Community Engagement Ft. Morgan

Evolving for Impact

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Every strong philanthropic organization evolves to meet the current needs of those it serves. One definition of evolution that resonates with me: a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development.

The Foundation is at a pivotal time in our history. I am thrilled to share with you how we continue to evolve for impact in order to ensure that every Coloradan, in every community, has the opportunity to be healthy.

Over the last year, we've become eminently clear about how and why we need to evolve. We've spent time learning about the people who we are charged to work on behalf of - low-income and vulnerable populations primarily. For us to affect positive change toward a healthier Colorado, we have to be aware of the unique challenges Coloradans face in the communities they live. We must evolve in order to help Coloradans live their healthiest lives by advancing opportunities to pursue good health and achieve health equity.

To that end, we are changing our way of engaging with you. We are aware that we have to be sensitive to the unique assets and challenges of rural, frontier, urban and suburban areas of the state. We understand that a "one size fits all" approach does not actually fit all. Vice President of Philanthropy Amy Latham shared last week in a blog post how we've reorganized our Community Investment & Impact team to have a greater impact on our mission. 

In our new state, we will engage more deeply in Colorado communities in order to understand, listen and support your agendas. We may even support you in developing a plan, but we aren't there to tell you what your plan of action should be or how to go about achieving your goals.

While we will have an intentional focus in community engagement, we are not abandoning our state-wide work. We still plan to cast a wide net and touch people through that net too. But in order to make impact at the community level, we need to be IN it and WITH you in your communities, experiencing it as closely as we can to the way you do.

Our new direction is set and our six focus areas have now been established, including: Access to Care, Healthy Behaviors, Healthy Children and Adolescents, Healthy Communities, Mental and Behavioral Health and Social Determinants of Health. While we are fully devoted to these focus areas, we are still crafting our priorities and objectives within each area. Your ideas have influenced our thinking. Over the next several months, we will develop and evolve our priorities and objectives based on what we have heard and will continue to hear from you.

Another exciting resource as we evolve for deeper impact: We created a new position, a chief impact officer (CIO). This position was designed with a vision to make impact by increasing healthy opportunities, health access and health equity for all Coloradans. I'll expect our new CIO, Bruce Byington, to wake up every morning thinking about the best ways to achieve maximum health for the residents of our state.

You will continue to hear from us as we continue to evolve how we plan to engage with you, as an evolution of this sort is a process, unfolding our new ways, spawning our new DNA.

More updates to come soon. Make sure to read our blog, check our website frequently and stay in touch.

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