Equality in Health
Overview
Despite Colorado’s generally positive health status, more than a quarter of the state’s population—comprising Latinos, African-Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—is disproportionately affected by disease, disability and death. According to the Institute of Medicine’s 2002 groundbreaking report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, “although myriad sources contribute to these disparities, some evidence suggests that a trend in bias, prejudice and stereotyping on the part of health care providers may contribute to differences in care.”
The Colorado Trust’s Equality in Health initiative sought to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities in Colorado. Through this initiative, 26 nonprofit organizations and educational institutions built their capacity and skills to provide culturally effective health education and health care services statewide. Grantees addressed a variety of needs, from culturally competent health care, school-based health, and mental and dental health care to stronger translation and interpretation programs to help improve services for diverse populations. Several grantees developed a curriculum to educate and train students how to be culturally sensitive clinicians and hire diverse staff members who reflect the communities they serve. Click here to learn more about the grantees.
Coordinating Agency
The Partnership for Families & Children served as the statewide coordinating agency for this initiative, providing day-to-day management and technical assistance to each grantee in the areas of cultural competency, program development and program implementation.
Grantees
- Asian Pacific Development Center
- Boys & Girls Club of Craig
- Clayton Family Futures
- Colorado Community Health Network
- Denver Indian Family Resource Center
- Fort Collins Family Medicine Residency Program
- Full Circle Inter-Generational Project, Inc.
- Inner City Health Center
- Jefferson Center for Mental Health
- Kids in Need of Dentistry
- Marillac Clinic
- Metro Community Provider Network
- Montrose County School District RE-1J
- Prowers Medical Center
- Rural Communities Resource Center
- Second Wind Fund of Metro Denver, Inc.
- Summit Community Care Clinic
- Telluride Foundation
- The Center for African American Health
- The Children's Hospital
- Total Oral Prevention Strategies
- University of Colorado School of Medicine
- Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments
- Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc.
- Western Colorado AIDS Project
- Women’s Resource Center
Evaluation Findings
Community Science conducted an independent evaluation to determine whether the cultural competency of grantees changed over time. The evaluation also sought to identify the conditions that should be in place to bring about positive changes in organizational capacity to serve diverse populations. The full evaluation report and summary highlights are both available for download.
