When I first moved to Denver in 2022, I knew no one.
As I quickly learned, it’s hard to make friends in a new city.
Maybe you’ve read about this so-called “epidemic of loneliness.” Maybe your best friend just moved away. Maybe, like me, you came to Denver without much community to start with. Or maybe you’re just looking to meet new people.
This is why we’re launching Denverite Classifieds.
What’s a Classified?
Think classic newspaper classified ads where people took out personals, but online, and for like-minded Denverites looking to meet their neighbors and make new friends. Here’s an example:
BRIGHT-EYED STALLION LOOKING FOR A HERD (32, GVR) Feeling blue without friends. Looking for others with passions for aviation, conspiracy theories and inspiring a vague sense of dread.
HONK (2, WASH PARK) Hoping to organize a weekly meetup for foul fowls to patrol the park and cause light chaos. Honk.
Denverite Classifieds is a place to make new connections, like getting coffee with another new transplant, meeting fellow moms for walks, finding other queer people to go rock climbing with, or organizing a lizard lovers meet-up.
It’s not a place to find a roommate, offer up your babysitting skills or look for professional networking. The focus is on relationships, not transactions.
How does it work?
You can submit a classified here. Every week or so we’ll choose a few and post them to our website and social media.
All the posted Classifieds will be anonymous – we won’t post any names or contact information. You can include your age, gender and neighborhood if you think it will be helpful in making connections.
Then, folks can read through the classifieds and respond via a personal Google Form. They can privately share more about themselves and their contact details. The person who wrote the classified can read through the responses and make the choice to reach out or not — it’s all in your hands.
When can I get started?
Now! You can submit your own classified here.
After we gather a few, we’ll start sharing them.
We can’t promise to post every Classified, but we do promise to go through each one and help as many people find connections as we can.
And if you end up making a new book club, finding someone to go birding with, discovering a new bar or otherwise making a new friend, we want to hear all about it at [email protected].
And before we go…
Be nice. Don’t be a creep. Use the same common sense you would use when getting a cool chair off Facebook Marketplace, meeting someone IRL from an app, or otherwise connecting with strangers for the first time.
