Public Health in the Rockies 2026

The ability of public health professionals and institutions to fulfill their missions of advancing community health has become increasingly fraught. With fewer resources and heightened pressure to divest from health equity, it is imperative that we work creatively and collaboratively to ensure the well-being of all those in our community. Together, the Colorado Health Institute (CHI), Broomfield Public Health and Environment (BPHE), and Rocky Mountain Equality (RMEQ) propose a showcase on our collaborative and respective research on LGBTQ+ public health data in Colorado and our work to localize the data to make it actionable at the county level.

We will tell the story of our partnership along a visualized map of our journey — the moments that inspired us to pursue our data projects, the funding that supported us, and the findings we identified along the way. In this journey, we explore the search for data on loneliness and social isolation, and the challenges and opportunities presented to make the data relevant at the local level. That approach required this collaboration and the use of mixed methods to localize the data on the LGBTQ+ community in Broomfield.

We will share data from primary data collection efforts by BPHE as well as data from the Colorado Health Access Survey. The session will provide lessons learned throughout this two-year endeavor to showcase gaps and areas of opportunity for other LPHAs across the state. The unique and continuing journey of the partnership of CHI, BPHE, and RMEQ will encourage attendees to think about partnering with other organizations.

Presenters chose the one-hour session time because they want to engage with participants in their own journey mapping to understand where they could establish partnerships to meet the needs of community members.