The majority of people participating in Commún's programs are Southwest Denver immigrant and refugee families, and older adults who have been in the neighborhood for generations. Commún’s focus on a sense of belonging brings people together across differences, creating gathering spaces where people with a wide range of ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, languages, and cultures come together for a common purpose.

Beginning with $6,000 raised at a backyard barbecue, the organization now operates on a $2-million annual budget, has a staff of 17, mobilizes 70+ volunteers and 24 gardeners for weekly free grocery boxes, and offers a place of belonging to innumerable neighbors and friends. The organization also works with a highly-skilled real estate development team, guiding the non-profit through the process of purchasing, designing, and renovating their future community center.

Just like their programs, the community center's design is being determined through a series of listening sessions, tours, and one-on-one conversations. Alongside programmatic facilities, including movement spaces, an equity-based grocery store, and food stalls where new businesses can be incubated, community members have suggested elements particular to their cultures that they wish to share with others, like a specialty grill for cooking Arabic food and lush flower gardens to use as a setting for quinceañera photos.

"In a community that's changing as much as ours is here in Southwest Denver, it's really important to instill a sense of belonging and to create consistency, safety, and connection with other people," says Camila Restrepo, Commún's community organizing program manager, “The future is not set, and we are the creators of it. Place is very much physical, but it also exists in our hearts."