Founded in 2004 as a high school in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood, Denver School of Science & Technology (DSST) is now nationally renowned for its unique design, diversity, and consistent high achievement—considered one of the leading open enrollment STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) schools in the United States. DSST’s mission is to transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. With a focus on character development and rigorous academics in equal measure, which are represented by DSST’s six core values: Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, Curiosity, and Doing Your Best.

Our research on DSST can be found on our website here.

Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes Bill Kurtz, DSST’s founding CEO, and Van Schoales, senior director of policy at the Keystone Policy Center to discuss DSST services to nearly 7,400 students across eight middle schools and eight high schools. The seven middle schools within the Denver school district accounted for 13% of all Denver middle school students. The seven Denver high schools accounted for 12% of all high school students. They discuss their ethos, what they hope to see from Colorado's educational system as a whole, what the future holds, and most notably, what people can take away from DSST's success.

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In this special edition of of Common Sense Digest, we feature discussion from one of our recent events. On Tuesday, June 4, Common Sense Institute hosted its quarterly Eggs & The Economy Event. This edition was titled: "The Colorado Crisis: The Economic Impact of Migrants and the Homeless.." Our panelists included:

Adam Paul - Director of Regional Affairs, Office of the Mayor | City and County of Denver

Paul Scudo - CEO of Step Denver

Heidi Williams - CEO of Civic Results and CEO and Executive Director of the Metro Mayors Caucus

DJ Summers - CSI Director of Policy & Research (Moderator)

Thank you for listening to Common Sense Digest. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. All of our podcasts can be found here.

What began as a relatively small-scale bus operation, RTD has grown to one of the Denver metro area’s most expansive pieces of infrastructure and a political arena of its own. Increasingly, the public is being asked to put more confidence into an organization of which it has cause to be skeptical.

In the face of expansive plans, though, RTD serves fewer people than it did just five years ago. Ridership halved during the COVID-19 public health emergency and plagued by lingering issues of elevated region-wide crime and remote work, it has not recovered to prepandemic levels.

On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes CSI's Urban Development Fellow Kelly Jean Brough and Daniel Hutton, Vice President of Transportation & Mobility for Denver South to discuss where RTD should focus its efforts for attracting and maintaining riders, and how to alleviate concerns of safety. The state has made a massive investment in the transit system, and this podcast focuses on the areas in which RTD can maximize that return on investment. You can read our full report titled "Fork in the Railroad: RTD’s Ridership Dilemma" here.

Thank you for listening to Common Sense Digest. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. All of our podcasts can be found here.

You can find more about Kelly Brough here.

You can find more about Daniel Hutton here.