In The NoCo

Dozens of Native people have gone missing in Colorado since the state activated a new alert system in late December of last year. But advocates say some of those alerts aren’t going out fast enough. Raven Payment, who is Ojibwe and Kanienkehaka, is on the task force that helped set those alerts in motion through a recent law. She works closely on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, who face disproportionately high rates of violence. She sat down with In the NoCo to talk about recent strides and setbacks in addressing the problem.  

Author and journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has spent her career shining a light on social justice issues, violence against women and domestic abuse, and human rights across the globe. In addition to several novels, she’s published work for NPR, in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Yorker.

Years ago, her experience in the Semester at Sea program helped set in motion a worldview that powerfully informs her work today. Northern Coloradans have the chance to hear from Snyder at Colorado State University, where Semester at Sea is headquartered and celebrating 60 years. Ahead of that talk, host Erin O'Toole sat down with her to discuss the power of travel and language, and her new book — an evocative memoir about survival: "Women We Buried, Women We Burned."

Journalism wasn’t always in the cards for NPR’s Lori Lizarraga, until one day she found herself in the wrong classroom at Southern Methodist University. Lizarraga says she “stepped into Narnia” when she walked into the studio where journalism students were broadcasting the school’s daily newscast. The Latina journalist has been telling stories ever since – and a lot of that work is informed by her cultural identity. To wrap up our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, host Erin O'Toole spoke with the Code Switch host about how race, cultural identity, and lived experience are inextricably woven into the fabric of her work.

The housing crunch is getting a lot of attention these days, but how it's affecting college students is less talked about. Recent data shows it’s a big problem. In a 2020 survey [pdf], more than half of college students said they were struggling to meet basic needs, like finding stable housing. It was a period of uncertainty given the ongoing pandemic, but the numbers point to a persistent problem. Recent federal data shows 8% of undergraduate students experienced homelessness in the previous 30 days. Students of color are overrepresented in the data.

In Colorado's rural mountain communities, helping students stay housed is a huge challenge. In today's episode, host Erin O'Toole talks with Matt Gianneschi of Colorado Mountain College to learn how they're approaching that problem.

The newest season of KUNC's The Colorado Dream podcast is exploring how our state's housing crunch is affecting mountain communities. In Summit County, the situation is especially dire. Housing was already in short supply there due in part to the region's high construction costs and relative shortage of buildable land. Meanwhile, the recent explosion in short-term rentals, like Airbnb and Vrbo, has drastically cut the number of homes that would be available as long-term rentals for locals. A recent survey of residents suggests the county will need more than 2,500 rental and for-sale units — at all price points — to meet the high demand for housing.

In today's episode, we talk with Stephanie Daniel, host and creator of The Colorado Dream: Housing Wanted, about how Summit County officials are addressing the housing crunch there.

Many of Colorado’s healthcare workers are burned out, as we heard from Kaiser Permanente staff who walked off the job last week. Staffing shortages are largely to blame — and this is an issue that’s also affecting first responders. KUNC statehouse reporter Lucas Brady Woods recently reported on the dire state of Colorado’s ambulance services. He sat down with In The NoCo's Robyn Vincent to discuss how the situation is affecting some EMTs and paramedics.

For the last several decades, a small but growing number of states have begun observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a holiday to honor Native Americans and celebrate their histories and cultures. In some communities, like Boulder, it's celebrated in lieu of Columbus Day. In other places, both are observed on the second Monday of October. It is not currently a federally recognized holiday, though in 2021, President Biden signed the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day. 

To learn more about its significance, we reached out to Susan Faircloth. The former professor led Colorado State University’s School of Education and now runs a consulting company in Fort Collins focused on American Indian education. She's an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe of North Carolina. Our conversation began with a land acknowledgment that included a deeply personal connection to her family.

Thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in Colorado and other states have walked off the job for three days. They say they are stretched thin amid a serious employee shortage and want better pay. Meanwhile, the Fort Collins Symphony celebrates a century of music that began with a group of volunteer musicians back in 1923. Host Erin O'Toole talks with the organization's longtime music director, Wes Kenney, in today's episode.

KUNC’s The Colorado Dream podcast captures the struggles and successes of residents determined to make a life in Colorado. They are striving for the so-called American Dream – and overcoming huge hurdles in the process. Their stories also reflect host and creator Stephanie Daniel’s longtime focus in the KUNC newsroom. Her work often unravels the barriers to thriving in America.

"I grew up in Denver and Colorado is my home," Daniel says. "I’ve been working at KUNC for nearly six years and during that time I’ve gravitated toward covering issues that really impact people’s quality of life — alcohol addiction and treatment, higher education and jobs, access to health care, social justice, immigration, the list goes on."

The Colorado Dream podcast releases its third season this week, which unpacks how Colorado’s housing crisis is affecting our mountain communities. Ahead of the launch, Daniel sat down with host Erin O'Toole to preview some of these stories and how they reflect the grit and resilience of Coloradans.

A lot of Coloradans love the idea of recycling. But our recycling habits are in the dumps. In 2020, the rate of recycling statewide was just 15 percent — less than half the rate nationwide. That’s according to a report from the Colorado Public Interest Research Group and Eco-Cycle. Perhaps that's because the actual practice of it can be confusing. It seems like the rules are often changing – and let’s not forget that recycling is expensive, both for residents and municipalities.

To help sort through the confusion, host Erin O'Toole sat down with Mark Snedecor, who's the director of recycling services for Waste Management (WM) of Colorado. He shares some of the big recycling blunders we're making, and why you don't have to worry too much about those little numbers in the 'chasing arrows' recycling symbol.