Candi CdeBaca, a former Denver City Council member, social worker and community organizer, was born and raised in Denver’s Swansea neighborhood near Commerce City, the most polluted ZIP code in the United States. It’s also a food desert. Despite being at the center of ambitious city-led redevelopment efforts, including the National Western Center, many residents continue to face environmental injustice and lack access to healthy, affordable food.
Now serving on the Community Investment Fund for the National Western Center, CdeBaca is pushing for the community to be heard in how resources are used — and for food justice to become a reality. The fund recently entered its second year and drew attention through a documentary that highlights the neighborhood’s struggles.
CdeBaca recently traveled to Boulder to participate in a public gathering hosted by community organizers working on the city’s first People’s Climate Justice Plan. The event, part of a growing grassroots movement, invited people to envision life 500 years into the future.
Known for her unapologetic stance on environmental and food justice, CdeBaca spoke with La Ciudad about how living in one of the nation’s most polluted ZIP codes has shaped her belief that food should be treated as a public utility, not a commodity.
For CdeBaca, that future starts with rethinking the basics: “Food is not a commodity. It’s a right,” she said.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
🎙️La Ciudad: What brought you to Boulder for this event?
Candi CdeBaca: We’re here at the Junkyard Social Club for a gathering around The People’s Plan of Boulder. The goal today was to spark creativity, imagination and courage about what our world — and specifically this city — could look like in the near and distant future. We talked about community wealth building, food as a utility and alternative housing concepts. It was a powerful space for collective dreaming.
🎙️La Ciudad: What message from today’s conversation do you believe is most urgent for our communities?
CdeBaca: One key takeaway is how dangerous it is to commodify basic human needs. Today’s discussion centered around what it means to de-commodify essentials like food and housing. Everyone should have access to food — not just food you can afford, but food as a right. Our tax dollars should go toward meeting those needs, not just generating profit for stakeholders.
🎙️La Ciudad: You spoke about shifting the idea of food from a commodity to a utility. Can you expand on that?
CdeBaca: Yes. The idea is to shift our mindset and reframe food as a public utility, something we invest in the same way we do water, trash collection or electricity. Cities could fund food infrastructure and support community-led food initiatives. That’s what we were talking about here: how to rally support and hold government accountable to invest in food as a core human right.
🎙️La Ciudad: How has your experience shaped your advocacy for food justice?
CdeBaca: I was born and raised in the most polluted ZIP code in the country. It’s also a food desert. That same area is now home to the National Western Center, which the city claims will be a global hub for agricultural innovation. And yet, we still don’t have access to healthy, affordable food. As a former city council member and a current resident, I believe if we’re going to call ourselves leaders in agriculture, we have to walk the talk, starting with treating food as a utility.
🎙️La Ciudad: What are you doing now to push this vision forward?
CdeBaca: I’m still living in Swansea and actively working in my community. I currently serve on the Community Investment Fund for the National Western Center. That’s one place where I’m pushing to make these dreams real, using everything I learned in office to empower the community with concrete tools to fight for food justice.
🎙️La Ciudad: Where can people learn more or get involved?
CdeBaca: The Community Investment Fund is one place to start. But honestly, I’m just out in the neighborhood, organizing, listening (and) sharing what I’ve learned from my time on council. If folks want to help turn this vision into reality, they can start by supporting the movements already happening in their own communities. The fight for food as a utility is just beginning.