At the end of 2016, the City of Longmont, Colorado received a grant from the Division of Local Affairs in the State of Colorado. Resiliency for All (RFA) identified barriers and created a bridge between a vulnerable sector of our Latino population, community resources and local governments in the City of Longmont and Boulder County. The Project brought the community together to identify barriers, develop recommendations that would be more inclusive of this segment of the community and create space for representation from this underserved portion of the community.
During the initial phase October through December 2016, forty-four interviews occurred with professionals in Boulder County who work in current positions of recovery or were involved in response, recovery efforts after the Colorado 2013 Flood. Practitioners, first responders, shelter volunteers, Long Term Flood Recovery Group members, City and County employees, faith groups and many others shared what they saw, felt and recommend to create a more inclusive and resilient community. Each interviewee had direct or indirect experience with Colorado’s tragic natural disaster.
Between January and June 2017, the Coordinator hosted twenty-one focus groups around Boulder County with the help of many local agencies, non-profits and government agencies. Those groups focused on Bilingual youth, Spanish speaking community members and Bilingual cultural brokers. 229 assessments were compiled from the over 260 participants that took part in the Resiliency for All Process.
The barriers identified by focus group participants were:
- Social network gaps: lack of connection to resources for both family and community needs
- Media communication: lack of dissemination of information in multimedia channels
- Language: lack of Spanish language in all forms of communication
- Basic needs: lack of access for job opportunities, health issues, insurance, education, financial transactions and general institutions
- Fear and insecurity: lack of safety and trust
- Relationships: lack of connections between community members and institutions
Data was reviewed and compiled by a community based Recommendation Committee in July and August 2017. They solidified recommendations for any industry, organization or agency to incorporate.
The recommendations created included:
- Provide the connection, guidance, attempt to alleviate and or remove the barriers that clients face when accessing services/resources.
- Embrace word of mouth as a trusted source of referral and connection to resources.
- Determine collaboration between department resource agencies. Professionals must work together and streamline the lines of communication that will allow clients to access resources.
- Provide existing bi-lingual emergency resources to all community partners currently working with the multi-cultural organizations.
- Exchange resources with local community organizations that would provide services/resources that general Emergency Services may not provide i.e. legal resources for transgender folks.
- Create a safe [local] neutral point of resource for consumers to formalize complaints.
- Finance non-profits that focus on outreach teaching English.
- Financially recruit, reward, and retain cultural brokers in local agencies and community.
- Implement programming such as Bi-literacy seal or bilingual pay scales.
Several references and resources are listed in this work. The concept of inclusion and outreach is included in strategy in multiple community plans and yet, based in community assessment; our systems are still inaccessible in many areas of our community. In Boulder County, this focus was on Spanish speakers. Utilizing steps from the Resiliency for All Process is a replicable technique for vulnerable populations anywhere. All members of communities want to participate, they want to partake fully and be included in practices that will create resiliency.
The project assessment written report is available for download along with a project video and a placemat that provides an exercise for next steps.
