March 6, 2024

The Colorado Community Health Alliance recently awarded a grant to bolster the efforts of two project teams of the Blueprint’s Workgroup #2/3: Healthy Food Access in Communities.

February 22, 2024

The Colorado Health Insitute recently released its 2023 Colorado Health Access Survey. With input from nearly 10,000 Colorado households, the data reveals substantial changes in health, health access, and social stressors stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s response to it. This includes food insecurity, along with disparities by race, ethnicity, gender, and more.

February 21, 2024

The Blueprint and members of its Connecting Food and Health project team of Workgroup 4: SNAP & WIC Enrollment advocated for the inclusion of food and nutrition supports as part of the Regional Accountable Entity Contracts for the Accountable Care Collaborative Phase III. The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance recently released the draft contracts, and we’re pleased that they included several of our collective recommendations. We’ll lead various opportunities to advocate that these supports remain a part of the final contracts and that Regional Accountable Entities are made more explicitly responsible for their members’ food and nutrition access.

February 16, 2024

Do students have enough time to eat lunch in Colorado public schools? Representative Jenny Willford (D-Adams County) recently introduced a new bill during the 2024 state legislative session that considers this important question, along with time to play.

January 31, 2024

Colorado's summer meals program seeks sponsors, sites, and state partners to continue ensuring that Colorado children and teenagers can access healthy meals during the summer break. Sites provide youth 0 -18 years old with no-cost, nutritious meals that fuel their minds and bodies for healthy and active living, academic success, and reaching their full potential in life.

January 24, 2024

Congress passed a bill last Thursday to avoid a government shutdown, but their new continuing resolution does not provide full funding for WIC, federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

Find out what’s at stake for Colorado families and communities — and how you can take action to protect WIC in the federal budget.

January 11, 2024

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously once said, “I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education, and culture for their minds and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” On Monday, January 15, we will honor the civil rights leader who dedicated and gave his life to advancing social justice across the United States.

King fought for civil rights for all people in the face of systemic racism, oppression, ignorance, and violence. And his legacy reaches far beyond the civil rights movement, including food justice and other intersecting issues around hunger.

December 15, 2023

As 2023 comes to an end, let’s take a moment to reflect on and celebrate our collective accomplishments this past year. By working together, there’s evidence that we’re all truly transforming Colorado’s food systems through community engagement and investments, policy and advocacy, data and evaluation, and increased public awareness and political will. See a snapshot of what we have collectively accomplished in the last 12 months.

December 14, 2023

The Blueprint is getting ready for the 2024 state legislative session – and we’re teaming up with Nourish Colorado to ensure students have enough time to eat during the school day. Representative Jenny Willford (D-Adams County) plans to introduce a bill in early January to create a task force focused on looking at best practices for time to eat in school settings.

December 14, 2023

The SNAP Advocacy for the Houseless project team of Workgroup 4: SNAP & WIC Enrollment is leading efforts to advocate for the implementation of a restaurant meals program in Colorado, which would allow certain participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to use benefits to purchase prepared meals at participating restaurants and better access nutritionally balanced meals. This includes those who may struggle to buy and prepare meals in their homes like older adults, those experiencing homelessness, individuals with disabilities, and military veterans. The program also would support restaurant owners and operators by increasing revenue, in addition to growing the state’s workforce, which in turn benefits local economies and communities. 

December 13, 2023

What progress have we made together? Find out in our new multi-year impact report! Covering the first four years of the Blueprint’s efforts, this report provides a comprehensive overview of our collaborative journey thus far. It showcases the collective progress we have made in achieving our five big goals and recognizes the dedicated individuals and organizations who have made it all possible. 

November 30, 2023

What else did we learn from our network during the input phase of the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger’s yearlong transformation journey? Watch a video message from Dolores Ramírez, our Executive Director of Vision, to find out more about the key findings and opportunities, which will be instrumental as we begin developing the Blueprint’s new framework. You also can read the full report from our strategic planning partner, Point B(e) Strategies. 

November 29, 2023

The Blueprint’s State Policy Committee recently voted to endorse the Healthy Drinks in Kid’s Meal strategy, expressing support for the recommendation to ensure the automatic beverage that comes with a kids’ meal is a healthy one. The Healthy Beverage Partnership is a collaborative effort of local public health agencies and community partners to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases and address health inequities by supporting municipal-level sugary drink reduction policies across Colorado.