Public Health in the Rockies 2026

Public health professionals know that meaningful change starts with community. Yet building authentic, lasting community partnerships is often learned on the job, without the time, training, or infrastructure to do it well. When engagement is rushed or surface-level, interventions don't fit local realities, participation lags, and the trust we depend on erodes. Strengthening community engagement capacity across the public health workforce is essential to creating useful programs, improving health outcomes, and grounding public health efforts in the lived experiences of the populations we serve.

Since 2010, the Colorado Immersion Training in Community Engagement (CIT) has prepared public health and health care professionals to partner with communities through an immersive, community-led approach. Over six months, participants combine coursework with a week-long, community-based experience. This week-intensive is guided by trusted local partners with deep knowledge of place, and relevant health concerns.

Across 15 years, 167 participants from multiple disciplines have completed CIT, in partnership with eight Colorado communities serving as track sites. A recent review of CIT identified the partnerships, infrastructure, and practices required to support meaningful, sustainable training. This session shares those lessons and equips participants, including public health practitioners, program leaders, and researchers, to bring an immersive engagement training model to their own institutions.

In the first 30 minutes, participants will hear how CIT is structured and what it has produced, with a closer look at one community track. The next 40 minutes are hands-on: in small groups, participants will assess their own organizational and community readiness, map the partnerships and resources needed to launch an immersive training model, and outline concrete next steps. The final 20 minutes open into facilitated discussion to share insights, anticipate common barriers like funding, staffing, and capacity, and identify ways to sustain this work locally.

This session will help participants envision, plan, and advocate for engagement training that addresses public health challenges, strengthens partnerships, lifts up community leaders, and advances public health practice. Through hands-on activities, participants will build essential skills in stakeholder engagement, program planning, and implementation, while reinforcing the importance of community leadership. By centering community voices, the session models how strong partnerships produce more relevant programs, better uptake, and the kind of trust that builds trust in public health.

In an increasingly individualistic society, the prevailing narrative suggests that "self-care" is the primary antidote to burnout and trauma. We are told that if we only practice enough mindfulness or take enough bubble baths, we can endure any professional or systemic stressor. However, for a social mammal, the idea of regulating purely in isolation is a biological fable. Human beings have survived and evolved through the ongoing process of co-regulation—the process by which our nervous systems settle and find safety through the presence and support of others.

This interactive workshop challenges the "self-care" myth by introducing the framework of Co-Care. While individual wellbeing is foundational, the most impactful resilience occurs within our professional relationships and relational ecosystems. How we navigate emotions and interpersonal dynamics at work directly dictates the quality of our outcomes and the sustainability of our missions.

When we lack the tools to support one another through conflict, we often fall into maladaptive social patterns such as gossip, triangulation, or conflict avoidance. These behaviors don't just damage morale; they stifle curiosity and diversity of thought. Conversely, when a team learns to regulate through emotions and engage in healthy conflict, the collective capacity for growth expands. By staying regulated in the presence of conflict, we allow our biases and judgments to be challenged, leading to more innovative and equitable public health solutions.

Background:

Public health and quality improvement (QI) initiatives are increasingly expected to demonstrate measurable value alongside clinical outcomes. Practical applications of Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology in maternal health QI remain limited. The Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative (CPCQC) partnered with the Center for Social Investment at Omni Institute to conduct an SROI study of Turning the Tide (TTT), a hospital-based QI initiative designed to reduce pregnancy-associated overdoses, a leading cause of pregnancy-associated death in Colorado, and improve engagement in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.




Methods:

Using an SROI framework adapted from the New Economics Foundation, the study estimated the social and economic value generated through improved postpartum engagement in treatment. TTT data from 2022-2025 were analyzed to estimate outcomes associated with screening, referrals, social work consultation, and treatment engagement.




Results:

Across 25 participating hospitals, 87% of birthing people were screened for substance use and 94% of those who screened positive received a referral or treatment. The analysis estimated that 34 additional birthing people maintained engagement in SUD treatment due to program implementation, generating an estimated $681,990 in social and economic value through reduced healthcare and criminal justice costs. Overall, TTT generated an estimated return of $1.99 for every $1 invested, suggesting that hospital-based perinatal substance use QI initiatives can generate measurable economic benefits alongside improved treatment engagement.




Implications:

This presentation offers attendees a practical framework for applying SROI methodology to public health and QI initiatives using implementation-based data. Presenters will discuss methodological considerations, data limitations, strengths and challenges, and lessons learned. Finally, presenters will highlight how lessons learned are being applied to CPCQC’s community-facing program, IMPACT BH, for a future SROI analysis. Attendees will gain practical insight into how SROI can support evaluation, sustainability planning, and communication of program impact in maternal and behavioral health settings.

The Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids initiative (HFDK), established through a 2018 ballot measure, expands access to healthy food and food-based education for children and families. HFDK funds nonprofit organizations, local government entities, and public schools working across Denver’s food system. CAI serves as the external evaluator, developing shared process and outcome measures, tools, and resources to describe impact and promote sustainability.

CAI developed interactive geospatial maps and multi-level analyses to visualize where and how grantees delivered services across Denver. Using grantee reporting data on service delivery site locations, neighborhood-level indicators, and ArcGIS, CAI created customized maps to examine service reach for youth and families, potential gaps, and areas of overlap. CAI facilitated an interactive grantee convening where grantees reviewed maps, discussed patterns, and contributed community knowledge to contextualize the findings.

This participatory process generated insights that would not have emerged from CAI analyzing the maps alone. For example, grantees noted that two apparently underserved neighborhoods included a large golf course and cemetery, helping explain the absence of service sites and refine how potential gaps were interpreted. Grantees also recommended additional layers, including transit lines and food pantry locations, to help determine whether apparent gaps reflect limited access, transportation barriers, or existing resources not captured in the maps. Lastly, grantees identified opportunities to explore partnerships with school districts beyond Denver Public Schools in border neighborhoods where families may otherwise fall through the gaps.

This session will highlight how participatory data interpretation can support community health planning and policy development by helping to identify service gaps, strengthen partnerships, and translate data into actionable recommendations. Attendees will review the facilitation structure and mapping activities used with grantees, then participate in a small-group exercise replicating the grantee experience. A one-hour session is requested to allow sufficient time for both presentation and interactive application.

Youth substance use remains a critical public health concern, with prior Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) data (2017–2019) in Denver Public Schools (DPS) indicating concerning trends and a clear need for targeted intervention. In response, DPS established an intentional partnership with the Colorado School of Public Health to strengthen the collection, analysis, and application of student health data. This collaboration was designed to ensure that prevention strategies were grounded in reliable data and aligned with identified student needs, advancing a shared goal of improving youth health outcomes.

Through this partnership, HKCS data were collected from middle and high school students and analyzed across multiple years, comparing baseline data from 2017–2019 with more recent data from 2023–2025. Analyses focused on identifying changes in substance use prevalence and patterns over time, as well as examining how data-informed strategies were implemented in response to earlier findings. These strategies included enhanced prevention education, early intervention efforts, and coordinated supports across school communities.

Results indicate a measurable decrease in reported student substance use in the 2023–2025 data compared to earlier years, suggesting positive impacts of targeted, data-driven interventions. These findings highlight the effectiveness of aligning public health and education efforts through intentional collaboration.

This session is highly relevant to public health professionals as it demonstrates how cross-sector partnerships can generate actionable data to inform programming and evaluate outcomes. Attendees will leave with practical approaches for analyzing state public health survey data to guide decision-making, implement effective prevention strategies, and measure impact.

Background: In 2024, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) moved from collecting client-level data for all funded Syringe Access Program (SAP) interactions to an annual point-in-time survey (PiT). This change aligned with best practices for estimating demographic reach, client needs, and effectiveness of SAP services, while reducing data entry burden for SAP staff.

Methods: The PiT was administered to a sample of SAP participants in 2024 and 2025. Target sample sizes were calculated based on the estimated number of participants served annually at each SAP. Surveys were entered into REDCap, and analysis was completed using R. Infographics describing results were created and disseminated to funded SAPs and other stakeholders.

Results: 2,425 participants completed the PiT across 15 SAPs in 2024 and 2025. The average age of respondents was 43 years, most were White (48%) and/or Hispanic/Latine (32%). Men made up 66% of respondents, and 60% of respondents reported their housing status as homeless. The top SAP services included safer smoking/snorting supplies, syringe pickup, and Naloxone provision. The top SAP referrals were food/nutrition assistance, shelter/housing assistance and HIV Testing. 8% of participants reported sharing syringes/needles, and 25% reported reusing syringes or needles.

Implications: SAPs are a critical access point for prevention and supportive services. The proportion of respondents who reported syringe/needle sharing and reuse highlights the need for safer use education, increased access to sterile supplies, and expanded interventions that lower injection-related risks. Collecting this survey annually allows for monitoring of demographic shifts and changing needs over time. This data informs program improvement and planning, supports advocacy for continued funding, and guides expansion of services offered and referral networks.