Economic Community Development

Bringing Resources & Building Wealth in the Community

FreshLo is MOC’s comprehensive community economic development program. Working with dozens of community partners and government agencies, FreshLo is designed to create places in the community that:

promote cultural heritage, artistic expression, animate public and private spaces

rejuvenate structures and streetscapes, improve local business viability, and public safety

aim to improve health outcomes through increased access to healthy, nutritious food

bring diverse people together

One of 23 FreshLo projects launched nationally with funding by the Kresge Foundation, Montbello FreshLo Initiative will feature a grocery-anchored, cultural hub with affordable housing. This multi-million-dollar economic development initiative that has been incorporated into Denver’s Far Northeast 20 Year Neighborhood Plan and is seen as a Transformative Initiative that will uplift and revitalize the neighborhood.

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FleshLo Projects

Montbello FreshLo logo

ULI Advisory Services program partnered with The Colorado Health Foundation to conduct a panel visit in which more than a dozen professionals in retail and commercial development, real estate, finance, and philanthropy reviewed the viability of our FreshLo project. Their findings resulted in a $1 million grant from the Foundation to support our Walkable Loop project. Learn more about their findings in the Montbello ULI Report.

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Grocery Store Anchored Cultural Hub

This project will answer the needs presented by the community for a full-service grocery store and will incorporate small retail, meeting/community space, and a commissary kitchen to act as an incubator for food-related microenterprise. Roughly 100 units of affordable rental housing will exist atop the grocery store and cultural hub space.

Multi-Modal Transportation

One of four elements of the FreshLo Initiative, the walkable loop is a “healthy living loop” that connects community gardens and parks, school gardens, and the Cultural Hub with improved sidewalks, and street crossings, and bike lanes. Explore the multi-modal transporation options MOC is working to develop.

Montbello Community Food Access

In another element of the FreshLo Initiative, MOC collaborates with a network of schools, no-cost food distribution sites, and youth participants to grow 10,000 pounds of fresh vegetables. These vegetables, along with tens of thousands of pounds of food rescued by partners in the network, are distributed (most at no cost) to families and individuals with limited access to food.