GRETCHEN RYDIN
Candidate for State House, Colorado’s 38th District
Service: Clinical Social Worker
Gretchen Rydin is running to be the next state representative for Colorado House District 38. Gretchen was elected to the Littleton City Council in 2021 to a four-year At-Large term and elected by her peers on the City Council to serve as Mayor Pro Tem from 2021-2023. Gretchen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC). She is a therapist specializing in trauma and addiction for individuals, couples, and groups, and practices at a community mental health center in Arapahoe County. She earned a bachelor of arts from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a master’s degree in Social Work from Howard University in Washington, DC. Community service runs deep for Gretchen. She’s organized dozens of service projects within her community–river clean ups, musical performances in nursing homes, dinners for the homeless, and clothing drives for refugees. She loves interfaith work and served on the board of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington when she lived in DC and was the director of Day to Serve, a partnership with the Governor’s Offices of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the DC Mayor’s office to promote community service projects. An accomplished violist, Gretchen is a member of the Denver Pops Orchestra and plays regularly with her church community.