without displacement. These visits, which were organized by the Aurora Economic Opportunity Coalition, provided invaluable insights into how communities with histories similar to NW Aurora are shaping their own futures through equitable development. Seeing local leaders engage with these spaces and learning from passionate guides was truly inspiring.

BridgeHumans “Endings and Beginnings” Party

The “Endings & Beginnings Party” produced by BridgeHumans, is an event all about fostering personal growth and reigniting human connection. Set at the welcoming Petals & Pages bookstore in the Santa Fe Arts District, attendees were placed into breakout sessions with fellow community members and given prompts that encouraged them to collectively reflect on their pasts, embrace their present, and dream about their futures.

NW aurora Mauritanian town hall

In response to a large influx of Mauritanian migrants moving into the NW Aurora community, The Migrant Response Network - a new nonprofit - organized a town hall meeting on to meet with the newcomers and encourage them to select 7-9 ambassadors amongst themselves so that local organizations can better coordinate with them in finding work, resources, and directing them on how to work within the Colorado legal framework as undocumented individuals. The ambassadors were chosen by vote and while there were disagreements initially everything worked out in the end! These images serve as a proof of concept for the new nonprofit organization as it provides immediate and clear visual evidence of the value they provide to the local community.

Behind-the-scenes Photography of “The Flamingo Effect”

Photography captured while working on the set of “The Flamingo Effect”, Truce Media’s first “Movie of the Week” challenge in which members of the Denver based filmmaker collective come together once a year in an attempt to shoot a feature film within the span on a single week. The first iteration of this exciting new program was directed by Academy Award Winning documentary filmmaker, and PBS Veteran, Julie Jackson.

The Aurora Economic Opportunity Coalition

The AEOC is a nonprofit organization that strives to promote long-term wealth building within the historically underserved NW Aurora community by empowering professionals and businesses with access to a comprehensive network of valuable resources. The following gallery contains a series of images taken at a variety of live events produced by the AEOC. The photographs were commissioned in order to bolster the organization’s online presence and future marketing efforts.

The Migrant Response Network

The MRN is a Nonprofit Organization dedicated to responding and empowering migrants in NW Aurora, Colorado. Some of the ways this incredible organization accomplishes this is through hosting meetings between other migrant responding organizations so where they can trade information and resources, holding cooking classes for new arrivals, offering free legal clinics for the new arrivals, and assisting migrants in obtaining their work authorization within Colorado so that they can become self-sufficient members of their new communities. Below are two videos and an assortment of photographs documenting these various events.

• When posted onto TikTok, the “NW Aurora Migrant Cooking Class” video achieved an outstanding engagement rate of 15% (good is considered 2-5%!) and collected 2,129 views, 291 likes, 11 comments. and 17 saves.

• The “NW Migrants Tour the Colorado State Capitol” video achieved an engagement rate of 5% on TikTok with 2,986 views, 125 likes, 2 comments, and 11 saves.
  In the case of each video, all viewing and engagement metrics were entirely organic with no money having been spent to boost either.

• Both videos were also very instrumental in boosting the subscribers for the TikTok account and there was a noticeable uptick in new followers after each video was posted.

Rebel Marketplace Farmer’s MArket

Rebel Marketplace is a community driven market  dedicated to sowing seeds of change in Aurora Colorado, helping develop small neighborhood farms that do more than feed — they unite and build community. Joe Fox was hired as a photographer and videographer to help market the Rebel Marketplace during their 2024 season.

• When posted on TikTok, the “Promo Video #1” achieved a “Good” engagement rate of 5% with 6,489 views, 283 Likes, 5 comments, and 12 saves. It is also responsible for pulling in 50 new account followers!

• When posted on Instagram, the “Promo Video #1” achieved a “Great” engagement rate of 6% with 2,971 views, 150 Likes, 5 Comments, and 32 Shares! These metrics made this video their most engaged post on their Instagram account and their second most watched.

• When posted onto the Aurora, Colorado subReddit (r/Auroraco) “Promo Video #1” punched above it weight for the small community with 75 Upvotes, 11,000 views, 32 shares, and an upvote rate of 99%!

Urban Symbiosis

Urban Symbiosis is a non-profit that grew out of a need for long-standing symbiotic relationships between locally owned and community-driven businesses. Through a combination of offering apprenticeships with seasoned urban gardeners, supporting local farmer market initiatives, and teaching local classes, Urban Symbiosis is dedicated to introducing alternative food systems to Aurora, Colorado.

Misc. Photography

Hey man, sometimes I just like to have fun.