Community Leaders in Health Equity
Composed of three key elements, this equity and health equity leadership program helped participants build their capacity and power to improve their communities.
Overview
The Colorado Trust recognizes the untapped potential in Colorado communities to address even the most difficult health equity issues. As one way to provide tools and resources and help communities realize this potential, The Colorado Trust funded Community Leaders in Health Equity (CLHE). CLHE was an intensive equity and health equity leadership training and development program designed for people living in Colorado who are impacted by multiple forms of oppression and health inequities. The program was devised and implemented by Transformative Alliances LLC, a Denver-based anti-oppression and equity consulting organization.
Community Leaders in Health Equity was composed of three elements:
Community Leaders in Health Equity
More than 90 residents from across the state participated in a free 18-month education and leadership training program and curriculum focused on equity and health equity, to build their capacity to improve their communities. To ensure that program participants had the necessary backing to complete the program, they were supported and coordinated by dedicated grantee organizations in their region.
Continuing Track
Participants who completed CLHE and wished to continue their learning were invited to apply to participate in a second iteration of the program. The continuing track focused on transformative organizing and concrete skill building, as well as deepening the equity and health equity analysis established in CLHE so that participants were equipped to advocate for equity and health equity at a community level.
Speaker Series and Associated Community Events
Formatted to parallel key aspects of the Health Equity Learning Series, the speaker series featured presenters who helped to increase knowledge and awareness of specific equity and health equity issues. These presentations were recorded, then featured in professionally facilitated events hosted by communities across Colorado.
Click here to learn more about each of these three elements.
Read the story below to learn more about the program and the inaugural class of CLHE
The Coloradans Bridging Our Deepest Divides
Faced with competing visions of the country, these community leaders chose life.
See more storiesStaff
Morris W. Price, Jr.
Evaluation Findings
Community Leaders in Health Equity (CLHE) was a community-based leadership development program to develop grassroots health equity leaders throughout Colorado. The program was designed and implemented by Transformative Alliances LLC and funded by The Colorado Trust between 2018 and 2022. It included an 18-month immersive curriculum, an educational speaker series with coordinating community events, and a 24-month continuing track that allowed a subset of interested participants to delve deeper into the curriculum and create and implement their own health equity plans to create change in their communities.
An evaluation of this program was conducted by the American Institutes for Research. The evaluation team produced four briefs and a final evaluation report, highlighting the work of the CLHE participants over time, as well as the transformation experienced by many of the participants as they emerged into community leaders.
