Our City · Our Future
We're neighbors organizing neighbors in southeast Colorado Springs — registering voters, building the coalition, and backing the leaders this community already has. One block, one cycle, one election at a time.
Who We Are
Southside Leads is a community organization founded by and for the people of the Southside of Colorado Springs. Our neighborhoods are home to more Black and Brown families than any other part of the city — and year after year, they cast fewer ballots than any other part of the city.
That's not an accident. And it's not permanent. When the Southside votes, the Southside gets heard — on schools, on housing, on streets and parks and public safety. Our job is to make sure every neighbor has a reason to vote, a plan to vote, and a community behind them when they do.
Why This Work
of southeast voters (City Council District 4) cast a ballot in the April 2025 city election — barely half the citywide rate of about 24%.
total votes decided who represents the entire southeast on City Council that spring.
Roughly half the neighbors in 80910 and 80916 are Hispanic or Black — about double the citywide share.
And the ballot box isn't the only gap.
gap between the median household income in 80910 and the city as a whole ($61,969 vs. $84,818).
Life expectancy in parts of the southeast runs up to 16 years shorter than elsewhere in Colorado Springs.
hotter on summer days than the rest of the city — less tree cover, more pavement.
of southeast children live in poverty, versus 18% citywide. Two of every five poor children in Colorado Springs live here.
The pattern repeats wherever you look. The southeast is a federally designated food desert — for many neighbors, the nearest full supermarket is a twenty-minute drive. Finishing high school here matches the rest of the city, but adults on the Southside are far less likely to hold a four-year degree — a gap of opportunity, not of talent.
None of this is permanent. A recent $9 million federal forestry grant is putting more than 12,000 new trees into southeast neighborhoods — proof that when the Southside gets attention, investment follows. Lower turnout is not apathy; it is what happens when a community is asked for its vote but never shown its power. Every new voter, every new block captain, every new leader turns that cycle the other way.
Sources: City of Colorado Springs, certified 2025 election results · U.S. Census Bureau ACS via Colorado Demographics (80910, 80916) and Census Reporter · Income by Zip Code (ACS) · El Paso County Public Health via KRDO · Colorado College heat study via KOAA · The Gazette · Colorado Public Radio
What We Do
We meet neighbors where they are — at the door, at church, at the cookout — to register new voters, share what's on the ballot, and make sure everyone has a plan to cast it. Every cycle, more of the Southside votes than the cycle before.
Churches, schools, small businesses, neighborhood associations, families who've been here for generations and military families just putting down roots — the Southside is strongest when we move together. We connect the people already doing the work.
The Southside deserves representatives who know these streets because they live on them. The leaders are already here — our job is to find them, give them what they need, and put them on a path to lead their community, their city, their state, and their country.
The Long Game
We're not a campaign. Campaigns end in November; we'll still be knocking doors in December. Southside Leads measures progress in years and election cycles, not news cycles — a few more voters each time, a few more partners at the table, a few more leaders ready to step up.
We're not waiting for a wave. We're building one.
Get Involved
Whether you can knock doors on a Saturday, host a house meeting, connect us with your congregation or club, or just want to stay in the loop — there's a place for you here.
Email Us: info@southsideleads.org