For May’s Thriving Weld Quarterly Meeting, the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment (WCDPHE) held its final Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Prioritization Process meeting. Over 70 participants, representing 24 organizations, joined for the meeting on Wednesday, May 20^th. A CHIP is a community-driven strategic plan that allows a county to focus its collective efforts on the health-related issues that matter most to residents. The CHIP is part of the larger Community Health Assessment process, and data used in the prioritization comes from WCDPHE’s Community Health Survey and secondary data sources. The prioritization of health issues by community organizations and residents is a vital component of the CHIP.

During the meeting, WCDPHE staff presented data and findings on five previously identified health priority issues: Social Connection, Mental Health, Healthcare Access, Substance Use, and Chronic Diseases. Attendees completed a final voting process, identifying Healthcare Access, Mental Health, and Chronic Diseases as the final health priorities to drive the 2026-2028 CHIP.

We need your help as we initiate next steps. This includes forming a Healthcare Access workgroup and developing action plans for each of the three priority areas. Initial action planning meetings will begin in July. Contact us to join a workgroup and please share this information with colleagues who may be interested.

If you have any questions about the CHIP, please contact Emily Pickens (epickens@weld.gov) or Cody Speece (cspeece@weld.gov).