Colorado Initiatives

Cross-System Planning / Implementation Efforts Colorado Organizations

Colorado efforts are included throughout the website.  We encourage you to contact any efforts that sound similar to what you’re trying to accomplish and learn from their great work.  To make that easier, below is a list of all the Colorado cross-system planning/implementation efforts that are included throughout this website and a second list of Colorado organizations listed throughout the website.

Cross-System Planning/Implementation Efforts

• Collaborative Management Program (HB1451)

• The Collaborative Management Program is the voluntary development of multi-agency services provided to children and families by county departments of human / social services and other mandatory agencies including local judicial districts, including probation; the local health department, the local school district(s), each community mental health center and each Mental Health Assessment and Service Agency (BHO).

• Colorado has received many systems of care grants to address mental health and other complex needs for families and their children.  Though most of these grants have ended, various components of the systems of care are still in place.  Two of the more recent, statewide initiatives include:
• Colorado Cornerstone Initiative.  The Initiative addresses the needs of youth with serious emotional disturbance involved or at-risk of involvement, with juvenile justice and their families in Clear Creek, Denver, Gilpin and Jefferson Counties.
• Project Bloom.  The project seeks to develop a system of care for early childhood mental health in Aurora, El Paso, Freemont, and Mesa.  It also includes a Blue Ribbon Policy Council interested in statewide policy change to support the early childhood system.

• Colorado Medical Home Initiative

• The Colorado Medical Home Initiative is a statewide effort to build a system of quality health care for all children in Colorado while increasing the capacity of providers to deliver care to kids in our state.  The website for Colorado’s initiative has excellent resources, including standards, assessment tools, care coordination materials, and example referral processes.

• Colorado Prevention Partners

• An interagency team from the Prevention Leadership Council manages the Colorado Prevention Partners project using a comprehensive approach that cuts across existing prevention programs and systems. Colorado Prevention Partners concludes in September 2009. Currently fifteen Colorado counties and one Native American tribe receive sub-grants (based on indicators of major substance abuse and related issues as well as gaps in needed resources) to implement a five-step Strategic Prevention Framework process.  The purpose of the grant is to:
• Reduce substance abuse-related problems in Colorado communities;
• Prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking of alcohol, within Colorado communities; and
• Build prevention capacity and strengthen systems to support positive change at the State and community levels.

• Colorado School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Model (PBS)

• The mission of the Colorado School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Initiative is to establish and maintain effective school environments that maximize academic achievement and behavioral competence of all learners in Colorado. Colorado is nationally recognized for their PBS model, and they have a Behavior Symposium every year that is attended by over 800 people. 
• One pager on Eight Practices of Positive Behavior Supports

• Colorado's Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Mental Health, from the Blue Ribbon Policy Council for Early Childhood Mental Health.
• Intended to promote better integration, definition, and coordination of Colorado's early childhood mental health systems, services, and supports.

• Colorado Systems of Care Collaborative
• The goal of the SOC Collaborative is to provide state of the art information and strategies to communities and policy makers so that children and their families receive seamless, effective services.

• Colorado Youth Advisory Council

• The Colorado Legislature established the Colorado Youth Advisory Council (COYAC) in 2008 to give young people an opportunity to participate in the policy-making process. Their primary purpose is to “examine, evaluate, and discuss the issues, interests, and needs affecting Colorado youth now and in the future and to formally advise and make recommendations to elected officials regarding those issues.” (Colo. HB 08-1157) There are 40 young people serving on COYAC, ages 14-19, from all over Colorado. They have one member from each state Senate district, and 5 at-large members. They talk to other youth throughout the state to hear their concerns, examine bills in the legislature, decide whether or not to support them, and suggest ideas for new laws. Four legislators are also non-voting members of the Council. They help the Council connect to the Legislature and provide support and feedback for their ideas.

• Colorado Youth Development Team (CYDT)
  • CYDT is a statewide, private/public partnership of youth, young adults, youth-serving professionals and other adults who care for or about young people. CYDT aims to integrate PYD principles and strategies into all programs, policies, organization and community efforts that affect youth and young adults in order to enhance services, opportunities and supports.

• Early Childhood Colorado’s Framework for Building or Evaluating Early Childhood Systems

  • This one page document has a wealth outcome examples at the systems level and across integrated systems.  Although focused on early childhood, for those developing logic models and evaluations for integration efforts, it may be a useful tool to review and adapt. 

• Office of Interagency Prevention Systems/Prevention Leadership Council's Best Practices Website

  • The Office of Interagency Prevention Systems website aggregates and translates information on Best Practices for prevention and intervention strategies, programs, and interventions that improve child, youth, and maternal health outcomes. This includes researching, reviewing and summarizing current literature and web resources on Best Practices and making them available in one place.

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Colorado Organizations ADD CSI!!!

• Bridging the Gap, Mile High United Way
  • In 2005, the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative asked Mile High United Way to pilot a five-year program specifically designed to help foster youth build the knowledge, assets and connections to successfully transition into adulthood. Another national funder, SEED, joined the partnership that same year, and Bridging the Gap was launched.  Youth who “age out,” or emancipate, from the foster care system typically do not have the skills and resources to make it on their own. Many become homeless within a few months of aging out. Bridging the Gap comes alongside these vulnerable youth to help them become financially stable adults. 

• Center for Systems Integration
  • The Center for Systems Integration partners with communities, policymakers, leaders, and the general public throughout the state to undertake systems transformation in the health, human services, education, behavioral health, housing, and juvenile justice systems. The combination of community and stakeholder driven research with practical, hands on experience in the policy systems allows for policy solutions that bridge across sectors, policy issues, levels of government, and diverse beliefs and values. Through the integration of diverse policy systems, the best solutions for all stakeholders can be identified and successfully implemented.

• Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council, Legislative Update

• Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, Policy and Advocacy

• Colorado Department of Education, Response to Intervention website
  • The goal of this website is to provide resources and tools to practitioners and families in order to support successful implementation. The future goal is that the website will also serve as a state level online professional learning community to support ongoing discussion about this important work. Many of the resources on this site have applicability beyond RTI, such as excellent materials on family engagement.

• Colorado Nonprofit Association, Legislative/Public Policy Updates

• Colorado Parent Involvement Network for Education
  • COPINE is a statewide network of organizations and agencies and that is coordinated through the efforts of a Steering Committee.  The Steering Committee meets monthly and is comprised of diverse members from the network who work at all levels of involvement, from grassroots work in schools up to statewide administrative and policy levels.  A smaller Executive Committee supports the ongoing functions of the Steering Committee.

• Colorado Rural Health Center, Policy and Advocacy

• Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition
  • The Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition provides training and technical assistance to schools in order to build School-based Parent Engagement Leadership Teams. The teams consist of an administrator, teachers and diverse parent representation. Teams receive technical assistance on aligning their parent engagement plans to state and federal parent engagement requirements and training to help them effectively engage parents in the educational process for the purpose of increasing student achievement.

• Colorado’s Youth Partnership for Health
• Colorado’s Youth Partnership for Health (YPH) is a diverse group of 14-18 year olds from across Colorado, recruited from a variety of schools, local health agencies and community programs such as Rainbow Alley and Project PAVE. They are selected to participate based on their age, geographic location and unique experiences. The youth work directly with adults to help make decisions affecting all youth in Colorado. Every month, the YPH convenes to discuss such issues as teen driving safety and substance use prevention. They then provide open and honest feedback to programs, agencies and organizations developing programs and policies for youth.

• Empower Colorado
• EMPOWER Colorado (Education Movement: Parents Offering Wisdom, Encouragement and Resources) has been created by parents and families for parents and families of children with mental health issues (brain disorders). Services include face to face support groups, a state-wide e-mail listserv, personal responses to telephone inquiries, educational sessions and numerous resources for families on the website.

• Family Leadership Initiative, hosted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

• Developing family leaders is the next natural step following family involvement.  Families offer authentic experiences that help connect theory with implementation. Expanding the roster of family leaders helps assure a diverse perspective.  As family leaders cultivate their skills, they can and should be linked to appropriate opportunities… participating on advisory councils and committees, providing testimony, participating in research and policy development, training and mentoring.

• Family Voices of Colorado

• Family Voices Colorado is a chapter of the national, grassroots organization composed of families and friends who care for and about our children with special health care needs. The primary goal of the organization is to ensure that our children's health is addressed amidst change in public and private health care systems.  Family Voices Colorado provides: information and referral, advocacy support information, private health insurance advocacy, training, systems change/ policy work.

• Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health ~ Colorado Chapter.
• The Colorado Federation is a statewide chapter of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. The Colorado Federation is family driven, the Board consists of over 50% family members, and is committed to constantly modifying, changing and creating new ways to better serve, support and empower families.

• Mental Health America of Colorado (MHA of Colorado)
• Mental Health America of Colorado creates opportunities for all Coloradoans to achieve mental wellness. Their programs educate people about mental health conditions, provide outreach to people in need and advocate for improved health care in Colorado. MHA of Colorado exists as a community resource for people seeking information about mental health.

• National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Colorado (NAMI Colorado)

• NAMI Colorado is a statewide nonprofit organization whose mission is to give strength and hope to individuals with mental illness and their families.

• Parent to Parent

• Parent to Parent of Colorado is a statewide organization, which connects families of children and adults with disabilities or special health care needs across Colorado to each other and to numerous resources.  Services include one to one parent matching, a statewide list of parent support groups, an active listserv, a quarterly newsletter, a resource rich website and an annual picnic.

• PEAK Parent Center

• PEAK Parent Center is Colorado’s federally designated Parent Training and Information Center (PTI). PEAK assists families and others through services like its telephone hotline, workshops, conferences, website, and publications. As a PTI, PEAK offers parent-to-parent support, but it does not hold support group meetings. We work one-on-one with families and also collaborate with state government and the education, rehabilitation, and medical communities to make system changes that improve outcomes for children.  The mission of PEAK Parent Center is to provide training, information and technical assistance to equip families of children birth through twenty-six including all disability conditions with strategies to advocate successfully for their children.

• WE CAN! Of Colorado

• The Wellness and Education Coalition and Advocacy Network of Colorado, simply known as WE CAN!, is a statewide grassroots organization run by and for consumers. They are adults of every age and standing in society who share one commonality: a psychiatric diagnoses or the extraordinary experience of extreme emotional states.  WE CAN! holds networking meetings across the state, typically one per month. They strive to outreach into the most rural and frontier areas of the state. They ask for feedback at these meetings and then send the area's mental health center and Behavioral healthcare organization a letter detailing that feedback.  WE CAN! also runs the statewide and consumer designed, developed and implemented empowerment program: The Colorado Leadership Academy.  Graduates are placed within the community and become part of the grassroots network of trained advocates that help others in their recovery, especially by advocating for their rights and also teaching them to advocate for themselves.

• YES Academy
• The YES! Academy (Youth Empowerment System) is a Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) that provides flexible independent living services provided to: youth in out-of-home care, age 16-21, with a permanency goal of other planned permanent living arrangement / long-term foster care or other planned permanent living arrangement / emancipation;  and young adults, age 18-21, who were in out-of-home care on their 18th birthday.  Through the YES! Academy, youth will develop independent living plans that prepare them for emancipation. YES! Academy staff work closely with county resources and agencies to help each youth/young adult meet their full potential.

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