The Black Community Health Assessment: Examining Social Determinants of Health, Health Disparities and Health Equity Outcomes in Denver, CO. by Principal Investigator: GENENE L. DURAN, PhD, MHA, CPH
History
and which we believed it was imperative the Department engage. Those organizations were not contacted to take part in the assessment. We know this to be true because we three board members of color all serve as Executive Directors of the suggested organizations, but also have close personal connections to those we do not lead. In April 2025 when the results of the CHA were presented to the board, my theory was that if the communities of color had been appropriately engaged as requested, the health priorities which were identified would have been much different. Denver Department of Public Health and Environment 2025 Community Health Assessment Results Data for the CHA was collected via surveys and listening sessions. Out of 715,000 residents in the City and County of Denver, approximately 2,150 surveys were received which makes up a total of 0.31% of the population and 100 residents participated in 12 focus groups.
A Community Health Assessment (CHA) is a systematic process used to understand the health of a community by identifying, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about its health status, resources, and needs. It provides a comprehensive picture of the community’s current health status, factors contributing to health issues, and available resources to improve health. The data collected from the CHA is crucial for developing a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) which outlines strategies to address identified health priorities. Typically the assessments occur every five years and are done by public health specialists within our local public health departments as well as within our hospital systems. For 18 months from 2024-2025, staff members at the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment gathered data in order to develop the Community Health Assessment (CHA). During that time, three DDPHE Board Members of color provided feedback that we would like to see the Department engage with more communities of color throughout the process. We provided the department staff members with contacts at multiple community based organizations that predominantly serve Black and Brown populations
Importance
After 17 years of serving my community as a health and human services expert, my hypothesis is that within the space of public health we cannot
46 The Acumen
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