In Good Health

My dear friend Carly Hare, who also goes by her Pawnee name of <i kita u hoo <i ]a hiks which translates into “kind leader of men,” once said something that really stuck with me:

“What if we pretend the community members we speak to are our cousins that have been wronged before?”

To me, this quote is about kinship and compassion. When you go a layer deeper, it’s about a collective sense of belonging and empathy for one another. It’s about evolving our perspectives on not only how we view our neighbors, colleagues and friends, but how we treat them.

To bring health in reach for all Coloradans, it is essential we learn from them about what they

A stable, safe and affordable home is the foundation for good health. It’s instrumental to helping build communities where all can thrive—regardless of what they look like, where they’re from, how much money they earn or who they love. At this year’s Colorado Health Symposium, we’ll explore the complexity of our state’s housing crisis while calling attention to the systems that perpetuate inequity.

The lives of thousands of our neighbors in Colorado and millions more across the country have been disrupted by our nation’s housing crisis. We also know that the lack of affordable homes is not uniquely an urban phenomenon. Barriers to quality, affordable and attainable housing is indiscriminate of geographic boundaries throughout Colorado, impacting

The community of Alamosa, located in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, is a special place. The Rio Grande snakes its way through the county of 16,000 residents, enriching the fertile soil that grows the cottonwood trees which give the area its Spanish name. Beyond its foliage, the city continues to reflect its Spanish heritage today. Nearly half of all Alamosans identify as Hispanic or Latino, with many able to trace their families’ roots living in the valley back several generations.

The spirit of Alamosa is epitomized by the strong family values and hard work ethic of those who live in the region. In the face of a local opioid crisis and difficult economic conditions, Alamosans express pride in where they come

“I work toward engaging deeply with communities as a program officer. I come to the work with a lifetime focus on decreasing poverty while increasing equity. We want to support communities in a way that has the most significant impact while serving people who face historical disadvantages. We often come back to the centering question: How can we be most impactful with the work that we’re doing?” – Rose Green, Colorado Health Foundation program officer

At the Foundation, we recognize that by deeply engaging with communities over an extensive period of time, we can together more effectively move the needle on the unique health challenges they experience. Working locally over the long term also provides us an opportunity to help