“I am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Quad! The content they were able to gather and synthesize has been extremely helpful in the work of Daily Dose 719”
–Julie Ramirez
Scope
In Colorado Springs, there is a 16-year life expectancy difference between census tracts. During the 2021 summer program, Quad students were tasked with understanding and acknowledging the community history that contributes to the low life expectancies in concentrated areas in Colorado Springs. In collaboration with Daily Dose 719, produced by Julie Ramirez in partnership with the Southeast Colorado Springs Colorado Equity Compass, the students researched community history that could contribute to future episodes for Daily Dose 719. The focus for the students was to capture major periods in Colorado Springs history, archival and historical information from published sources as well as local historians/museums and history with other major events in Colorado Springs history.
Student Process
Quad students conducted historical research and interviews, to help understand how the current infrastructure and access to services impacts neighborhoods in the South East side of Colorado Springs, and the health inequities facing the community in the Daily Dose 719 series. The Quad team set up numerous interviews with city residents as well as professionals who work within the health and government entities. Their questions were centralized around historical and current experiences in reference to the topics from the Daily Dose 719 series: built environment, transportation, healthcare access, civic engagement, food access, and mental health/wellbeing. Additionally, the students used archival and historical resources through the Pikes Peak Library and the Pioneers Museum. Through this research they accumulated photographs and articles as their primary sources of media to detail the key instances in Colorado Springs history where inequity was present.
Outcome
Quad students found relationships between historical occurrences that seemly effect the current health climate in Colorado Springs. Following the same framework of the series, they concluded:
- Built Environment: The funding and budgets are becoming more bureaucratically challenging to receive and build
- Transportation: The cost, efficiency, and access to transit is becoming more of an issue
- Healthcare Access: Displacement of facilities is a continuous barrier
- Food Access: There is a disproportionate access to healthy and whole foods
- Civic Engagement: Civic engagement is stagnant
- Mental Health/Wellbeing: The issue of mental health has become a growing concern over the years
In addition, Quad students prepared recommendations for future Quad students, explaining that because health determinants throughout the city are complex, it will involve coordinated, long-term efforts. Quad students working in collaboration with Daily Dose 719 aim to help in the process of raising awareness of historical and current inequalities and to offer needed representation to the southeast population.
