In The NoCo

When the Colorado Rockies’ official scorer Jillian Geib talks America’s favorite pastime, even baseball neophytes catch the excitement. The game is pretty central to her life.

“I have watched thousands and thousands of baseball games in my lifetime, so that in itself was training — just watching games and seeing all sorts of situations that could occur because I still feel like every time I watch a game I learn something new,” she said.

Many of those thousands of games Geib has watched have included Todd Helton. The first baseman spent 17 seasons with the Rockies and was recently elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. She sat down with host Erin O’Toole to talk about Helton’s storied career — and her own. Geib is the first woman to score for the Rockies, and among only a handful of women to ever have this role in the league. 

The legislative session is underway at the Colorado state Capitol and lawmakers have identified a long list of priorities that could have big impacts on life in Colorado. Strengthening renters’ rights has returned to the forefront after some successful bills and a few failed ones last year. Meanwhile, the Colorado Black Caucus is pushing for a comprehensive review of entrenched racial disparities affecting Coloradans across the state. Addressing the opioid epidemic and the massive problems stemming from it are also central to this year’s session.

It is the job of Lucas Brady Woods to tell us how successful lawmakers will be in addressing these issues. KUNC’s statehouse reporter sat down with Erin O’Toole for a quick tour inside the halls of power.

We continue our look at doulas today and the crucial role they could play in addressing high rates of maternal mortality for Coloradans of color. Jannah Farooque is a doula with Mama Bird Doula Services. For the people of color she works with, she says just showing up at the hospital and being by their side makes a difference.

“As an African American Muslim woman doula, I know that my presence is so impactful in a positive way because I'm, I wear the hijab, so I'm easily identifiable as Muslim,” Farooque said. “I just remember working in one of the hospitals that largely works with immigrants … as soon as I would walk into the rooms of these women, you could immediately see relief.”  

As a full-spectrum doula, she’s around before, during and after a baby’s birth. Her work acknowledges the many different stages when things can get complicated - and when people are most in need of an advocate.

In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent sat down with Farooque to learn more.

Colorado’s maternal death rate has been on the rise. It is a nationwide problem and the data tends to surprise people. The U.S. ranks higher than other countries in the so-called developed world for maternal death rates with people of color hit the hardest. In Colorado, this is especially true for Native Americans and Black residents. Research suggests systemic racism is often at play — a legacy of discrimination in the medical system deters some people of color from seeking care.

Today, we begin our two-part look at one solution to these high rates of maternal mortality: doulas. A new partnership between Mama Bird Doula Services and the healthcare nonprofit Colorado Access is expanding this kind of care. It is pairing Black Coloradans on Medicaid with doulas of color. Joy Twesigye, with Colorado Access,  joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to talk about the important role doulas are taking on.

We hear it mentioned a lot – that this region is growing quickly. And that increasing population puts pressure on a lot of different areas of life – things like housing, healthcare, schools, and transportation. But love it or hate it, growth is inevitable – so how do we make sure it happens strategically, equitably? 

One solution is to stop making so many distinctions between Weld and Larimer counties — and start bringing these communities together. That’s what a new report from the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado suggests. It presents data from across the region to show how issues like housing and healthcare intersect across county lines — and how coming together might just be the smartest way to alleviate these problems. 

"Nobody really had assembled the data in a way that allowed us to look at the health and well-being of the entire region," said Kristin Todd, NoCo Foundation president. "We want to promote solving really big, challenging issues as a region. We feel like we're better together; and so we're promoting regionalism as a way to solve some really challenging issues."

The report was more than a year in the making, and Todd believes it provides a new way of understanding Northern Colorado's interdependence. 

"My hope is that this report can inform conversations. It can inform philanthropists, inform policymakers, and provide some common language and a launching pad so that we're all starting from the same place."

She joined host Erin O'Toole to unpack what's in this first-of-its-kind report. 

NOTE: The NoCo Foundation is hosting a launch event for the report Tuesday, Feb. 6 in Loveland. 

More than 200 copies of the Ouray County Plaindealer were recently stolen out of distribution boxes around town. The newspaper had just published a front-page story about an alleged sexual assault at the home of Ouray’s police chief. 

Journalist Corey Hutchins has some thoughts on this. The co-director of the Colorado College Journalism Institute writes a weekly newsletter that goes behind Colorado headlines.  In that newsletter, “small and mighty” are the words he used to describe the Plaindealer, which was purchased by residents Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre in 2019.

“This is not a vehicle for advertising with a little bit of, fun, fluffy news sprinkled in, like you might find in the diner in some small town somewhere. This is a newspaper, I believe that has, since they've owned it for the past few years, taking public service journalism seriously,” he told In The NoCo.

And that’s in a county of roughly 5,000 people, amid a crisis of shrinking local news.

It means the small paper is still managing to be a watchdog and hold local government accountable. A lot of Hutchins’ research tells us this isn’t the norm, though. He joined host Erin O’Toole to discuss the incident in Ouray County -- and what it tell us about the state of local journalism.

Read a letter from the Plaindealer’s publishers on why the paper reported about this incident here. 

Corey Hutchins’ weekly newsletter covers all things Colorado media. Here’s how to subscribe.

Earlier this month a statewide ban on styrofoam takeout containers went into effect and 12-year-old activist Madhvi Chittoor, of Arvada, helped fight for the law.

“These laws over time are all about environmental justice, health, justice and intergenerational justice,” said Chittoor, who also pushed for a statewide plastic bag ban. “It protects the rights of children and future generations. So I'm really happy that what I do is making big changes.”

These new measures don’t come without challenges for the businesses that are affected, though. A representative from the Colorado Restaurant Association said the policy changes add to the stressors of inflation, supply chain issues, and the labor shortage.   

Still, activists like Chittoor champion these moves as important progress. At 12, she has been working on ridding us of styrofoam for a while. The United Nations child advisor and self-proclaimed “No Styrofoam Ninja” joined In The NoCo to discuss her path into activism and why adults need to listen to young people advocating for the environment.

Colorado has taken a bold step as one of the first states to employ an incarcerated professor in a prison education program. It is a move that could have big impacts on incarcerated people and society more broadly. Chalkbeat Colorado’s Jason Gonzales spent time at a state prison in Canon City to learn more. He joined In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole to talk about what he learned and the people he met.

When Amoako Boafo was growing up in Accra, Ghana in the 1980s and 90s, art wasn’t a realistic or lucrative career path. But he didn’t put his paintbrush down.

"I kept making my paintings, and from time to time I would get lucky. I would have someone buy one," Boafo said.

In those days, he says it was a victory to sell a painting for a hundred dollars. Today, his works go for hundreds of thousands - even millions - of dollars. It’s the kind of sharp rise to fame that could really change a person. But Boafo remains close to his roots. He could live anywhere, but he chooses to stay in Ghana. 

His exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, Soul of Black Folks, speaks to those roots and how they intertwine and expand upon leaving – and then returning to – your hometown. His portraits are vibrant, textured moments, with an emphasis on Black joy.

Boafo and curator Larry Ossei-Mensah sat down with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent to discuss the exhibit – on display at DAM until Feb. 19, 2024.

Next week we celebrate the birthday of pioneering physician Dr. Justina Ford. At the turn of the 20th century, she became the first Black woman to practice medicine in Colorado. 

In an archival clip featured in Rocky Mountain PBS’s “Colorado Experience,” we hear Ford musing on her life’s work: "Babies. Babies are little miracles. That's why I love to deliver them and help these miracles thrive in their new world.”

Ford transcended racial and gender barriers to deliver more than 7,000 babies during her 50 years in medicine. She practiced out of her home in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, and treated patients regardless of their ability to pay. She saw that work as her true calling and higher purpose. 

"For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a doctor, a healer of the sick,” Ford said. “I used to like to help dress a chicken for dinner so I could see what was on the inside. I watched my mother use her hands, heart and ways of our African ancestors using roots and natural herbs to take care of her patients. And I wanted to do the same."

A few years ago, In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole dialed up Terry Gentry to discuss Ford’s legacy.  Gentry heads Black engagement efforts at History Colorado. Back then, she was working as a volunteer docent at the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center in Denver. It was just ahead of an unveiling of a mural in Five Points depicting Ford. 

Read more about Ford’s life in this piece from the local newspaper Front Porch.