Caddis Collaborative is located in the vibrant community of Boulder, Colorado. We are grateful to call many local institutions and neighbors our clients and friends. 

As a mission-driven organization, Caddis loves supporting others who are making great things happen in our community. We contribute to positive impact in our local community by putting our strength and talents behind people and organizations that are doing good. 

Though it has become a cliché, Caddis does indeed think globally and act locally. Read on to learn about some of the clients we have worked with over the years and to discover the ways Caddis staff members have volunteered in the community. 

Housing Organizations

Towns around the West are facing a housing crisis. Caddis believes that working to support innovative and low-carbon housing types across all scales and income levels is essential current work. We join national housing organizations like the Cohousing Association of the United States and the Foundation for Intentional Community in reenvisioning housing on a larger scale and then working locally to make those changes happen. 

• Boulder Housing Coalition: Providing permanently affordable rental cooperatives, BHC promotes housing diversity and alternative forms of family and living. 
• Boulder Housing Partners: Through its housing programs, BHP gives existing housing stock livability for the next 100 years and provides space for “I Have a Dream” magnet centers, which focus on improving the lives of kids in these neighborhoods.
• Flatirons Habitat for Humanity: Flatirons Habitat works throughout the Boulder area to create home ownership for low-income residents. Projects include Ponderosa Mobile Home Park and People’s Clinic.

Educational Institutions

The world of education is transforming as we begin to include approaches and systems at a broader scale than before and for populations that have often been ignored or excluded. 

• Friends School: Friends School provides a strong academic foundation while developing creative expression and nurturing a passion for learning.
• Hillside School: Hillside educates students with dyslexia and other learning differences through a half-day personalized learning environment. Learn about the work Caddis has done for Hillside.
• Naropa University: The first Buddhist-inspired university in the United States, this cherished local institution is part of what makes Boulder special. Learn about the work Caddis has done for Naropa.
• Thorne Nature Experience: Thorne teaches Earth stewardship by providing youth with joyful, hands-on, place-based environmental education experiences that foster an emotional connection to nature. 
• Watershed School: An innovative, independent school serving grades 6-12, Watershed engages students in learning that really matters by applying math, science, the arts, humanities, and more to real-world challenges.

Above: Students work on building the Naropa University greenhouse.

Buddhist Organizations

You can’t change society without changing the hearts of the people who comprise it. This work is about supporting change at the personal level and, from there, at the level of broader cultural shifts. 

• Shambhala Mountain Center: This 600-acre mountain valley retreat is an educational nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve as a contemplative center for the exploration of individual and societal wisdom.
• Dharma Ocean: This organization provides support for meditation practices.
• Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center: This rustic Buddhist retreat center brings Buddhism and Dharma back into the natural world and fosters “Ecodharma,” the clarity and compassion needed to better address the ecological crisis and inextricably related social justice issues. Learn about the work Caddis has done for RMERC. 

Eateries and Entertainment

Where we gather is central to our cultural expression. Places for fun, frivolity, and connection should be vibrant and inclusive.

• BOCO Cidery: Located a hop, skip, and a jump from Caddis’s headquarters, BOCO Cidery makes innovative hard ciders the Boulder way.
• Boom Yogurt Bar: This small shop served up locally produced yogurt, cottage cheese, and frozen yogurt.
• Brasserie Ten Ten: This Boulder restaurant blends French-inspired elegance with relaxed comfort. 
• Nissi’s: An award-winning music, entertainment, and event center, Nissi’s helps create community space to gather and build culture.
• River and Woods: Located in a century-old miner’s cabin in downtown Boulder, this restaurant specializes in locally sourced, delicious comfort food. Learn about the work Caddis has done for River and Woods.
• Spruce Confections: With three locations in Boulder (including one within easy walking distance of the Caddis office!), this bakery makes everything by hand from scratch daily. 
• Upslope: This craft brewery creates beers that reflect Boulder’s passion for the outdoors.

Gardens, Farms, Food Producers

Relocalizing food, reducing the carbon footprint of our diets, and increasing our health as a society are major challenges that are being fought at the local scale, on the ground, where it all happens. 

• Boulder Organic Ice Cream: Creating local, handcrafted ice cream sold at Boulder-area supermarkets, Boulder Organic Ice Cream is committed to sustainability in all of its operations. Its office and factory power is offset 100% with wind power, and the company participates in Boulder’s zero waste initiative.
• Cure Organic Farm: Cure Organic Farm is a woman-owned, certified organic, commercial, diversified family farm, growing over 100 varieties of vegetables, herbs, berries, and specialty cut flowers on public and private land.   
• Growing Gardens: This organization brings sustainable agriculture education and food donations to Boulder County residents, manages about 400 individual community garden plots across seven locations in the county, and has developed creative ways to provide farm worker housing by retrofitting ag buildings.
• Harlequin’s Gardens: This sustainable nursery and garden center specializes in Colorado-adapted plants. 

Community Organizations

Boulder is known for its focus on sustainability, wellness, and the mindful life. These are just some of the beloved local organizations that foster this spirit.

• Elephant Journal: This online magazine (formerly a print publication) is dedicated to sharing the mindful life. It features topics such as yoga, organics, sustainability, conscious consumerism, enlightened education, the contemplative arts, adventure, bicycling, and family.
• Joy Collective: This group of health and wellness practitioners provides complete family support for all stages of life from fertility, pregnancy, parenting, and family support. 
• The Mama ’Hood: Mama ’Hood helps families find joy from conception through age two by providing expert instruction, fostering community, and focusing on the things young families need. 
• Recycle Row: At Recycle Row, Resource Central, Eco-Cycle’s offices, and the Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHaRM) are housed together to meet Boulder’s growing priority and need for recycling and reuse. These organizations support (and are supported by) the City of Boulder’s Zero Waste Initiative.
• Resource Central: Resource Central supports all levels of conservation, including reusing and recycling reclaimed materials. Similar to a salvage yard, the organization resells a variety of donated items such as lumber, cabinetry, old doors, windows, and even tubs and sinks.

Public Involvement and Volunteer Contributions

Beyond our work with clients, Caddis Collaborative staff members are integrally involved in the work it takes to build, sustain, and live in our community.

• Boulder Housing Partners Board of Commissioners: Stephen served on BHP’s Board of Commissioners from 2009–2014.
• BoulderReads: Based at the Boulder Public Library, BoulderReads is Boulder’s literacy program. Rachel volunteers as a literacy tutor.
• City of Boulder Planning Board: Bryan served on Planning Board from 2012-2020. For most of those years, he was board chair or vice chair.
• Cohousing Association of the United States: Caddis frequently serves as a sponsor to CoHoUS events and educational opportunities.
• Lama Foundation: This spiritual community, educational facility, and retreat center is adjacent to the Carson National Forest near the town of Taos, New Mexico. Stephen and his wife, architect Jade Polizzi, have spearheaded “design-build” projects for Lama since 2010. 
• The Nature Conservancy: A global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive, The Nature Conservancy is one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world. Bryan has provided sustainability consulting to the organization’s Boulder offices.
• The Women’s Wilderness Institute: This Boulder-based organization envisions a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Its mission is to support girls, women, and LGBTQ+ people in accessing their power and improving their health through connections to the outdoors and community. Kristen worked on a proposed remodel for the organization.

Above: Boulder, Colorado – headquarters for Caddis Collaborative – is nestled at the foot of the Flatirons.