Health Equity Community Exchange

PURPOSE
 
Provide a platform through which practitioners in many contexts can connect, share resources and coordinate racial and health equity advocacy efforts
 
Emphasize the primary role of race in creating and maintaining the social, economic and environmental conditions that produce health inequities
 
Facilitate and amplify collective action by organizations across the field to dismantle the systems that perpetuate racial and health inequities
 
Communicate news and announcements about events, advocacy alerts, funding and employment opportunities related to racial and health inequity
 
Educate the public and key stakeholders about racial and health inequity and engage them in advocacy efforts to eliminate inequities

 

HISTORY

The Health Equity Community Exchange is the culmination of a robust statewide search of all organizations forwarding health equity initiatives and all publicly available local resources and research related to health disparities, health outcomes of marginalized communities in the state of Colorado. The project originated as a follow-up to The Colorado Trust’s State of the Field Report with a goal of creating an online infrastructure for health equity work in Colorado facilitating increased coordinated advocacy, and collective efficacy maximizing limited resources in the field. The site has 3 main purposes: to learn, to connect, and to communicate. Data collected by the University of Denver through public search and through a follow up survey of the State of the Field report administered by The Colorado Trust have been integrated into a public, web-based searchable database to connect the many public health agencies, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, community organizations, and clinics committed to health equity for ALL Coloradans. This site is intentionally dynamic and will be organically co-produced through participation and feedback of health equity focused organizations, advocates, policy analysts and health practitioners in Colorado.

The Health Equity Community Exchange research originated in Spring 2019 through the Metro Denver Partnership for Health with research led by the University of Denver Department of Biological Sciences, IRISE (Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of Inequality), and the Computer Science Department. The Steering Committee was established in February 2020 comprising leadership from Colorado Public Health Association, Denver Department of Public Health and the Environment, Denver Health, Silver Thread Public Health, One Colorado, Envision You, and Mountain Youth. Technical development was provided by students in the University of Denver Computer Science Department in Spring 2020 and is ongoing. The site is scheduled to officially launch in summer 2021.

 

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Interested in participating and/or providing feedback on the final website?

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Led by

 

Nancy M. Lorenzon

Teaching Professor; Director, Pre-professional Allied Health

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photo

Cheri Colter

PhD

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