Community Voices
Real Stories from Real Coloradans — Told in Their Own Words
Community Voices
Real Stories from Real Coloradans — Told in Their Own Words
Community Voices is a statewide storytelling initiative from Rocky Mountain Public Media’s Statewide Civic Engagement department. It uplifts first-person perspectives from across Colorado—through essays, audio stories, and short reflections that honor the lived experiences of the people who make up our state.
These stories deepen understanding of everyday issues, spark local connection, and broaden whose voices are represented in RMPM content across all our brands—RMPBS, KUVO JAZZ, THE DROP 104.7, and our digital platforms. Community Voices helps ensure our programming reflects more of Colorado’s communities, identities, and perspectives.
Community Voices is a storytelling collaboration between Rocky Mountain Public Media (RMPM) and the Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange (CEME), created to share personal reflections from people across all 64 counties of Colorado.
Each story comes directly from community members—offering honest, heartfelt perspectives on life in our state. They’re not news reports, but first-person essays that build understanding, spark connection, and help us all feel a little more seen and heard.
Every month, Community Voices features new essays that celebrate identity, belonging, and the beauty of different lived experiences across Colorado. Stories are translated into Spanish and Mandarin and shared with CEME partner outlets, ensuring that people across languages and regions can read, hear, and recognize themselves in Colorado’s public media.
Essays From Colorado’s Communities
As part of Community Voices, we partner with the Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange (CEME) to share first-person narratives of lived experience from across the state. These essays are created and published through multilingual, community-rooted outlets, offering perspectives that are often missing in mainstream media.
CEME stories complement the voices surfaced through Ambassador64 and the dialogue sparked by Above the Noise—helping ensure RMPM’s storytelling reflects the full richness and diversity of Colorado.
Community Voices is a storytelling collaboration between Rocky Mountain Public Media (RMPM) and the Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange (CEME), created to share personal reflections from people across all 64 counties of Colorado.
Each story comes directly from community members—offering honest, heartfelt perspectives on life in our state. They’re not news reports, but first-person essays that build understanding, spark connection, and help us all feel a little more seen and heard.
Every month, Community Voices features new essays that celebrate identity, belonging, and the beauty of different lived experiences across Colorado. Stories are translated into Spanish and Mandarin and shared with CEME partner outlets, ensuring that people across languages and regions can read, hear, and recognize themselves in Colorado’s public media.
Explore essays from Coloradans across the state: Each piece offers a glimpse into what makes Colorado home—from the Eastern Plains to the Western Slope, from mountain towns to city streets.
How Community Voices Connects to Ambassador64
Ambassador64 is our network of community ambassadors across all 64 counties who listen, gather insights, and surface local stories. Community Voices is one of the key places where those perspectives are shared back with the public. Many contributors come directly from Ambassador64 or from relationships the ambassadors help build—grounding our content in authentic, local lived experience.
How Community Voices Connects to Above the Noise
Above the Noise, our statewide dialogue initiative, invites Coloradans to explore trust, belonging, and the media landscape. The themes emerging in those conversations often echo through Community Voices pieces. In turn, these stories enrich future Above the Noise events by bringing the personal, everyday experiences of Coloradans into broader civic dialogue.
How Community Voices Strengthens RMPM’s Content Across All Platforms
Community Voices is part of RMPM’s commitment to ensuring that our content—from documentaries and news features to radio segments and digital storytelling—reflects the full cultural, regional, and generational diversity of Colorado. The stories surfaced through Ambassador64 and Above the Noise travel back into our content pipelines, informing:
- Editorial planning and story sourcing
- Local reporting and documentary development
- Feature stories on RMPBS
- Audio essays and conversations on KUVO JAZZ and THE DROP
- Digital content that reaches statewide audiences
Together → A Statewide Ecosystem of Listening, Storytelling & Representation
Ambassador64, Community Voices, and Above the Noise work in rhythm:
- Ambassador64 listens to communities and elevates what matters locally
- Community Voices shares first-person stories from those communities
- Above the Noise convenes dialogue around the themes and experiences Coloradans are raising
RMPM content teams integrate these insights into programming across all brands.
This ecosystem ensures that our audiences see themselves reflected in our storytelling—and that RMPM remains rooted in the people, places, and perspectives of Colorado.
How Community Voices Connects to Ambassador64
Ambassador64 is our network of community ambassadors across all 64 counties who listen, gather insights, and surface local stories. Community Voices is one of the key places where those perspectives are shared back with the public. Many contributors come directly from Ambassador64 or from relationships the ambassadors help build—grounding our content in authentic, local lived experience.
How Community Voices Connects to Above the Noise
Above the Noise, our statewide dialogue initiative, invites Coloradans to explore trust, belonging, and the media landscape. The themes emerging in those conversations often echo through Community Voices pieces. In turn, these stories enrich future Above the Noise events by bringing the personal, everyday experiences of Coloradans into broader civic dialogue.
How Community Voices Strengthens RMPM’s Content Across All Platforms
Community Voices is part of RMPM’s commitment to ensuring that our content—from documentaries and news features to radio segments and digital storytelling—reflects the full cultural, regional, and generational diversity of Colorado. The stories surfaced through Ambassador64 and Above the Noise travel back into our content pipelines, informing:
- Editorial planning and story sourcing
- Local reporting and documentary development
- Feature stories on RMPBS
- Audio essays and conversations on KUVO JAZZ and THE DROP
- Digital content that reaches statewide audiences
Together → A Statewide Ecosystem of Listening, Storytelling & Representation
Ambassador64, Community Voices, and Above the Noise work in rhythm:
- Ambassador64 listens to communities and elevates what matters locally
- Community Voices shares first-person stories from those communities
- Above the Noise convenes dialogue around the themes and experiences Coloradans are raising
RMPM content teams integrate these insights into programming across all brands
This ecosystem ensures that our audiences see themselves reflected in our storytelling—and that RMPM remains rooted in the people, places, and perspectives of Colorado.
“Every story we tell is a bridge—between languages, cultures, and communities.”
“Every story we tell is a bridge—between languages, cultures, and communities.”
We Want to Hear from You
We’re inviting Coloradans everywhere to share their stories—of identity, discovery, and what it means to belong.
Tell us about a moment, a place, or a person in Colorado that changed how you see yourself or your community. Your story doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be real.
Every submission helps public media better reflect the people it serves—starting with you.
You can also email your reflections directly to Ambassador64@rmpbs.org.
Part of a Statewide Movement
Rocky Mountain Public Media’s Statewide Civic Engagement initiative creates a continuous listening framework—a statewide civic infrastructure where residents don’t just consume stories, they shape them.
Above the Noise
Community gatherings and film-based dialogues that help Coloradans listen, reflect, and connect across difference.
Ambassador64
Brings together individuals and organizations who are already trusted connectors in their communities.
Community Voices
First-person stories from Coloradans, shared with the Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange and translated into Spanish and Mandarin.