Blair Gifford Mile High Sustainability Impact Challenge

Downtown Denver faces growing pressures from climate change—heat, air quality, water scarcity, and extreme weather events—along with changing density and mobility choices, housing affordability, and the need for equitable access to green space and other urban amenities.

CU Denver Business School’s Sustainable Business Program created the Blair Gifford Mile High Sustainability Impact Challenge with a generous gift in 2025 from social entrepreneur and CU Denver Business School Professor Emeritus Dr. Blair Gifford. The challenge is designed to catalyze solutions to these issues and help make downtown Denver one of the nation’s most sustainable places to live, work, and play.

Student teams and community partners will design a project—or a set of interventions—that improve the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of downtown Denver over the next 5 years. Proposals, developed in partnership with a local nonprofit organization (NGO), government office, or business, should address one or more of the following areas: green infrastructure, water resiliency, mobility/transport, building efficiency, public space, waste reduction, housing affordability, or mixed‐use redevelopment.

Teams must identify target locations—blocks, neighborhoods, corridors—in downtown Denver; engage impacted stakeholders, design a project or set of interventions; estimate costs and financing; propose metrics for measuring success; solicit letters of collaboration from partners; and present a clear implementation plan.

Support and resources will be provided leading up to the challenge application deadline, including a kickoff event and capacity-building, idea-generation, and feasibility workshops led by CU Denver faculty and local subject-matter experts. Finalists selected from the applicant pool will be invited to the Mile High Sustainability Impact Challenge Pitch Night on May 1, 2026, a Shark-Tank-style event where teams will compete for cash awards and project pilot implementation support.

• Engage Colorado students in solving real, local sustainability and community challenges centered on downtown Denver.
• Encourage interdisciplinary academic collaboration (business, urban planning, geography, environmental studies, public policy, social sciences) and cross-sector collaboration (business, nonprofit, and government).
• Develop actionable solutions that balance environmental, social, and economic sustainability goals and current and future needs.
• Strengthen connections between CU Denver, the City and County of Denver, and downtown businesses, communities, and academic organizations.
• Build partnerships with city agencies and downtown businesses to implement winning ideas.

Each team will select one or two of the following focal areas:

1. Green Infrastructure & Climate Resilience: Urban tree canopy, heat island reduction, green roofs, stormwater management.
2. Sustainable Transportation & Mobility: Active transit (walking, biking), electrification, last-mile connectivity, downtown congestion solutions.
3. Circular Economy & Waste Reduction: Composting, recycling innovation, waste stream optimization for downtown businesses, and water reuse.
4. Energy & Building Efficiency: Commercial retrofits, renewable energy integration, net-zero building strategies.
5. Sustainable Urban Development: Adaptive reuse, mixed-use redevelopment, affordable housing, future-oriented downtown design, transit-oriented community development
6. AI Utilization for Sustainability: Leveraging artificial intelligence for urban planning, energy management, predictive modeling of climate impacts, water management and stewardship, or optimizing transportation and waste systems in downtown Denver.

Teams should consist of four to six members and must include at least two Colorado-based university students—graduate students or junior- or senior-level undergraduates.. Teams must include at least one student pursuing a business degree and one student pursuing a non-business degree to ensure interdisciplinary participation.

Students may team up across multiple universities. Eligible universities include, but are not limited to, CU Denver, MSU Denver, Community College of Denver, University of Denver, Regis University, Colorado Christian University, CU Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and Colorado School of Mines.

Additional team members may come from across government, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations; however, award funds will be distributed only to student team members. Each proposal must include a letter of collaboration from a government agency, nonprofit organization, or private-sector partner that details the resources and efforts to be provided if the project is awarded.

Who Should Apply?

• Graduate students or junior- and senior-level undergraduates
• Students from any Colorado-based college or university
• Interdisciplinary teams (business + non-business majors required)
• Community partners from nonprofits, government, or the private sector are encouraged to participate
• No matter your discipline—business, urban planning, engineering, environmental studies, public policy, social sciences, or beyond—your perspective is needed.

The Kickoff
Jan. 22, 2026 | 5 – 6:30 p.m.

• Launch event introducing competition scope, rules, resources, and downtown Denver-specific sustainability challenges.
• Guest speakers: City of Denver’s Office of Climate Action and Downtown Denver Partnership
• Teams formation

Idea Generator and Capacity Building Workshop
Feb. 5, 2026  | 5 – 7 p.m.

• Prospective partner organizations and mentors present on key challenges and resources available to students.
• Exemplary projects highlighted
• Stakeholder mapping and interviewing techniques shared
• Students formulate preliminary ideas and concepts, a location of interest, and begin identifying and selecting NGO, corporate, or government partner(s).
• Teams choose a downtown Denver location and/or focus issue.

Idea Feasibility Workshop
Feb. 26, 2026 | 5 – 6:30 p.m.

• Teams present preliminary concepts to faculty mentors and local professionals.
• Receive structured feedback on feasibility, scalability, and local relevance.

Applications Due
April 1, 2026

• Teams refine ideas into a full proposal of 10 pages for judge review, including:
  
  • Problem definition
  • Proposed solution(s)
  • Implementation strategy (timeline, phases)
  • Business/financial plan
  • Sustainability metrics (environmental, social, economic)
  • Stakeholder engagement efforts/plan
  • Letter(s) of collaboration detailing resources and efforts in support of the proposal and its implementation should it be awarded.

Practice Pitch Night
April 16  | 5 – 6:30 p.m.

• Finalist teams are invited to participate in a practice pitch night and receive feedback from faculty and local subject-matter experts to refine their pitches in advance of Pitch Night.

Pitch Night
May 1, 2026 | 5 – 8 p.m.

• Location: Jake Jabs Center
• Invitation only (finalists invited to pitch)
• Includes a dinner reception
• Teams deliver 10–12 minute presentations with visual aids (maps, data, financial models).
• Q&A session for depth testing
• Audience: judges, peers, community stakeholders.
• Winning teams announced

• First Place: $10,000 (with $10,000 extra awarded for project implementation)
• Second Place: $5,000
• Third Place: 2,500

Note: Award funds are distributed directly to student participants and may be divided among team members at their discretion.

• Local Relevance (20%): Denver-specific and downtown-focused.
• Sustainability Impact (20%): Environmental benefits, equity, economic viability, and present/future balance.
• Feasibility & Implementation (20%): Realistic cost, technical soundness, scalability, strength, and relevance of Letters of Collaboration from implementation partners.
• Innovation (15%) – Originality and creativity.
• Community Engagement (15%): Inclusivity, stakeholder engagement in project development, partner engagement.  
• Presentation Quality (10%): Clarity, visuals, communication.