2024 Annual Report

To Our Community,

For the Colorado Health Institute, 2024 was a year of clarity. We clarified our mission statement:

CHI strengthens communities and systems with trusted analysis and collaborative solutions to improve health.

As a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health institute serving the Mountain West, we answer critical questions, make sense of complex issues, and support others to reach actionable solutions. In short, CHI works to improve health for all.

In 2024, CHI clearly demonstrated how we use evidence and analysis in smart, sensitive ways to lift the voices of communities that are often overlooked. In this annual report, you can read about three projects that illustrate how we provide trusted analysis and collaborative solutions to improve health:

• The 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey, which revealed the effects of COVID policy choices on Coloradans’ well-being.
• The Colorado Lotus Project, in partnership with the Colorado AAPI Giving Circle, which integrated data and storytelling to paint a detailed picture of Colorado’s diverse Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander communities.
• The Colorado Belonging Barometer, in partnership with Belonging Colorado, which surveyed state residents to see how connected they feel to their workplaces, schools, and communities.

This is the type of work the community can expect from CHI as we move into an unpredictable year. CHI is your reliable partner. We are a source of trustworthy data, analysis, and sensemaking. We provide spaces to have challenging conversations.

CHI is here to help. Please call us to talk about how we can work together to improve health for everyone. 

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Sara Schmitt, President and CEO

CHI's Strategic Direction

CHI has served many roles since our founding more than 20 years ago. We have been a data repository, an incubator for programs like Connect for Health Colorado, and a convener of health policy experts. In 2024, we adopted a strategic plan that builds on the skills and reputation we have earned over the past two decades to set out  a clear direction for CHI in the coming years. Our values underlie our strategic direction. The work we do forms our three pillars, which hold up our vision and mission. We move into 2025 with a clarity of purpose — we want to provide the greatest value and have the greatest impact for the people of our state and country.

Notable Work

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Colorado Health Access Survey

In February, CHI published the full results of the 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS). The eighth edition of the biennial CHAS revealed substantial changes in health, health access, and economic issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s response to it.

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CHI analysts spent the year exploring CHAS data in depth. We published briefs with interactive graphics on topics including housing stability, LGBTQ+ health, and a detailed look at Hispanic and Latino identities.

In addition to the main report, CHI produced:

• 22 topical briefs — the most CHI has ever published from a single CHAS
• 8 data workbooks to make the numbers accessible to anyone
• A public use file to allow anyone to explore CHAS data at no cost
• Fact sheets for all 100 legislative districts and 21 Health Statistics Regions
• 8 Behind the Numbers stories that explore the data through real-life experiences
• An interactive dashboard that lets users build their own graphics using 14 years of CHAS data
• 30 responses to information requests from community organizations, government agencies, and researchers

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Colorado Lotus Project

The Colorado Lotus Project is a groundbreaking effort to uplift the unique voices and experiences of Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (AANHPI) people living in Colorado. This project was created by the Colorado AAPI Circle and the Colorado Health Institute. In partnership with the community, including an advisory group of 10 AANHPI community members and leaders, the Colorado Lotus Project highlights the diverse experiences of Colorado’s AANHPI communities, refuting the idea that they are one monolithic group.  

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In addition to the main report, CHI produced:

• Seven fact sheets on topics such as health, housing, and education
• An overview flyer translated into Burmese, Marshallese, Nepali, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Urdu, and Vietnamese
• A data metric inventory to help community leaders understand data about AANHPI people in Colorado
• The Colorado Lotus Project Thought Exchange, a survey of community members about their greatest strengths and challenges
• An interactive state map for Lotus Project partners to explore data by AANHPI identities

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Colorado Belonging Barometer

A lack of belonging can fray the fabric of society through increased loneliness, political polarization, and discrimination. A strong sense of belonging can improve people’s well-being by increasing trust in one’s neighbors and community members, as well as local institutions. But the concept of belonging — and how to foster it — is not widely understood.

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That’s why CHI, in partnership with Belonging Colorado and Over Zero, adapted the national Belonging Barometer to Colorado. The Barometer is a survey that measures the multifaceted nature of belonging, such as whether people feel they have a voice, are socially connected, and are welcomed and included.

Belonging Colorado, housed at The Denver Foundation, is using the Barometer to inform a major philanthropic campaign that aims to make Colorado a place where everyone belongs.

Making a Difference for Coloradans

Most of CHI’s work happens behind the scenes, in partnership with others who share our vision of a world where all people have what they need to be healthy. We use our skills in facilitation, strategic planning, evaluation, analysis, and communication to make our partners’ work better.

Here are some of the many organizations that partnered with us in 2024.

• Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing: Cover All Coloradans. CHI set up and managed a community ambassador program to promote Cover All Coloradans, the no cost health coverage program for children and pregnant/postpartum people whose immigration status keeps them from receiving Medicaid.
• Colorado Division of Insurance: Wildfire Risk, Our Homes, and Our Health. With support  from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CHI conducted a multiyear research project to help policymakers, local and state agencies, and residents to better prepare for and respond to climate-change driven disasters.
• Colorado Gives Foundation: Strategic Planning. CHI helped this Jefferson County-focused foundation develop a theory of change to guide its work. We also gathered and analyzed data to help the foundation measure its impact.
• Change Matrix
• Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials
• Colorado Department of Human Services
• Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
• CommonSpirit Health
• Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation
• Denver Department of Public Health and Environment
• Intermountain Health
• John Snow Inc./Environmental Protection Agency
• Kaiser Permanente Colorado
• Milbank Memorial Fund
• Speak Our Minds
• The Colorado Health Foundation
• The Denver Foundation
• Youth Healthcare Alliance