Last year, I was fortunate to participate in the #健康iestCO全州聆听之旅 with our President 和 CEO 凯伦 McNeil-Miller. We wanted to hear from residents across the state, but also experience where 和 how our fellow Coloradans live. We wanted to meet people where they are. We hosted morning, afternoon 和 evening sessions. We gathered in wedding venues in Broomfield 和 Longmont, 在费尔普莱当地的集市上, the botanic garden in Gr和 Junction 和 a private respite home in Steamboat.
One of my most vivid memories is from a small session in Walden. We met a h和ful of local leaders for breakfast at the North Park Medical Clinic that offers integrated care options for the town’s population of just more than 600. 我们非正式地聊天。, 家里烤的东西摆在我们面前, as patients gathered in the clinic reception area. 谈话很乐观，但很真实.
The people of this small, tight-knit community struggle with access to fresh food. Residents drive about 60 miles just to access a pharmacy. Think about what a 60 mile trek is like for a parent with a sick child – a trip that may be met with other challenges such as hazardous road conditions, 工作或照顾孩子的冲突等等. 之后, much like every conversation 和 session on the tour, we drove away wondering: how can we use our resources to make the biggest impact on health in this community?
凯伦 描述了这次旅行 as an opportunity “to listen to the heartbeat of the state through the voices of its people.“对我们很多人来说, 它肯定了我们所知道的事情, 打开了我们的眼界, 和 it prompted ideas for improving our grantmaking 和 broadening our impact.
作为资助者, the Colorado 健康 Foundation has been supporting Colorado communities for more than a decade. The recent tour was one of many opportunities we’ve had to underst和 how communities are working toward improving the health of their families, 朋友和邻居. We view experience on the ground as one critical component to informing our funding approaches. With a staff 和 board who are relentless 和 passionate about impact, how can we not?
That’s why we’ve spent much time since the tour considering how we, 作为资助者, can support every Coloradan – no matter where they live in the state – to be healthier.
去年， we have exp和ed our traditional purview of health to include physical, mental 和 behavioral health 和 the social factors affecting health. We’ve made a commitment to help Coloradans live their healthiest lives by advancing opportunities to pursue good health 和 achieve health equity. Today, we’re at yet another important milestone in organizational transition.
In an effort to have a greater impact on our mission, we’ve been honing our thinking about how we can work with 和 in communities across the state. We’ve adopted a new model that will allow us to practice a consistent 和 intentional approach to community engagement. 最近，我们的社区投资 & 影响团队, which includes more than 20 program officers, has been restructured 和 is now orienting to a new way of operating in communities to better support our mission.
Reorganizing how our staff work naturally creates some disruption for our partners 和 grantees. That’s why we’re committing the next several weeks to communicate directly with grantees about changes to their primary points of contact.
If you are a current grantee, you can count on a conversation about this very soon. While the nature of an existing grant will not change, it’s possible that the person you work with here at the Foundation will. The program officer you’ve worked with until now will introduce you to your new point of contact, who will work to develop or deepen the relationship we have with you.
Here are a couple other key ways that our organizational engagement will shift:
- 改进和新的重点领域: Last year, our 董事会 refined the Foundation’s strategic intent. As a result, we are no longer organizing our work around the three outcome areas of 健康生活, 卫生保健 和 健康 报道. Going forward, we will align our work to specific focus areas. 我们的新重点领域如下:
- 获得护理
- 健康的行为
- 健康的儿童和青少年
- 健康的社区
- 心理和行为健康
- 健康的社会决定因素
- 新地理方法: 在他们不断发展的角色中, our staff will extend their geographic reach to help us ensure that we are taking an intentional statewide approach. While our Foundation is headquartered in Denver, we are committed - more than ever before - to being present in 和 deeply engaged with communities throughout the state.
We are genuinely excited about this new way of working. In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more information about our approach to community engagement. 与此同时，我鼓励你 向我伸出援手 or your currently assigned program officer if you’d like to discuss further. We look forward to seeing you out on the road.