| Dafna Michaelson Jenet was appointed to represent Senate District 21 in August 2023. She currently serves as President Pro Tempore, Vice Chair of the Health & Human Services Committee, and as a member of the Senate Education Committee.
Her legislative work primarily focuses on youth, particularly foster youth, mental health, and health care access. She ran for office primarily because of her personal experiences with her family and mental health; when her son was 9 years old, he attempted suicide at school. This has impacted her work deeply. In 2021, she created the iMatter program, a successful program that allows any school-aged child to obtain 6 free sessions of therapy if they choose. Over 9,000 Colorado young people have taken advantage of this program.
Further areas of advocacy include her lifelong efforts to increase education surrounding the Holocaust and genocide. Most recently, Senator Michaelson Jenet successfully created and passed a historic bill mandating inclusion of Holocaust and Genocide education in high school curricula in the state of Colorado. Prior to this, she served as the Director of the Holocaust Awareness Institute of the University of Denver as well as the Director of March of the Living for the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York. In addition, the Senator was president of the Denver Chapter of Hadassah; she served on the Desert Mountain region board and in the National portfolio council of this wonderful organization.
During one calendar year, some years before joining the legislature, Senator Michaelson Jenet traveled to all 50 states in search of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to solve problems in their communities. She chronicled her experiences in "It Takes a Little Crazy to Make a Difference" published by Motivational Press. The book won the Social Change category of 2015's International Book Awards and earned her a place on Conversation Magazine's "25 Women Changing the World" list and a mention in CNN's "Intriguing Person" column. |