As the elected Clerk and Recorder for his hometown, Paul D. López is a passionate advocate for empowering all Denverites to be active civic participants.
Prior to serving as the third ever elected Clerk & Recorder for the City and County of Denver, Paul served as the youngest elected City Council member for three terms representing his home district three in Denver’s west side neighborhoods.
His passionate leadership has spurred civic engagement, ushering in a long-overdue community revitalization of West Denver. He’s spearheaded efforts to transform the Westside’s long-ignored streets, sidewalks, bridges and parks; and nearly eliminated graffiti vandalism and replaced it with urban mural art. In his term as a council member, he led efforts to building healthier communities, replacing an overabundance of liquor stores with grocery stores, and improving access to new health clinics, parks, libraries and a new recreation center.
Paul D. López is a proud graduate of the Denver Public School District and the University of Colorado at Denver. Paul worked multiple jobs to put himself through college, where he helped to improve recruitment, retention and graduation of low-income students. After graduating, he focused his work as a community organizer to protect affordable housing and increase access to public health care. As a labor organizer for six years, he fought against employers who violated workers’ rights by organizing thousands of Denver-area janitors in accessing better wages and employment conditions.
He led numerous voter registration efforts throughout Denver to increase voter participation in areas with low turnout – realizing his home precincts had the lowest turnout, and were often overlooked.
For six years, Paul served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials focused on building civic participation—from citizenship to public service. His work at NALEO prepared him to lead the Denver 2010 Census Complete Count Committee and chair the Council’s redistricting committee.
During his time on council, Paul was recognized with the “Wellington E. Webb Political Award” by the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce, and the “Vale la Pena Award” from the Boy Scouts of America. He also received an “Honor and Appreciation Award” from the Vietnamese Community of Colorado, NEWSED’s 2010 “Civil Rights Award,” and recognition for “Excellence in Local Support” from the Denver Indian Center. In 2011, he was designated as an emerging leader by President Barack Obama’s White House, and his work has been featured by major media outlets in the US, Europe and Latin America.
If you ask him, his proudest moments always happen as he empowers his dedicated staff and community leaders to lead. Paul is a loving father to his daughter, Nayeli and continues to live in the west side neighborhood of Villa Park.