Mission
Build partnerships to mobilize community power and transform systems to advance health equity and environmental justice.
Vision
Every Coloradan has equitable access and opportunity to thrive regardless of who they are or where they come from.
Our beliefs
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Racial and social justice: We recognize that systems and policies must be changed to eliminate racism and other injustices in order to achieve equity.
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Community power: We prioritize the expertise of communities and aim to strengthen the capacity of communities to create their own healthy futures.
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Accountability: We strive to build trust with communities, partners and colleagues by owning our biases and respectfully challenging assumptions and stereotypes.
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Diversity and inclusion: We believe that every person - no matter their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, religion or ability - has the right to access culturally relevant information, resources and services that result in optimal health outcomes.
Our approaches to advance equity
- Build relationships with communities and across sectors to address root causes of health disparities.
- Use equity in decision-making and partner with all sectors of government to embed health and equity considerations into their decision-making process.
- Use data to support the narrative of the social determinants of health and tell the story of what creates health.
- De-center communications from the English language or any one dominant language, and prioritize language
justice when engaging with communities. - Develop, implement, and provide guidance on health equity training, practice, and policies within CDPHE and across the state of Colorado.
- Focus on upstream determinants of health, guided by the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative.
Office history
Our office and the Health Equity Commission were codified in statute through Senate Bill 242 in May 2007. In 2013, House Bill 13-1088 changed the name of the office to the Office of Health Equity and expanded it to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), aging, disabled, low-socioeconomic and geographic populations. The Minority Health Advisory Commission and the Interagency Health Disparities Leadership Council were consolidated into the Health Equity Commission.