Have You Met?

For a person that has spent most of her adult life dealing with crime and the victims of crime, Candace Cooledge is remarkably calm and upbeat.  This is a good thing considering that the organization she heads (Porchlight – A Family Justice Center) sees over 3,000 people a year, all of whom need help.

Let’s start at the beginning.   Candace was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lived in Belmont but grew up in Hudson, a small town of less than 20,000 people. 

Candace was an only child whose dad worked for Hewlett Packard (HP) and her mom took odd jobs so that she could be at home with Candace.  Her mother had a passion for caring for the elderly off and on throughout her life and she also worked at the Massachusetts statehouse as a legislative aide.

It was an idyllic childhood generally speaking.  In high school, the first half of her freshman year was a little rough.  “My friends went to public school, and I went to Catholic school.  I didn’t have a lot of friends, and the school was several towns away and I had to take the bus at 5:00am every day and couldn’t participate in after school activities or sports because I had to get on the bus for the long ride home.  My parents saw me struggling a little bit and then moved me to a closer, public school. There I blossomed and did well, and part of that was being able to play softball all 4 years,” Candace recounts.

Candace continues, “I loved the sport so much that I didn’t care that my friends didn’t play.  I was also a cheerleader when not playing softball.   We won the cheerleading state championship several times.”  Candace played first base and has passed on the love of softball to her daughter who plays at Colorado State University on a softball scholarship.

Candace graduated from high school and went to the Univ. of Mass. in Amherst.  HP transferred her dad to Colorado.  Candace says, “I stayed at UMass and in my sophomore year came across Legal Studies.  Legal studies covers theoretical law.  I took classes in family law, not the nuts and bolts; but what is encompassed in law, the theory of law.  It was really interesting, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go to law school, as it is was expensive.  I also had taken enough sociology classes that I was able to graduate with a double major in sociology and legal studies.”

Candace had often visited her family in Colorado on breaks.  When she graduated she moved to Colorado.  She tried a number of different things tangential to being a lawyer.  She worked in community corrections as a caseworker for offenders and in law firms doing insurance defense and worker’s compensation.  None of them really piqued her interest.  Through her work at one of the law firms she met a judge who told her that she should clerk for a judge in Jefferson County because they have a mixed docket, handling civil. Criminal and family law.

As luck would have it, that same judge called the next day and said his law clerk had just given his notice and that she should apply for the position.  She got the job as his law clerk.  His courtroom saw cases dealing with family, civil and criminal law.  It was all fascinating, but criminal law was her favorite. 

Since she was working full time, she attended DU’s law school program at night.  Her time as a law clerk allowed her to meet a lot of people and some of the prosecutors got her an interview with the DA.

She worked as a prosecutor for Jefferson County for 16 years.  During that time, she handled everything from DUI’s and low-level misdemeanors, juvenile court and eventually more serious cases in district court.

Candace remembers, “After a while, I worked in the Special Victims unit, which works with folk who have been victimized in domestic violence and crimes against children.  They require a lot of investigation, which I liked.  In many criminal cases, you are generally looking at one specific incident, however in SVU cases you look much further into the relationship history.   It was fascinating to dig deeper into the heart of what was actually happening.  I worked with those types of cases for 5 years.”

She continues, “People that have luckily never been in a domestic violence situation don’t realize what all is involved.  First there is the amount of time that’s involved.  It can often take up to a year for a case to be heard.  During that time, the victims have a variety of needs; perhaps a more permanent protection order, custody and divorce issues, mental health help, food and rent, childcare and so on.”

“Our community had great resources, but they were all in different places. So, the victim would have to go here and there and retell their story each time. This would be difficult under the best of circumstances but is really difficult as the victims are dealing with so much.”

Candace attended a 2016 conference in San Diego for Family Justice Centers and part of that was touring the San Diego Family Justic Center.  There the light bulb went on, and she wondered, why aren’t we doing that?   To have everything in one place providing collaborative services seemed like a no brainer to her.

Luckily, the then assistant DA Michael Dougherty agreed and said to put together a presentation for the DA, Pete Weir.  The District Attorney agreed, and said let’s do it -make it happen, and Candace was chosen to spearhead the effort.

Candace says, “I thought of every agency I could think of that could provide a service to a victim.  Every person said I’m in how can I help.  That effort started in 2017, and we opened our doors in February of 2021. This was not a Candace Cooledge or a District Attorney project.  This was really a community project built together with all the different agencies, including input from a focus group of survivors. “

Even though everyone said yes, it still took 4 years.  We had a governance committee that tackled important issues, like who and how was it going to be governed?  A facilities committee dealt with location and renting or buying issues, a funding committee to work on the funding model, an operations committee to work on the service delivery, and a finance committee to help with financial decisions.

Over 3000 people come through the front door each year.  Folks that come in meet with a Navigator and the Navigator helps connect them with the different services that are provided.

What’s next for Porchlight?  Future wishes include a need for more space.  There is also a long-term goal to help kids break the cycle of violence.  Research shows that 75% of kids who see domestic violence will repeat it as either a victim or aggressor. We have 3 child therapists and would love to start a program called Camp Hope.  We would take them to camp for a week in the summer and follow up with a yearlong program where we would take the children to museums, etc. to stay in touch.

Candace sees a bright future for Porchlight.  Porchlight is the second FJC in Colorado, but they are the only one that works with a multitude of victimization including domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, crimes against children, elder and at-risk individual abuse and human trafficking,

A typical day for Candace has her keeping an eye on what is happening, meetings to garner funding, with potential new partners, or with committees, researching grants, meeting with community groups and providing tours.  Cuts in federal funding threaten to curtail some childcare services, mental health services and interpretation services that Porchlight has been able to provide.

To de-stress when Candace is away from the office, she likes to watch her two kids play sports; particularly softball and golf.  Spending time with her husband and kids serves as a joyful antidote to the workplace.

The best part of her job is reading the comments from those they serve and enjoying the successes; when people say, “you saved my life, I don’t know where I’d be without you.  You were there for me in the darkest part of my life.”    That’s so rewarding.

The least favorite part of her job is fundraising.  As Candace says, “I was trained as a lawyer not a fundraiser,  I am incredibly passionate, no one likes asking for money, it’s not my favorite thing, but I do it because it is so important for those we serve and our community.”

Author’s note: I have toured the facility and was impressed with the number of services that were housed under one roof.  These include but are not limited to a closed-circuit connection to the courthouse, childcare facilities, representatives of Foothills Animal Shelter, translation services, mental health help and more.