Project Overview
Healthy Archuleta is funded through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to examine and address nutrition security and health equity (NS|HE) using a participatory assessment process. The two areas of focus of the assessment are preventive health care access and utilization, and nutrition security. The health care access and utilization assessment aims to understand the experiences of people in Archuleta County around primary preventive health care, as well as the barriers to access and utilization. The nutrition security assessment aims to understand how people in Archuleta County are currently interacting with our community-based food system and what can be done to increase equitable access to and consumption of nutritious foods for all the residents of Archuleta County. Both areas of assessment will provide helpful data that will assist in strengthening existing programs/efforts and developing other initiatives that are potentially identified as a community need. The overall goal of the assessment and resulting actions is to reduce food insecurity and increase access to preventive health care services for all residents of Archuleta County.
Healthy Archuleta is funded through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to examine and address nutrition security and health equity (NS|HE) using a participatory assessment process. The two areas of focus of the assessment are preventive health care access and utilization, and nutrition security. The health care access and utilization assessment aims to understand the experiences of people in Archuleta County around primary preventive health care, as well as the barriers to access and utilization. The nutrition security assessment aims to understand how people in Archuleta County are currently interacting with our community-based food system and what can be done to increase equitable access to and consumption of nutritious foods for all the residents of Archuleta County. Both areas of assessment will provide helpful data that will assist in strengthening existing programs/efforts and developing other initiatives that are potentially identified as a community need. The overall goal of the assessment and resulting actions is to reduce food insecurity and increase access to preventive health care services for all residents of Archuleta County.
Why Focus on Nutrition Security and Health Equity?
- When community members experience barriers to accessing nutritious foods and preventive healthcare services, their health outcomes are negatively impacted.
- High cost of food and healthcare are barriers that can isolate low-income and minority community members from both healthcare resources and healthy food retail, preventing individuals from making the healthy choice the easy choice.
Community Led and Equity-Centered Assessment Process
The NS|HE Assessment and the actions that come from the assessment use participatory action research (PAR) as its foundation. This is a framework for conducting research and generating knowledge centered on the belief that those who are most impacted by issues should take the lead in framing the questions, the design, methods, and resulting actions. Participation feeds into action, which feeds into research, which then leads to participation with the results, which then feeds further action, which produces more research, and so on. This approach is collaborative, iterative and often open-ended. It typically involves collaboration between a community with lived experience of a social issue and professional researchers. Relationships are central to this way of working and we believe that it results in collaborative, impactful, contextually situated and inclusive efforts to document, interpret and address complex systemic problems. The NS|HE process follows this community-driven and iterative approach, with community members, participants, working groups, and partner agencies actively engaged in identifying and reviewing strategies that drive action to address community issues identified through the assessment process and subsequent cycles of learning.
The NS|HE Assessment and the actions that come from the assessment use participatory action research (PAR) as its foundation. This is a framework for conducting research and generating knowledge centered on the belief that those who are most impacted by issues should take the lead in framing the questions, the design, methods, and resulting actions. Participation feeds into action, which feeds into research, which then leads to participation with the results, which then feeds further action, which produces more research, and so on. This approach is collaborative, iterative and often open-ended. It typically involves collaboration between a community with lived experience of a social issue and professional researchers. Relationships are central to this way of working and we believe that it results in collaborative, impactful, contextually situated and inclusive efforts to document, interpret and address complex systemic problems. The NS|HE process follows this community-driven and iterative approach, with community members, participants, working groups, and partner agencies actively engaged in identifying and reviewing strategies that drive action to address community issues identified through the assessment process and subsequent cycles of learning.
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A team of community members from a variety of fields and backgrounds came together as a Community Learning and Leadership Circle (CLLC) to design and develop the assessment. CLLCs are led by representatives of the community with lived experience. These groups identified community issues that they wanted to learn more about and Healthy Archuleta responded by providing speakers and resources to promote community education. For example, the Community Learning and Leadership Circle in Spanish -- called círculo de liderazgo y aprendizaje de la comunidad, or “CLAC en Español” for short is made up of monolingual and bilingual Spanish-speaking members of the community. This group focuses on issues that are of concern to Spanish-speaking members of the community and has promoted language equity actions, enrollment in health insurance plans for Spanish-speaking families and bullying prevention, among other actions. Centering those with lived experience ensures that equity is front and center in the NS|HE approach, with affected community members leading the process and prioritizing actions that will be more impactful for closing equity gaps in the community. In this way, Healthy Archuleta is following the momentum and energy of the community through deep listening and elevating community concerns. This is the basis for creating action strategies around health care access and nutrition security.
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