Community advocate Dr. Lydia Prado to join the Barton Institute
Author(s)
Jon Stone
Media Relations Manager
DU alum Prado to bring passion for cross-sector community building to the University
The Barton Institute for Philanthropy and Social Enterprise at the University of Denver announced today that Dr. Lydia Prado will be joining the Institute on January 1, 2018 as Director of Community Partnerships.
Dr. Prado, a psychologist who earned her doctorate from the University of Denver in 1994, has been with the Mental Health Center of Denver for 17 years and is currently Vice President of Strategic Community Partnerships. She is the visionary behind the Dahlia Campus for Health and Well-being, an international award-winning community center providing an array of mental health services co-located with an urban farm, a preschool, a children’s dental clinic, and extensive space for community gatherings.
As Director of Community Partnerships for the Barton Institute, Dr. Prado will foster, guide, and direct innovative public-private-nonprofit-academic partnerships that will address complex social issues (such as affordable housing, social determinants of health, and economic development) in collaboration with local communities.
“When the opportunity arose to have Dr. Prado join our team to continue her work in other parts of the metro Denver area, we were ecstatic,” says Institute Executive Director David Miller. “Her commitment to working with community and across sectors to find solutions to complex social problems is in direct alignment with our mission.” A generous donor stepped forward to fund the first three years of Dr. Prado’s work with the Barton Institute.
“My work with Mental Health Center of Denver and with the community surrounding the Dahlia Campus has been extremely rewarding,” says Dr. Prado. “As the City of Denver grows, so too must our commitment to pursuing innovative, cross-sector solutions to protracted problems. With the Barton Institute, I look forward to joining a nimble team doing just that.”
Dr. Prado has previously been an adjunct faculty member in DU’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology and a research associate in DU’s Child Clinical program. She will continue working with DU students who are committed to developing meaningful partnerships with community groups through community-based participatory research methods.