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Cook Inclusive welcomes new leadership and programs

Kaleb Cook shares why he decided to step back as executive director of Cook Inclusive, and some of the nonprofit’s new programs during a live broadcast from the lobby of MOLLIE Aspen on Jan. 15, 2024.
Halle Zander
/
Aspen Public Radio
Kaleb Cook shares why he decided to step back as executive director of Cook Inclusive, and some of the nonprofit’s new programs during a live broadcast from the lobby of MOLLIE Aspen on Jan. 15, 2024.

Cook Inclusive was founded in 2021 and serves queer and disabled communities. Historically, they’ve offered therapeutic recreation, vocational training, job coaching, and organized community events.

Kaleb Cook, its founder, recently announced he is stepping back from his role as executive director.

However, the program is still expanding into the Colorado River Valley.

In a conversation with All Things Considered Anchor Halle Zander at MOLLIE Aspen on Wednesday, Cook opened up about the reason behind his transition, and what to expect from the organization moving forward.

(Zander spoke to Cook during a special live broadcast from Aspen Gay Ski Week.)

Halle Zander: Kaleb, Cook Inclusive is going through a transition as you’re stepping back and Ashley Stahl is taking over as executive director. Tell us about the strategy behind this move, and will anything change for those who use your services?

Kaleb Cook: So, this is one of the most beautiful experiences I've had. Transitions are hard for me as an autistic person, but I'm just so stoked that this transition is something that is going to be really successful for our valley and something that's sustainable.

I live with a chronic disability that highlights a lot of creativity and opportunity for me to continue to innovate. And [Cook Inclusive] was perfect for that. That skill set was perfect for the first couple of years as I started Cook Inclusive, to be able to innovate, understand the needs of the community, and then really diversify our programing. As we got to our third and fourth year, we became a very large organization. We started with one volunteer, me, and now have over 20+ staff, serve over 100 clients with disabilities throughout the entire valley and have eight school-based programs.

So it is a perfect time to finally step back and allow the organization to sustain, to allow for a long-term, successful succession for folks with disabilities and queer folks and that intersection to be able to get services for the indefinite future in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Zander: Now rumor has it you’re expanding into a queer resource center in New Castle. Tell us about it. What will the space look like?

Cook: Yes, this is Ashley Stahl’s passion project. It's something that we had an idea about over coffee years ago where we need a resource hub for queer and trans folk that are in this rural community coming into this valley.

As a place, there's plenty of opportunity. But finding your community is something that I feel like takes a lot of effort and a lot of time to do. And so we really found it important to be able to serve the queer community specifically by providing a safe space: a place where they can be their authentic selves while also innovating and allowing programs to grow and survive.

So, the queer resource space was actually funded through the Colorado Health Foundation just because I came and spoke at some event, and they were interested in what we were doing and were excited to help support us (to) create this program.

And the big focus is the importance of serving the community that is New Castle. The issue when we look at service providers and this beautiful valley that has so many nonprofits, the biggest discrepancy is lack of service from Newcastle to Parachute. And what we started to learn is, when we were having these coffee programs and everything like that, that there was a significant amount of queer and trans folk that were also disabled in the New Castle/Parachute area with no support, no services, no resources, and we were having to not even send addresses for programs, because it was unsafe to do it in the public community.

So, just even allowing us to have a safe space that has security and a safe space for people to be able to just meet, we'll be able to transform the entire valley to make sure that those people are safe, whatever the political climate is.

Zander: So it'll be a space mostly. But will you be offering services there as well?

Cook: So we're actually going to be doing a lot of gender-affirming services. Ashley has been leading all the effort, but we took over an old salon.

Zander: For those who don't know, our listeners, what gender-affirming services are, can you explain that a little bit?

Cook: Yeah. So we're talking to a lot of people that might experience gender dysphoria or they're queer or trans, and they just really need to understand who they are as a person and their gender identity. So, for example, if a student was trans and they wanted to learn how to style their hair so they look more like a woman or they would like to learn how to do certain makeup, to present it in a certain way to decrease gender dysphoria, we can provide that. So we'll actually have trans-affirming folks coming in and providing those services. It'll also serve as a rural hub for people to be able to get services from providers all the way from Denver that are typically having to drive for trans-affirming services.

Zander: Some people might not see the immediate connection between serving queer communities alongside people with disabilities. Can you explain why Cook Inclusive does this?

Cook: So I, myself, am a disabled and queer person, and I started to realize that a lot of queer people are also disabled at the same time. And my master’s (degree), I actually went into my research on understanding the intersectionality of the queer and disabled. And the research that we actually found is really interesting. One in four people live with a disability and then of that 25% of the population that's living with a disability, three out of five of those people are also queer or trans. And so we're talking, don't quote me, I (am not) the best with fractions, but I think it's about 17% of the population is actually within the disabled and queer intersection. And the biggest thing is that when you are queer and when you are disabled, you're having to come out twice and you're also having to find your identity in a space that's specifically set for either the queer, the disabled. And so as a person that was in both of those, I couldn't fit in either space. But I was like, “Wait, there's so many other people like me that need this.” And so we got to a point where we were like, “There's probably a huge community of people that need this, as well.”

Zander: Kaleb, it’s been a delight. Thank you for being here.

Cook: Thank you for having me.

Halle Zander is a broadcast journalist and the afternoon anchor on Aspen Public Radio during "All Things Considered." Her work has been recognized by the Public Media Journalists Association, the Colorado Broadcasters Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists.