Chasing Progress
Examining socio-economic and health equity among Black and Latino Coloradans over the last decade
- 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
Maria 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 it is from her cousins’ crowded trailer in the crowded mobile home park where she spent nearly half of her 22 years. The night before, she draped her navy graduation...
Buscando Avances
Maria 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 distante de la casa rodante llena de gente de sus primos, en la comunidad de casas rodantes llena de gente donde pasó casi la mitad de sus 22 años. La...
Después de 50 años, la brecha entre los coloradenses blancos e hispanos dueños de su vivienda disminuye. Pero para los coloradenses negros, está aumentando.
Estados 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 la historia. Michael Diaz-Rivera tenía la esperanza de que $25,000 en ahorros y una buena calificación de crédito le daría ventaja suficiente para comprar una casa. Pero su bajo salario...
Homeownership Gap Between White and Latino Coloradans Narrows. But for Black Coloradans, It’s Widened.
After 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 one of the toughest real estate markets in history Michael Diaz-Rivera hoped $25,000 in savings and a good credit score would give him enough leverage to buy a home. But...
Grupos locales lideran esfuerzos para cerrar la brecha de mortalidad infantil en Colorado
AURORA, 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 que resultó en una cesárea no planificada y un largo período de depresión posparto. Pero aquí, en esta ciudad vecina a Denver, familias locales y sonrientes doulas (personas que ofrecen...
Grassroots Groups Lead Way on Closing Colorado’s Infant Mortality Gap
AURORA, 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 and lonely experience that resulted in an unplanned cesarean section and an extended period of postpartum depression. But here in this city abutting Denver, local families and smiling doulas wandered...
Pesa el legado de Trump, mientras Colorado busca zanjar la brecha del seguro de salud hispano
Armando 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”, dijo Peniche Rosales, quien se rompió el dedo medio del pie izquierdo hace años cuando era jugador de fútbol en una escuela secundaria de Denver, y regresó cojeando a su...
Trump’s Legacy Looms Large as Colorado Aims to Close the Hispanic Insurance Gap
Armando 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 broke the middle toe on his left foot as a high school soccer player in Denver years ago and limped home without seeing a doctor. He was living in the...
La brecha de pobreza entre personas negras y latinas mayores aumentó en la última década
Aunque 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 aneurisma cerebral que lo dejó con deudas médicas devastadoras y sin ninguna posibilidad de quedarse con su apartamento. El hombre de entonces 70 años terminó viviendo sin techo en Denver...
Poverty Gap for Black and Latino Senior Citizens Grew Over Last Decade
Although 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 that left him with crippling medical debt and no chance of keeping his apartment. The then 70-year-old ended up experiencing homelessness in Denver for more than a year beginning in...
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.
Padres 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 castigan con más frecuencia por los mismos comportamientos que a los estudiantes blancos. Los datos del propio distrito han demostrado continuamente esa disparidad. En 2020, bajo mayor presión, BVSD reformó...
Boulder Valley School District Punishes Black and Latino Students at Disproportionately Higher Rates Than Most Colorado Districts. Parents Continue Calls for Accountability.
Black 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. The district’s own data has consistently shown this disparity.In 2020, under mounting pressure, BVSD reformed its discipline policies to try to reduce inequities. It removed police from schools, streamlined punishment...
Colorado cuenta con grandes brechas de quién termina la universidad. ¿Puede un esfuerzo pospandémico cambiar esta tendencia?
Reginaldo 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 pagar la colegiatura, comprar libros y otros materiales y balancear un trabajo mientras seguía ayudando a mantener a sus padres, quienes cuestionaban el valor de una educación universitaria. Haro-Flores se...
Colorado Has Big Gaps in Who Finishes College. Can a Post-Pandemic Push Turn the Tide?
Reginaldo 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 textbooks and supplies, and balance a job while still helping to support his parents, who questioned the value of a college education. Haro-Flores enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado...
Nuevos datos sugieren que la disparidad de suspensiones entre los estudiantes latinos de Boulder High es la mayor en BVSD
Para 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) publicó un tablero informativo que proporciona la perspectiva más detallada hasta ahora de cómo el problema se está desarrollando en cada una de sus 57 escuelas. El tablero, publicado en...
New Data Suggests Boulder High Has BVSD’s Largest Suspension Disparity for Latino Students
In 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 yet into how the problem is playing out in each of its 57 schools. The dashboard, published in August, is a response to calls from Black and Latino parents who are...
A Pesar De Tasas De Pobreza Históricamente Bajas, Sigue Siendo Difícil Que Las Personas Latinas Y Negras En Colorado Alcancen La Estabilidad Económica
La 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 primeras cosas que cualquier persona que los visita ve. Para la persona externa, es una mesa linda. Para la pareja, casada por 26 años, es un símbolo de su progreso...
Latino and Black Poverty Rates in Colorado Are Near Historic Lows, but Economic Stability Remains Elusive
The 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. To the outsider, it’s a nice table. To the couple, married 26 years, it’s a symbol of their economic progress over the last decade. They bought it new, on sale,...
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
We’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 be familiar to you all who followed us from the Colorado Independent.) Johnny dug through the data and did a ton of interviews to examine a longstanding issue in the Boulder...
Listen: Colorado Narrows the Opportunity Gap but Equity Still ‘A Dream Unrealized’
Ideally, 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 also finds that equity remains "a dream unrealized." Host Chandra Thomas Whitfield speaks with reporter Tina Griego of the Colorado News Collaborative.
“A Dream Unrealized”
On 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 over the last decade. It’s a multi-story project that will roll out over the coming weeks and months — and it gave me an experience I've never had in more...
This project was made possible through collaboration between multiple 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.