I woke up in Durango on my first day back in the office this year to hear from Coloradans who are experiencing homelessness, 食物 insecurity and addiction – an opportunity I take often in my role to connect directly with Coloradans and their families. 这总能让我禁足.

我参观了当地的一个无家可归者营地和一个施舍处, 遇到了自称是女同性恋的年轻人, 同性恋, 双性恋, 变性人, 质疑或酷儿, 和当地非营利组织的工作人员呆在一起. 在其中一次拜访中，我遇到了去年认识的一位女士. 为了保护她的隐私，我就叫她阿曼达. 

阿曼达提醒我为什么我们必须倾听

阿曼达向我介绍了她的生活, 我注意到了她的小女儿, 谁在一年前面临演讲延迟的问题, 高兴地在房间里跳来跳去——欣欣向荣. 然而,, 当我们谈到, it became clear that Amanda’s family’s circumstances had changed in other ways since we’d last met, 这并不是好事.

A year ago, Amanda was beginning to navigate a complex web of services to help stabilize her life. 她即将打破贫穷的循环 这使她每向前走一步就倒退两步. 现在，在2020年的黎明，她有了一个负担得起的安全的家. 她在存钱. 她的女儿正在取得长足的发展.
 
But one seemingly avoidable snag was threatening to put her dangerously back to square one. She hadn’t received her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit in eight weeks due to processing delays at the local agency. 作为一个结果, 为了养家糊口，她的辛苦积蓄正在耗尽, 但这不会持续太久. She was back to visiting 食物 banks and unsure if she could continue to afford her ap艺术ment.

当阿曼达亲切地分享她的故事时， I was grounded by the imp行为 something entirely out of a person’s control can have on their family’s life. 正是这样的对话让我畏缩不前, 一次又一次, in a single experience that illustrates the reason the Foundation must deliver on our mission. 和, as conditions imp行为ing health worsen for people who have historically had less power, 特权或收入, 我们的责任比以往任何时候都更加重要.

我和阿曼达结束了谈话担心她会不会失去她的家, 如果她女儿的进步会停滞, 以及她的家人在未来几周将如何度过, 数月乃至数年. 解决这些问题的办法仍然超出我们的能力范围, 被那些使不平等永久化的压迫性制度所束缚. 然而，面对这种不确定性，阿曼达毫无畏惧. She’s developed resilience through unending attempts to reach for a better life, and her will to regain the life she was living just a few weeks ago was palpable.

这就是为什么 该基金会的愿景 反映了整个科罗拉多州真实的人们的愿景 -他们可以说他们拥有健康生活所需要的一切.

勇敢是一种策略

我的杜兰戈之旅充满了阿曼达这样的故事. While everyone had a different answer when I asked what they need to be healthy, each person was absolutely fearless in sharing their stories – just as they are in their determination to be successful and self-reliant in life – to thrive despite human-designed systems and societal constructs that hold far too many back. 

我回到丹佛时，又问了一个问题, inspired sense of how powerful it can be to pursue change with fearlessness. It struck me that fearlessness must be our next step at the Foundation – a strategy in our toolbox to bring health in reach for all Coloradans.

We know it’s time to move even further beyond the status quo, and to step outside what’s comfortable. 我们知道什么时候我们出现在社区里，而不是去说话, but to listen – we find that the realities of people’s lives bring our work into focus. 

我们听到的声音在召唤我们要无所畏惧. 我们无畏地追求更好地了解影响健康的不公正现象. 我们无所畏惧地主动呼吁人们注意那些可以避免的障碍. Fearless in our support of community-inspired ideas and unconventional solutions. 
 
We need to examine for ourselves what it means to be more fearless in how we think, 行为, 出现并使用我们的声音. 2020年及以后, 我们要大声说出来, 如果需要的话，还可以成为避雷针, 不平等影响着我们所服务的人民. 我们将讨论那些被认为不可讨论的事情, and invite shared learning about the “why” behind injustices related to health. 

这并不意味着我们不害怕，但我们不能让恐惧阻止我们. 我们必须承担风险, 在某些情况下, 只要愿意从某个地方开始——甚至是任何地方, 特别是, 当健康的障碍似乎无法克服时, 或者不公正已经根深蒂固，无法改变. 

活到2020年无所畏惧

Here are a few ways we’re putting fearlessness at the center of our work this year:

• 在今年的 Colorado Health Symposium: Bridging Ethnicity, Cultural Identity and Health在美国，我们正在处理种族和国籍对健康的影响. In 过去几年, 我们探讨了种族主义如何影响黑人社区的健康, 支持和侵蚀心理健康的条件, 以及住房和健康之间的bet9登陆线路. 现在, 我们将了解来自科罗拉多的难民, 移民和美国原住民社区追求健康. 我们会深入研究这段历史, 政策和文化影响着他们的健康, 我们将体验珍贵的仪式, 传统, 食物, 艺术, 音乐和更多来自这些社区.
• 我们将发起另一项民意调查，并希望每年作为一种倾听的形式继续进行. 这对我们来说是个巨大的机会 to create a trusted and accurate reflection of the opinions and priorities of Coloradans on a variety of health 股本 policy issues. It’s also a critical pathway to support advocacy needs and infuse these learnings into local, 州和联邦政策. This comes after a year of unprecedented threats to the health of Coloradans and our boldest set of 政策重点 在一段时间.
• We’re inviting nonprofit executives into daily life at the Foundation through our 新的非营利性休假计划 具有独特的高管常驻机会. This is an unprecedented offering for executive leaders to get a behind-the-scenes look at us, 同时邀请他们坦诚地反馈我们的工作和运营方式.
• As we continue learning as an organization about the pr行为ices of diversity, 公平和包容性(DEI)——或者我最近听到的, “正义, 股本, 多样性和包容”(绝地武士)- we’re taking steps to encourage and learn alongside the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors in adopting JEDI as inseparable from our ability to meaningfully support the health of communities. 例如,我们 以公平为核心的我们的评估实践 and exploring power dynamics that exist between funders and grantees that perpetuate systems of in股本 in communities. 如果你对这项工作感兴趣，请查看 公平评价合作实验室.

所有这些都是实现我们使命的新途径，其中每一条都是 一种无畏行动的承诺, 带着尊敬的好奇心出现, 以及建立信任关系 with folks like Amanda as we work to better understand health inequities and what we can do differently to address the roots of these barriers. 

我们欢迎您的反馈，并邀请您参与这项工作. 从我开始. If you have a wish, a point of critique or a question, I’d love to hear it. 请随意 直接给我发邮件. 祝2020年健康和富有成效, and may we all be fearless in our pursuits to show up and speak up for Coloradans who deserve better.