Chasing Progress
- Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post
About the Project
Chasing Progress is an ongoing COLab-led multi-newsroom project examining socio-economic and health equity among Black and Latino Coloradans over the last decade. The project traces back to I-News/RMPBS’ Losing Ground, which in 2013 tracked equity gaps in poverty levels, homeownership rates, educational attainment and median family income among Black, Latino and white Coloradans from 1960-2010. The name, “Losing Ground,” announced its findings.
Chasing Progress examines the decade from 2010-2020, a period that saw a historically long economic expansion sandwiched by the upheavals of the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. The ongoing series looks not only at what happened, but why and how and what comes next.

The Stories

Chasing Progress
COLab - Jun 2, 2022Maria Bocanegra Tejeda awakens as the rising sun lights her room. Her room. In the house her family owns. That fact is still capable of surprising her, so far removed…

Buscando Avances
COLab - Jun 2, 2022Maria Bocanegra Tejeda se despierta mientras el sol alumbra su habitación. Su habitación. En la casa que le pertenece a su familia. Ese hecho todavía es capaz de sorprenderla, tan…

Latino and Black Poverty Rates in Colorado Are Near Historic Lows, but Economic Stability Remains Elusive
The Denver Post - Feb 16, 2023The kitchen table, round and glass, with wooden legs, sits in a sunlit corner of Alejandra Carrera and Clemente Flores’ apartment. It is one of the first things visitors see.…

A Pesar De Tasas De Pobreza Históricamente Bajas, Sigue Siendo Difícil Que Las Personas Latinas Y Negras En Colorado Alcancen La Estabilidad Económica
The Denver Post - Feb 16, 2023La mesa de la cocina, redonda, de cristal y con patas de madera, reposa en un rincón soleado del apartamento de Alejandra Carrera y Clemente Flores. Es una de las…

New Data Suggests Boulder High Has BVSD’s Largest Suspension Disparity for Latino Students
Boulder Reporting Lab - Sep 19, 2022In an effort to better understand longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in student punishment, the Boulder Valley School District has released a data dashboard that provides the most detailed glimpse…

Nuevos datos sugieren que la disparidad de suspensiones entre los estudiantes latinos de Boulder High es la mayor en BVSD
Boulder Reporting Lab - Sep 19, 2022Para entender mejor las disparidades históricas entre las tasas de castigo de diferentes grupos raciales y étnicos, el Distrito Escolar del Valle de Boulder (BVSD, por sus siglas en inglés)…

Colorado Has Big Gaps in Who Finishes College. Can a Post-Pandemic Push Turn the Tide?
Chalkbeat Colorado - Sep 15, 2022Reginaldo Haro-Flores knew finishing college would be an uphill battle. As the first in his family to go to a four-year university, he faced a struggle to pay tuition, buy…

Colorado cuenta con grandes brechas de quién termina la universidad. ¿Puede un esfuerzo pospandémico cambiar esta tendencia?
Chalkbeat Colorado - Sep 15, 2022Reginaldo Haro-Flores sabía que terminar la universidad iba a ser una batalla cuesta arriba. Ya que fue el primero en su familia en asistir a la universidad, enfrentó desafíos para…

Boulder Valley School District Punishes Black and Latino Students at Disproportionately Higher Rates Than Most Colorado Districts. Parents Continue Calls for Accountability.
Boulder Reporting Lab - Jul 18, 2022Black and Latino parents of Boulder Valley School District students have been raising alarms for years that their children are punished more often for the same behaviors as white students.…

El Distrito Escolar del Valle de Boulder castiga a los estudiantes negros y latinos en tasas desproporcionadamente más altas que la mayoría de los distritos en Colorado. Los padres siguen pidiendo que acepte la responsabilidad.
Boulder Reporting Lab - Jul 18, 2022Padres de estudiantes negros y latinos en el Distrito Escolar del Valle de Boulder (BVSD, por sus siglas en inglés) han estado diciendo por años que a sus hijos los…

Poverty Gap for Black and Latino Senior Citizens Grew Over Last Decade
Denver VOICE - Jul 7, 2022Although Melvin Page had a long career in public service, retiring proved to be much more difficult than he thought. Three years into his retirement, Page suffered a brain aneurysm…

La brecha de pobreza entre personas negras y latinas mayores aumentó en la última década
Denver VOICE - Jul 7, 2022Aunque Melvin Page tuvo una larga carrera profesional dedicado al servicio público, retirarse resultó ser mucho más difícil de lo que pensó. Tres años después de retirarse, Page sufrió un…

Trump’s Legacy Looms Large as Colorado Aims to Close the Hispanic Insurance Gap
KFF Health News - Jun 23, 2022Armando Peniche Rosales has a crooked toe that for years has predicted the weather, growing sensitive when rain or cold is coming. “It never healed right,” said Peniche Rosales, who…

Pesa el legado de Trump, mientras Colorado busca zanjar la brecha del seguro de salud hispano
KFF Health News - Jun 23, 2022Armando Peniche Rosales tiene un dedo del pie torcido, que durante años ha pronosticado el clima y se vuelve sensible cuando se avecina lluvia o frío. “Nunca se curó bien”,…

Grassroots Groups Lead Way on Closing Colorado’s Infant Mortality Gap
KFF Health News - Jun 10, 2022AURORA, Colo. — As Britney Taylor toured the Mama Bird Maternity Wellness Spa during its grand opening this spring, she reflected on the birth of her first child: a confusing…

Grupos locales lideran esfuerzos para cerrar la brecha de mortalidad infantil en Colorado
KFF Health News - Jun 10, 2022AURORA, Colorado. — Mientras Britney Taylor recorría Mama Bird Maternity Wellness Spa durante su inauguración esta primavera, pensó en el nacimiento de su primer hijo: una experiencia confusa y solitaria…

Homeownership Gap Between White and Latino Coloradans Narrows. But for Black Coloradans, It’s Widened.
The Colorado Sun - Jun 9, 2022After 50 years, homeownership gap between white and Latino Coloradans narrows. But for Black Coloradans, it’s widened. The U.S. is short about 3.8 million housing units relative to demand, making…

Después de 50 años, la brecha entre los coloradenses blancos e hispanos dueños de su vivienda disminuye. Pero para los coloradenses negros, está aumentando.
The Colorado Sun - Jun 9, 2022Estados Unidos tiene una escasez de 3.8 millones de unidades de vivienda en relación con la demanda. Esto resulta en uno de los mercados de bienes raíces más difíciles en…

Driving a Decade of Progress, Hispanic Students Made Huge Gains in High School Graduation
Chalkbeat Colorado - Jun 2, 2022When Rosa Beltran was going through high school in the late ’90s in a small town in southern Colorado, she never expected to graduate. “My parents were very concerned about…

Éxito y sacrificio: una década de grandes avances en las tasas de graduación de estudiantes hispanos en Colorado
Chalkbeat Colorado - Jun 2, 2022Cuando Rosa Beltran estaba en high school a finales de los años 1990 en un pequeño poblado en el sur de Colorado, nunca pensó que se graduaría. “Mis padres estaban muy preocupados…
The Collaboration
We are grateful to our partner newsrooms, including The Colorado Sun, Chalkbeat, Kaiser Health News, The Denver Post, Boulder Reporting Lab, The Denver VOICE, KGNU, and The Sentinel.
We are also grateful to the community members of the Black and Latinx Voices initiatives. They have helped guide Chasing Progress with their feedback, brainstorming and own story ideas.
Reflections

Progress and Inequity in Colorado
Tina Griego - Jul 19, 2022We’re out with our latest installment of Chasing Progress, our collaborative reporting project examining equity gaps in Colorado. Yesterday's piece is by John Herrick of the nonprofit The Boulder Reporting Lab (Johnny’s name may…

Listen: Colorado Narrows the Opportunity Gap but Equity Still ‘A Dream Unrealized’
Colorado Public Radio - Jul 6, 2022Ideally, the color of your skin doesn't determine your opportunities in areas like education or housing, and a new report suggests that Colorado, more than any other state, is inching closer to that goal. But it…

“A Dream Unrealized”
Tina Griego - Jun 3, 2022On Thursday, we launched "Chasing Progress," our latest reporting collaboration with partner newsrooms across the state. Chasing Progress examines the social, economic and health equity of Black and Latino Coloradans…
This project was made possible through unprecedented collaboration between dozens of newsrooms and journalists across the state, who are active partners in the Colorado News Collaborative, or COLab.
To support the statewide effort, donate to the Colorado News Collaborative.