High Country Hero: Rodney Allen

Question and answer with Rodney Allen, who works for Exclusive Mountain Retreats Real Estate and gives time back to help diversity issues in the community

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DAILY NEWS STAFF REPORT
April 15, 2008

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My Bio
A Breckenridge resident for more than 22 years, I moved to Summit County from Sydney, Australia, my native home. I am co-owner of Exclusive Mountain Retreats Real Estate.

Community Involvement: Summit County Upper Blue Planning Commissioner, Summit Countywide Planning Commissioner, Town of Breckenridge Planning Commissioner, member of the Community Intercultural Council, mediator for the Colorado Association of Realtors, chair of the Professional Standards Committee for the Summit Association of Realtors, member of the Professional Standards Committee for the Colorado Association of Realtors.

In your opinion, what is the best thing about being a part of the Summit County community?
That we are a community. Summit County is more then just a place to live. We have a small town atmosphere with many aspects (arts, entertainment, restaurants) only found in the big city. Both our locals and visitors are diverse interesting people with fascinating backgrounds. We all love where we live. Most of us moved here, or grew up here and stayed by choice.

How do you support\promote integration in your everyday life?
I have been learning Spanish at CMC for the past few years. I like to ride the Stage and practice my Spanish with some Spanish speaking locals. As poor as my Spanish is, I feel that learning and using it is a small step in trying to include everyone who lives here into our community. Also, I have enjoyed my work with the Community Intercultural Council. This is a group of volunteers from both the receiving and immigrant/refugee communities who work together to identify ongoing issues in our community and work towards solving them.

How would you explain your philosophy in regard to community involvement?
There are many organizations in our community which need our help. I tend to look for an organization which I am interested in and have some specific skills for. I then volunteer my time to that group. I feel that we all have something to give, depending on our skills and interest. I don’t think of community involvement so much as “giving back” but rather just contributing towards making a better place for us all to live in.

What has been your biggest challenge working toward integration, and how do you deal with it?
Understanding each other so we get comfortable together and do not fear each other. We tend to be uncomfortable with things we do not know much about. We all seem to hang out with other people who are just like us. I think that getting to know others from different cultures really enhances our lives. We can all live together to further enhance our really great community. Our community has evolved from a diverse group of people who came from all over the country into one where we now are populated from people coming from all over the world. For example, there is a lot of diversity between New York, Kansas, the Midwest, Alabama and California. We have all managed to blend into an interesting diverse community which is working well. Now it is time to expand that diversity & embrace additional cultures. We need to continue to integrate without assimilating and losing each of our individual cultures. This can be achieved. I have friends from New York who have lived here forever and are totally integrated — but they are still VERY New York!

When you imagine your ideal Summit County, what do you see?
We have a great community which I am sure is envied by many other places. I imagine us evolving further along the lines of how we have grown up over the past 30 years. One close knit diverse community made up of many different cultures.