Epitome of Black Excellence & Partnership

10/17/2026

The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership is releasing this comprehensive 29-page document outlining a cumulative record of leadership decisions, public statements, institutional practices, and failures of accountability under Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain.

This document challenges the public to examine something far more consequential than crime statistics or arrest numbers. It draws the question of how the decisions of one executive can shape an institutional culture in which harm is normalized, accountability is contested, and the very communities law enforcement is entrusted to protect are left questioning their safety.

Of particular concern is the impact on Aurora's communities of culture, especially the Black community, where families navigating unimaginable loss have repeatedly raised concerns about being met with institutional defensiveness rather than compassion, transparency, and meaningful accountability.
Our position is that this is not simply a question of isolated incidents or unfortunate communications. It is a question of executive leadership, the culture that leadership cultivates, and the consequences communities are forced to carry.

We invite the press and community at large to examine this record in its entirety, scrutinize the documented concerns, and ask City Manager Jason Batchelor a fundamental question. At what point does continued tolerance of concerning leadership practices become an executive decision in itself?

Public safety cannot and should not be measured solely by what happens to crime rates. It must also be measured by what happens to people when those entrusted with protecting them are called to account.

10/07/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2026

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCES OCTOBER 12 SIT-IN AT AURORA CITY HALL, DEMANDS MEETING ON TERMINATION OF POLICE CHIEF TODD CHAMBERLAIN

After repeated attempts to engage city leadership, community members say they will remain at City Hall until officials agree to meet directly about their demand for new leadership at the Aurora Police Department

AURORA, COLORADO — On Monday, October 12, 2026, community members will attend the Aurora City Council meeting and formally demand an immediate meeting with City Manager Jason Batchelor, Council Member Rob Andrews, Chair of the Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service Policy Committee, and Mayor Pro Tem Alison Coombs regarding the community’s demand for the termination of Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain.

Following public comment, participating community members intend to remain peacefully inside Aurora City Hall until city leadership agrees to meet with community representatives regarding Chamberlain’s continued employment.

This action does not come without warning.

For months, community members, advocates, and families impacted by policing in Aurora have attempted to engage city leadership through direct communication, individual conversations with members of council, public comment, and repeated invitations to collaborate. Those efforts have not resulted in the substantive meeting the community is now demanding.

Chief Chamberlain was selected by City Manager Jason Batchelor in August 2024 and sworn into office on September 9, 2024. Community members have consistently raised concerns about the lack of meaningful community participation surrounding his selection and, more importantly, what they describe as an increasingly fractured relationship between Chamberlain’s leadership and communities most directly impacted by policing in Aurora.

Over the two years since his appointment, Aurora has experienced multiple fatal police encounters. Families and community advocates have also challenged public narratives issued following critical incidents, questioned the department’s approach to transparency and accountability, and raised concerns about rhetoric they believe has contributed to fear and distrust among immigrant communities and communities of culture.

These concerns have not been raised quietly. They have been raised at the microphone. They have been raised in meetings. They have been raised directly with elected officials. They have been raised by grieving families. And still, community members say there has been no meaningful intervention from city leadership capable of repairing the widening breach of trust.
October 12th represents an escalation only after collaboration has repeatedly been requested.

“We did not begin with a sit-in. We began with conversation. We began with public comment. We began with invitations to work together. We began by asking our elected and appointed leaders to hear what families and community members were telling them. When every conventional avenue of civic engagement leaves the community standing in the same place, the question becomes what the community is expected to do next.” - MiDian Shofner, CEO Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership.

The community’s demand is specific. City Manager Batchelor, Council Member Andrews, and Mayor Pro Tem Coombs must meet with community representatives to directly address the demand for Chief Chamberlain’s termination and the leadership crisis community members believe now exists between the Aurora Police Department and the people it is charged with serving.

This is particularly significant because the authority surrounding the police chief is not abstract. Under Aurora’s governmental structure, the City Manager hires and supervises city staff and directly oversees the Aurora Police Department. Chamberlain was selected by Batchelor and confirmed by City Council in 2024.

Community members therefore reject the idea that their concerns can simply be heard during public comment and then disappear into the machinery of city government without response.

Listening is not the same as responding. On October 12th, participants will exercise their right to address their government during the regularly scheduled Aurora City Council meeting. After doing so, they intend to peacefully remain in Aurora City Hall and request the meeting that months of conventional advocacy have failed to produce.

Participants understand that remaining in the building could result in directives from city officials or law enforcement to leave and potentially expose individuals who refuse such directives to arrest. They nevertheless intend to remain peaceful and nonviolent while pressing city leadership for an immediate response.

The community is not demanding that city officials agree with every criticism before entering the room. The community is demanding that they finally enter the room.

Two years into Chief Chamberlain’s leadership, families and community members who have repeatedly appeared before their government are no longer willing to accept silence as engagement, acknowledgment as accountability, or public comment as a substitute for substantive dialogue.

October 12th is an invitation for Aurora's leadership to choose engagement before enforcement. The community has asked. The community has waited. The community has returned again and again. On October 12th, the community intends to stay.

ACTION DETAILS
What: Community Demand for Meeting and Peaceful Sit-In Regarding APD Leadership
When: Monday, October 12, 2026
City Council Meeting: 6:00 p.m.
Where: Aurora Municipal Center, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, Aurora, Colorado
Demand: An immediate meeting with City Manager Jason Batchelor, Council Member Rob Andrews, and Mayor Pro Tem Alison Coombs regarding the community’s demand for the termination of Police Chief Todd Chamberlain

Media Contact:
Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership
[email protected] - (303) 525-6461

08/04/2026

Statement Regarding the Indictment of Officer Matthew Neely in the Slaying of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield

We have reached a significant moment in the pursuit of accountability following the killing of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, whose life was taken by Aurora Police Officer Matthew Neely in August 2025. The indictment of Officer Neely represents an important step in the restoration of what was stolen from Rajon's family, and it affirms that no badge should place a person above the law.

For nearly a year, Rajon's family has carried unimaginable grief while enduring narratives that sought to justify his death before the facts could speak for themselves. Throughout this process, our team has remained harmonious in declaring the simple truth that accountability cannot depend on the profession of the person who causes harm.

An indictment is not the end of this journey. It is the beginning of a public process that will test whether our justice system is willing to apply the same standards to law enforcement that it applies to every other member of our community. We remain committed to ensuring that Rajon's humanity is never overshadowed by attempts to rewrite the circumstances of his death.

The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership stands alongside the Belt-Stubblefield family, legal counsel, and our coalition as we continue demanding transparency, accountability, and systemic change. This case is a mile marker in our efforts to ensure that families no longer have to become experts in burying loved ones taken through unnecessary violence.

As these next steps are taken, we know that our team will have to navigate this with delicacy as our CEO was a witness on scene when Rajon’s life was taken. With that in mind, we will continue to be a strategic force for this family, our community, and this process. We will not stop! Justice for our brother, Rajon Belt-Stubblefield! ✊🏾

07/30/2026

Racism in Golden’s Fire Department: Statement from the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership

We are deeply disturbed by the racist act that occurred within the Golden Fire Department, where a Black doll was found hanging by its neck from a rope. This was not a prank. It was not poor judgment. It was an act that invoked one of the most painful chapters in American history. This public spectacle of racial terror that was designed to communicate one message to Black people, and that message is “you are not safe here”.

For many, this story will be reported as an isolated incident. We reject that framing.

Acts like this do not emerge in a vacuum. They emerge in environments where individuals either believe this behavior will be tolerated or have become desensitized to the harm it causes. The question before us is not simply who tied the rope. The question is what organizational culture existed that allowed such symbolism to appear inside a public institution charged with protecting every member of this community.

We acknowledge the City of Golden’s decision to terminate the employee responsible and to initiate an independent investigation. Those are important first steps. But accountability cannot end with personnel action. The investigation must examine not only individual conduct, but organizational culture, leadership decision-making, reporting mechanisms, psychological safety for employees, and whether Black employees and residents have historically felt seen, protected, and heard.

Colorado has experienced far too many moments where communities of culture are asked to trust institutions before those institutions have demonstrated they are worthy of that trust. Trust is not restored through apologies alone. It is restored through transparency, community partnership, measurable reform, and sustained accountability.

We are calling on the City of Golden to publicly commit to:

1. Releasing the findings of the independent investigation in full, with only legally necessary redactions.

2. Establishing a community advisory process that includes Black leaders, civil rights advocates, employees, and residents to review recommendations before they are finalized.

3. Conducting a comprehensive assessment of workplace culture beyond mandatory DEI training, including policies, reporting structures, leadership accountability, hiring, promotion, and retention practices.

4. Creating measurable benchmarks and providing public progress reports so the community can evaluate whether meaningful change is occurring.

5. Ensuring that employees who report racism, discrimination, or retaliation are protected and supported throughout the process.

The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership stands ready to monitor and report our findings back to the community.

It is still to be seen whether Colorado’s public institutions are willing to confront racism with the same urgency they would any other threat to public safety.

A noose has always communicated fear. Our response must communicate something stronger demanding accountability, courage, and a commitment to ensuring that every public institution is worthy of the trust it asks our communities to place in it.

06/21/2026

06/13/2026

In response to the continued crisis of injustice both locally and nationally, CEO MiDian Shofner took a One Woman March from the place where Elijah McClain was murdered to the Colorado Court of Appeals that overturned the conviction in his case. At each mile marker, she laid items of remembrance reflecting the names of lives lost to the systems of this country dating back to 1900.

06/13/2026

Pass the Mic podcast is available to anyone who feels as if they have a voice to be heard! Hosted by the two summer interns here at The Epitome Of Black Excellence & Partnership.

Meet the interns:
Name- Tweezy
Grade- 12th grade
Interests- Music, movies, talking
Fun Fact- Im related to Crazy Horse the Native American war leader.

I love interning at The Epitome Of Black Excellence & Partnership because I love the fact that it’s allowing people with no voice to have a voice. Being someone who felt unheard by my peers, it’s a honor to intern in a field that lets me give people that platform.

Name- JyiaMilan
classification- Senior
Interests- God, family, alone time
Fun Fact- I love to dance

I love interning at The Epitome Of Black Excellence & Partnership because of how involved with the community it is. I aspire to be a lawyer so I love participating in civic engagement & seeing the impact!