April 2024 Newsletter
Keep up to date with the latest news from Healthy Jeffco Alliance partners and community!
Dear Healthy Jeffco Alliance,
​
Last month, Alliance participants gathered to hear the results from our first outside evaluation. In this meeting, over 30 Alliance participants gathered to meet new people, hear a presentation on the evaluation results and discuss next steps. This meeting highlighted a desire to strategically expand connections with people and organizations outside of healthcare and government, and it also emphasized the Alliance's role as a platform where challenges can be addressed collectively. It was exciting to see the group generating creative ideas together and collaborating to identify priorities for the Alliance moving forward. These discussions were just the start of the Alliance defining what our next phase looks like!
Alliance in Action
Upcoming Meetings
.png){kind=icon}
Steering Committee | Monday, April 8 at 2:00 p.m.
​
​
Culture of Connection Action Team | Monday, April 8 at 4:00 p.m.
​
​
Center in Community Action Team | Tuesday, April 16 at 11:00 a.m.
​
​
Assessment and Planning Action Team | Wednesday, April 17 at 2:00 p.m.
​
​
Technology Action Team | Monday, May 20 at 12:00 p.m.
Want to get involved with the Alliance or participate in Action Team meetings?
News Across the Alliance
Events and Festivals Across Jeffco
Our cities are rich with history and culture. Consider participating in an upcoming city event or festival to enjoy community spirit with loved ones or new friends. Below are a few upcoming events in a city near you.
-
Arvada Kite Festival [arvadafestivals.com] | Sunday, April 14
-
Westminster Arts Week [westminsterco.gov] | April 20-27
-
Lakewood Earth Day Celebration [lakewood.org] | Saturday, April 27
Colorado Collaborative Youth Summit 2024
The Collaborative Youth Summit, a day-long virtual gathering bringing together Colorado youth ages 13-24, is coming up on Saturday April 6th. The summit aims to connect and inspire youth to embrace their unique leadership by providing an open and inclusive space to further expand their knowledge and skills to create and lead the changes they want to see. Share the registration information with interested youth [collaborativeyouthsummit.sched.com]!
Alliance Tours coming soon! Tour the Jeffco Election Center this June
Want to grow your network and participate in conversations and connection around particular businesses and organizations in Jefferson County? Join the Alliance for a summer tour. First up – participate in a conversation on the election and voting process in Jefferson County. The Jeffco Election Center is hosting Alliance participants on Wednesday, June 5th at 1:00 p.m. to see how ballots are processed, voter signatures are verified, results are counted and more. Please complete this form to RSVP for the tour [forms.office.com].
Easy Access! Healthy Jeffco Alliance Orientation Resources
Alliance staff have developed tools and structures to welcome new participants as they join the Alliance. These tools are now available for your reference on the ‘Connect’ page of the Alliance website.
Jeffco Collaboration Leaders Group
Did you know the Healthy Jeffco Alliance hosts informal, quarterly gatherings with leaders of collaborations in Jefferson County? Visit the new Jeffco Collaboration Leaders page on the Alliance website to learn more about who is a part of this group and how they work together.
Jeffco Regional Health Connector Newsletter
Check out the March edition of the Connecting Dots Newsletter [jeffcogov.sharepoint.com] where you’ll find important updates about health, wellbeing and community resources.
The Healthy Jeffco Alliance... Look how far we’ve come!
The Healthy Jeffco Alliance formed in 2019 out of a desire from Jefferson County leaders to work together better. Throughout 2020, the Alliance started taking shape and gaining functionality by establishing a Steering Committee and Action Teams. The Steering Committee handles major decisions for the Alliance, while the Action Teams concentrate on specific strategic areas that we believe will lead to improved connection and collaboration in our communities. The Action Teams formed around the following five strategy areas.
-
Center work in the community by supporting community members, businesses and organizations in addressing problems together.
-
Create a culture of connection by promoting opportunities for people to find a sense of connection and belonging in their communities.
-
Support data sharing and integrated systems by improving client experience and well-being through data sharing and increasing access to community resources.
-
Encourage collaborative funding by increasing the role of community in identifying ways to make financial resources more accessible.
-
Leverage community assessment and planning by improving organizations’ processes for identifying and addressing community strengths and needs.
From 2019-2021, the Alliance functioned with one part-time staff member. In 2022, the Alliance grew to support one full-time staff member. Midway through 2023, the Alliance grew to support three full-time staff members who facilitate and manage meetings and projects with the Steering Committee and Action Teams, support the creation of networks across systems in Jeffco and promote the amazing work being done in our communities to foster connection and collaboration.
Since 2019, participation in the Alliance has grown from nine organizational partners to over 60 organizational partners and around 200 individuals who receive monthly communications. Additionally, as participation in the Alliance grew, participation across different sectors also shifted. In 2019, over half of the people participating in the Alliance were affiliated with healthcare organizations and a little under one third were affiliated with government. As of 2023, the distribution looks different. Now, just over 16% of Alliance participants are affiliated with healthcare and about 22% are affiliated with government. Check out the chart below to see the current distribution across sectors.
In looking to the next phase of the Healthy Jeffco Alliance, we sought an evaluation partner to assess the Alliance’s work and impact over the years. With this evaluation, the goal was to move toward continuous assessment and sustainability. The Civic Canopy, a community-based nonprofit focused on transforming the way we solve society’s biggest challenges, was contracted to carry out the evaluation. The Civic Canopy team reviewed 61 digital artifacts from the Alliance including grant reports, Action Team charter documents, community presentations, the Alliance website and more. These materials plus nine thirty-minute interviews with active participants in the Alliance were used to develop themes. Using this information, the evaluation team presented the following strengths and areas of opportunity at the Alliance Wide Meeting on March 11th. We invite you to access the presentation slides [jeffcogov.sharepoint.com] from Civic Canopy for more details.
Strengths:
-
The Alliance is representative of its purpose: a source of conversation, connection and collaboration
-
The Alliance provides an example of authentic community engagement
-
The Alliance has a mature structure and functions effectively
Areas of opportunity:
-
Appreciate and celebrate what you all have created
-
Communicate who you are and what you are accomplishing more expansively
-
Continue to increase membership and engagement with the Alliance
-
Think “10x” impact for the Action teams
After hearing the presentation, participants at the meeting discussed what actions they wanted to come next. These ideas included the following.
-
Tap into conversations in the county around topics like housing, education, and safety and helping people see the connection between the Alliance and those issues they are working on.
-
Identify new partners we want to bring into the Alliance and set goals for recruitment such as small businesses, government agencies, chambers of commerce, teen parents, older adults and faith communities.
-
Develop clear stories and messages that appeal to the different groups of potential partners and make the value proposition/ “what’s in it for me?” clear, including examples that show how the Alliance is a place to:
-
solve problems that affect everyone
-
make connections with diverse partners
-
gain access to valuable resources
-
pursue the goals of your organization or business
-
Expand ways to engage people in the Alliance, not just at large meetings, such as at popup events, house parties, action teams, annual celebrations and summer gatherings.
-
Reach out to other groups like the Alliance to learn how they are promoting conversation, connection and collaboration.
-
As solutions arise through the Alliance, develop an advocacy approach that helps champion those ideas.
The full report of the evaluation results from Civic Canopy can be found here [jeffcogov.sharepoint.com]. So, what are the next steps? A small group of Alliance participants and staff will convene to prioritize action items. Interested in being part of that discussion? Please send an email to HealthyJeffco@jeffco.us. We will share this group’s recommendations in an upcoming newsletter.
Share your community spotlights and events!
Is there a community spotlight or event you would like us to share on our website and in our upcoming newsletter? We're always looking to share information about events, programs, initiatives and other exciting work supporting connection and collaboration in Jeffco communities.