Elyria-Swansea, Denver

[2] In 1987, environmental and social justice activist Lorraine Granado founded the Cross Community Coalition to mobilize the residents of Elyria-Swansea and Denver's Globeville neighborhood to improve their quality of life.

Granado, who subsequently became the group's executive director, collaborated with other members of the community to create youth leadership and after-school tutoring programs, citizenship and English language classes for youth and adults, and GED preparation, job training, home ownership and improvement, and small business development classes for adults.

[3][4][5] Fighting to mitigate the harm done to largely Latino neighborhoods by the construction nearby of the I-70 freeway and by neighboring factories, Granado and her fellow coalition members formed Neighbors for a Toxic-Free Community, pressuring corporate executives to clean up the pollution caused by the industrial facilities they owned and operated.

Three years later, they achieved a class-action settlement with ASARCO, forcing the company to remediate the damage caused by its smelting plant.

[6][7][8][9][10] In 1995, when a railroad tank car hauling hazardous chemicals from the Vulcan Materials Company suffered a major leak of hydrochloric acid, causing a toxic gas plume eight feet from a neighborhood playground, the coalition filed another lawsuit that resulted in a $200,000 settlement and funded the creation of the Swansea Neighborhood Park.