TRENDS – KGNU Community Radio

TRENDS – KGNU Community Radio

By TRENDS Archives - KGNU Community RadioSociety & CultureNewsGovernment
Download on the App Store

TRENDS – KGNU Community Radio episodes

  • TRENDS Diary: Living And Breathing Home-Sewn Masks & A High-Proof Solution

    TRENDS Diary, a project of the Community Foundation of Boulder County, is a place for Boulder County residents of all ages to share personal experiences that relate to a pressing community need. The focus, for now, is on our shared need to connect and solve problems, despite the increased isolation we’re all experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Listen To The Audio Diaries:
    • play_arrow

      TRENDS Diary: Living And Breathing Home-Sewn Masks & A High-Proof Solution
      Maeve Conran

      (Download Audio)

      Dear TRENDS Diary,

      Roberta: I was having a hard time at the beginning of the pandemic because of my post traumatic stress disorder. I was having nightmares again, and I was not sleeping well. One day, I remembered that I have a sewing machine, I have fabric — I can make masks.

      Eddy Hinkley sports his mask, a gift from Roberta and Gary

      Gary: Once Roberta brought it up, I wanted to help. I can’t sew, but I can cut a pattern, I can iron. So I am in charge of ironing the fabric, laying out the template, tracing the template, cutting out the linings and the outer layers, and then Roberta takes it from there.

      Roberta: We’ve gotten fabric donated, elastic donated. People are just donating left and right. The masks are free to all, but if someone insists on giving us a donation, we’ll take it. We don’t let anyone who is struggling pay.

      Every time we hand out one, we get a request for five more. I had to go to the phone store today for a repair; I gave each of the workers masks because they were in customer service with no protection. It seems like there’s a lot of need. We have a running list of requests and deliveries.

      One of my friends took one each for herself and her husband, who works at Warren Village, a nonprofit single-parent housing community in Denver. He asked for 100 masks, so we started on those.

      Gary: I’m totally grooving on it. It’s like a working meditation: When I’m focused and being present, I’m not in my head, I’m not worried about things. I’m enjoying it.

      Roberta: It’s taking so much energy. We wake up, we live and breathe masks all day until we’re about to drop. I’ve hardly thought about the virus.

      I love doing this. It fills my heart.

      – Roberta Walbert and Gary Shunk, as told to Shay Castle

      Dear TRENDS Diary,

      I’m the founder and president of Mythology Distillery. We’re a whiskey, gin and vodka distillery based in Denver. Similar to many other Colorado distilleries, we switched our production to hand sanitizer to help first responders and organizations in need.

      There’s a mass shortage of hand sanitizer out there because there’s a lack of high-proof alcohol. As a distillery we make high-proof alcohol so we have the unique ability to help.

      Mythology Distillery-made hand sanitizer, ready to be donated

      We have a number of family members that are emergency room doctors and we were finding out they don’t have access to it.

      I was an affordable housing developer for 10 years, so I know a lot of groups that help at-risk communities. I was talking to Andy Allison, a Boulder-area affordable developer, and Isabel McDevitt, the head of Boulder nonprofit Bridge House, which helps unhoused individuals. These are folks who don’t have access to wash their hands after every interaction. So we have donated sanitizer to Bridge House for their clients.

      We made a significant monetary donation to Operation Family Meal to provide free meals to people from the service industry. We are also helping our restaurant and bars accounts in various ways.

      It’s been really rewarding work. We’ve donated to doctors, nurses, police officers, the Marines, firefighters, at risk communities and hospital workers. They all give us this incredibly genuine thank you for what we’re trying to do. It’s given us an added purpose right now.

      As a small business owner, it’s beyond words to see people come together and try to help. Owning a business, we deal and adapt to business disruptions all the time; not like this, but there’s always something to handle. This is our time to shine and help the community.

      – Scott Yeates, as told to Shay Castle

      5 min
    • TRENDS Diary: Sewing Masks for Neighbors
      Karen Hoskin sews masks in the Wild Sage community room

      TRENDS Diary, a project of the Community Foundation of Boulder County, is a place for Boulder County residents of all ages to share personal experiences that relate to a pressing community need. The focus, for now, is on our shared need to connect and solve problems, despite the increased isolation we’re all experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

      Listen To The Audio Diary:
      • play_arrow

        TRENDS Diary: Sewing Masks for Neighbors
        Maeve Conran

        (Download Audio)

        Dear TRENDS Diary,

        I live in Wild Sage co-housing in North Boulder. There are a few of us in the community that sew, and there are people who have fabric stashes. We created a sewing circle, following recommended rules: Six or fewer people at a time, spaced six feet apart and no guests, only community members.

        We did a production line. We’re not going shopping: we’re using the resources we have. We’ve sewed about 25-30 masks so far.

        The first plan was to make enough for everyone in the community. One of our resident’s wife volunteers at the shelter. I made her a mask, and she got some comments from people she was serving there. And I had a dream about handing masks out to unhoused people, so it seemed meant to be. I took a half-dozen masks and gave them to the folks on the streets by the shelter.

        Cohousing is a hedge against isolation and loneliness. We’ve been doing social distancing happy hours, now with our masks. We’ve been able to check in on one another, celebrate birthdays, help each other.

        We are not social distancing. We are physically distancing but staying socially connected.

        Not everybody can create the classic co-housing community, but you absolutely can take the secret sauce and spread it on all kinds of neighborhoods. One of the main ingredients is knowing your neighbors, saying hi, being an observer of somebody who is in danger of being isolated.

        Just be a neighbor: When you’re going out to your car or checking your mail, say, ‘I’m going to the store later, do you need anything? I have an Instacart account, do you want me to order you something?’

        – Karin Hoskin, as told to Shay Castle

        4 min
      • TRENDS Podcast: COVID-19 Exacerbates Existing Inequities

        The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.

        Listen to the COVID-19 TRENDS podcast episode below:
        • play_arrow

          TRENDS Podcast: COVID-19 Exacerbates Existing Inequities
          Maeve Conran

          [trends-podcast]
          The world is experiencing the global effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Data released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment shows it is having a disproportionate impact on people of color. The virus is shedding light on existing racial disparities, pointing directly to systemic societal and health inequities.
          “By now, news reports have been exposing how black, brown and Native American communities have experienced higher mortality rates than other ethnic groups during the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. however, this should not come as a surprise to anyone.” — Lupita Montoya
          “When African Americans and Latinos and people of color are dying, they are not receiving the right attention from the hospitals. And in fact, some communities are even afraid of going to the hospitals because of the cost of hospitalization in the United States.” — Gabriela Buitrion Vera
          According to data from the state, Latinx people make up about 22% of Colorado’s population, but they are about 28% of its COVID-19 cases. While black people represent about 4% of the population, they make up about 7% of cases statewide.
          In Boulder County, the disparity is even wider. Latinx people make up nearly 14% of the population, yet they account for about 24% of the county’s COVID-19 cases and nearly one-third of those hospitalized for the illness.
          Sheila Davis is a physician by training and the health equity coordinator for Boulder County Public Health.
          “African-Americans, Latinx communities and Native populations tend to suffer from health disparities, chronic health conditions like heart disease and cancer and diabetes, kidney disease, and we see that across most of the chronic conditions. So, now COVID-19 has arrived and we’re seeing explosions. We’re also seeing high infection rates in the Navajo Nation, and this is in part because of the underlying conditions of these communities of color: the heart disease, the lung disease, cancer, perhaps kidney disease. So, this storyline for COVID-19, I mean, it is ravaging so many facets of our society. But, I would have to say that the subtext is that COVID-19 is revealing deep fissures in our society, and some of these fissures are due to structural racism.”
          COVID-19 Pasa La Voz Show en Español:
          • Haga Clic para escuchar a Elena, Aranda, Jorge De Santiago del Centro Amistad y a Leticia Abajo de WIC en el programa de Pasa La Voz dar guia y apoyo emocional durante la crisis de COVID-19
          • Haga Clic para ir al show Pasa La Voz escuchar voces comunitarias de aquellos afectados por el COVID-19 y de aquellos que trabajan para proporcionas servicios adecuados durante la crisis del coronavirus
            • Another fissure in society that is being revealed is the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Low-income communities who are unable to work under quarantine are finding it very difficult to buy food or pay the rent.
            Edwin Jimenez is a Black Latino living in Boulder. He’s also experiencing homelessness, which puts him at a high risk of getting COVID-19. He says that, now more than ever, he is being discriminated against. He recounted an incident where he was speaking Spanish on a phone call while at a gas station in Boulder. He said the cashier told him to get out. Later, he was stopped and questioned by police. He says this is part of a pattern of discrimination that he experiences regularly, but it has become worse during the pandemic.
            As a black, Latino experiencing homelessness, Edwin Jimenez feels discriminated against now more than ever due to the coronavirus.
            “He got very upset and very mad and he kicked me out of the store and told me not to come back to the store. And just for that simple reason: because I asked him for hand sanitizer and then he called the police for no reason.”
            Jimenez’s experience highlights how racism, poverty and homelessness intersect and are exacerbated by the current crisis. While the entire state was under a stay-at-home order for several weeks, not everyone had a home to stay in. Frequent hand washing is also out of reach for people living on the streets.
            Resources:
            • Boulder County’s Undocu-Relief Fund
            • El Centro Amistad
            • Ayuda (help) Colorado
              • Reports:
              • AMP Research Lab – The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.
              • Latino Community Foundation – COVID-19 Impact on Latinos and Immigrants
                • The spread of the coronavirus is pointing directly to systemic societal and health inequalities that some say could be the reason the disease is having a heavier impact on not just the homeless, but other minorities.
                A new report by the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado provides data to better understand the COVID-19 crisis and how it is affecting the Latinx communities in Colorado.
                Julia Roncoroni was a key collaborator in the report titled “COVID-19 Impact on Latinos and Immigrants” by the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado
                Julia Roncoroni was a key collaborator in the report titled “COVID-19 Impact on Latinos and Immigrants.” She is also a professor in counseling psychology at Denver University. She says the report highlights the systemic barriers impacting the Latino community from a health inequity perspective.
                “There are other, more systemic barriers or what we call social determinants of health that are impacting our Latino community, and therefore their experience with COVID-19. Some of these living conditions and environmental realities include occupation as essential workers, transportation, living in food deserts, multigenerational households where keeping distance from older family members or isolating those who were sick is nearly impossible. We also see that, Latinos are, and again, in particular immigrants, are overrepresented in jails and prisons and detention centers. They also work in spaces like the essential sectors where they have very limited health and physical support.”
                The report also shows that Latinos are playing a key role in sustaining the U.S. economy through the pandemic and are over-represented as front line workers.
                “This is especially true for undocumented [immigrants]. So we know, of course, that if you have increased exposure in these environments, then you’ll have increased infection rate. Only 16% of Latinos can work from home. And we’re seeing very recently the peer research center released a study where they showed that 66% of Latino adults report that they would not get paid if they needed to miss work for two or more weeks related to COVD-19 and about half of the respondents also certainly struggle to meet expenses during this period. And so we see a very high need, economic need, and this increased participation in these essential sectors.”
                Black, Brown and Native American communities have experienced higher mortality rates than other ethnic groups during the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.; however, according to Lupita Montoya, a Research Associate at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil and Environmental and Architectural Engineering, this should not come as a surprise to anyone.
                “These populations have experienced a combination of social and environmental stressors for a long time leading to negative health outcomes which make them more vulnerable to subsequent assaults like the coronavirus. We know that sustained stress due to things like poverty for example, makes people more susceptible to diseases.”
                But Montoya says people most impacted by the virus aren’t always getting the right information and are being put at risk.
                Dr. Lupita Montoya, a Research Associate at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil and Environmental and Architectural Engineering
                “My concern is that many of the same people who are at highest risk are presently not being protected or even made properly aware of the risk. In addition, these people are often unable to stay home because they have to make a living and don’t have jobs. They can’t perform at home. Now, some of these people are also being labeled essential workers like those at meatpacking plants, so they don’t even seem to have a choice to stay home. It is amazing to me that we are putting the most vulnerable people in every respect out front in this pandemic.”
                There are several initiatives happening locally to support immigrant families during this time. Laura Soto, a DACA recipient and community leader, is involved in a local grassroots-based effort designed to connect immigrants and particularly the undocumented community with the resources they need.
                Laura Soto, DACA recipient and community leader
                “This initiative has come from the grassroots project of Voces Unidas. This is a project that started last year in November to help undocumented students in our area as well as DACA students at a very crucial time when we realized that our immigrant population, specifically the youth that go to our school district, needed extra support not only in immigration matters, but also mental health and general support with school. When the COVID-19 epidemic hit our local communities, we were able to quickly organize the other leaders who many are Latino leaders in the community, plus allies who work directly with students, organized being a voice for these students and bringing to the attention of our community foundations as well as the philanthropy foundation, the needs that the immigrant community was quickly experiencing as a product of the crisis coming from COVID-19.”
                Liliana Garcia is in a mixed-status family. She lives with her husband and her three American citizen children. She used to clean from 5 to 7 houses a week and her husband used to work in two restaurants. Now they are unemployed and are relying on food banks to get by. They have a daughter who is studying to be a nurse, who explains to them what precautions they need to take to keep themselves healthy. Garcia is not ashamed to say she does not have documents and she is only speaking up because she wants to help others that are in the same situation. The Garcia family was expecting to receive support from the federal government at least for the 3 kids, but they did not get it.
                Many immigrant families are like the Garcia family and are mixed-status, meaning some members may be eligible for federal assistance, and others not. DACA recipients, who were brought here as children and who have, for now, federal protection under the Obama-era program, are eligible for some federal assistance but have been excluded from other stimulus packages.
                Last month the Education Department announced that DACA students aren’t eligible for emergency aid to help students who have experienced disruptions due to the closure of campuses during the coronavirus crisis.
                Gabriela Buitrion Vera at CU Boulder
                Gabriela Buitrion Vera is a DACA recipient. She has a PhD from the University of Colorado.
                “I have received the stimulus check from the government. I would like to say that it is from the government because some people are calling this the stimulus check from Donald Trump, which we have to remind ourselves that, as we paid taxes, we are entitled to this stimulus check. So it doesn’t come from the President, it comes from the government, from our taxes, so we are entitled to this. And I also have to remind the audience that I come from a mixed-status family. So not everybody from my family has received the check. Some of my siblings, for example, don’t have DACA protections, so they haven’t received any stimulus checks. In fact, they have lost their jobs. However, I have to mention that I also know there’s some people in the university, there are international students that have received the check.”
                Buitrion Vera says that the exploitation of immigrant communities and people of color for labor has long been part of this country’s history.
                “I think that the basis of neglecting communities of color, roots back from the beginning of this country and its foundation. As we have seen in history, this country was founded under the rules of bringing people or relocating people without their approval, and using them as basically laborers. In this case, we have the people that were brought from Africa and then what they did to other communities of color. The real citizens of this land, the Native Americans, they also relocated them. And this has been continuing throughout history.”
                Elena Aranda (Left), Director of Wellness, Health & Education in the organization’s Grupo Compañeras with her daughter, GENESISTER Program Coordinator, Maya Sol Danise (Right)
                There are several groups working to support immigrant families of all statuses through the pandemic. One is El Centro Amistad. Elena Aranda is the Director of Wellness, Health & Education in the organization’s Grupo Compañeras.
                The non-profit moved their services to online platforms and gave community workshops on navigating the technology to keep connected. As one of the organizations receiving support from Voces Unidas, they are supporting the community in need.
                Elena Aranda says people of color have had to be resilient in society, long before the coronavirus.
                As communities grapple with the reality of the coronavirus and have discussions on making society more resilient to face future crises, we may look to immigrant and marginalized communities who have long been forced to be resilient in order to survive.
                Watch the TRENDS Panel for this COVID-19 episode below:
                Related KGNU Coverage:
                • Coronavirus in Colorado – Latest News
                • Coronavirus in Colorado – Resources & What You Need To Know
                • Local School Districts Ensure Students Don’t Go Hungry During Outbreak
                • Boulder City Council Reviews New Safer-At-Home COVID Strategy
                • Community Response to the COVID-19 Crisis
                  • Community Foundation of Boulder County COVID-19 Coverage:
                  • COVID-19 Information
                  • TRENDS DIARY
                    • Story Sources & Resources:
                    • Elena Aranda, Director of Wellness, Health & Education
                    • Gabriela Buitrion Vera, Ph.D. CU Boulder Spanish & Portuguese Department
                    • Lupita Montoya, Researcher Associate – Health effects of aerosols, indoor air quality and exposure, sustainability at CU Boulder in the Department of Environmental Engineering Program
                    • Julia Roncoroni, Ph.D. Counseling Psychology University of Denver
                    • Laura Soto, Operations Manager, Philanthropiece Foundation
                    • Sheila Davis, Health Equity Coordinator Boulder County Public Health
                      • 32 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: The Gender Pay Gap
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
                      Listen to the Gender Pay Gap TRENDS podcast episode below:


                      2020 marks 100 years since the passage of the 19th Amendment granting some women the right to vote in the United States. But a century later, women have not reached full equality in society in many areas, including how much they get paid.
                      The gender pay gap persists and it’s worse here in Boulder County, but some efforts are underway to close the gap.

                      Debbie Pope is CEO of the YWCA of Boulder County explains.
                      “The gender wage gap is exactly what it says. It’s where a male is earning a dollar and a woman is earning 74 cents to every dollar. And a lot of times this is regardless of their experience, or their education.”
                      The gender pay gap usually refers to the median annual pay of all women who work full time and year-round, compared to the pay of a similar group of men. Despite efforts to close the gap, it persists and it can be economically devastating over the lifetime of a woman.
                      The Boulder County YWCA has been focusing on how to support women in the workforce by providing affordable childcare and tackling bigger issues like the gender pay gap.
                      “I think in our country we are still a capitalist society, which means that… money is valued in this country. And it is a reflection of what we value in this country,” says Pope. “So when I just had a conversation with a woman the other day who is a top engineer, she has a great deal of education and experience and was really disheartened to find out that a colleague who had less experienced than her and less education, but was a man was making about twice as much as she was. And so just what that did to her morale.”
                      There are many factors that contribute to the gender pay gap. These include bias against working mothers, lack of paid maternity leave, the fact that men often dominate higher-paid professions, and direct pay discrimination. This is something that Michelle Frierson has looked at. Frierson is with the CU School of Education and is doing research into the gender pay gap for the YWCA.
                      Frierson says that women often work in professions that traditionally pay less like education, non-profit work or the service sector. But according to Frierson, even in professions where men and women are doing the same job, women are often paid less.
                      “Engineering and technology is one of those professions where males are making $55,000 a year, whereas females are only making $48,000. So there’s a big gap there that needs to be looked at,” says Frierson.

                      Resources:

                      * American Association of University Women (AAUW) – Find A Branch Nearby

                      * Start Smart And Work Smart – Salary Negotiation Workshops




                      But Frierson says there are other major structural issues that need to be addressed as a society that are currently limiting women in the workforce, like lack of maternity or family leave in the U.S..
                      “I think women definitely take on more duties that are unpaid and generally unrecognized than men do. And maternity leave coverage, just providing that it definitely increases women’s retention in certain professions. We do see a decrease in women who return to their job after they have had children or a decrease in women who decide that it’...
                      26 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: Diversity, Inclusion & Equity
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
                      Listen to the Diversity, Inclusion & Equity TRENDS podcast episode below:

                      Boulder County has a reputation of being a leader in progressive values, but not everyone feels welcome here.
                      A survey conducted by the Community Foundation of Boulder County shows that residents here feel we are least open to minorities, immigrants and refugees compared to other groups.  And very often, members of those groups feel very unwelcome.
                      In March 2019 Zayd Atkinson, an African American yoga student at Boulder’s Naropa University was confronted by several police officers, some with weapons drawn, while he was picking up trash in his front yard. Atkinson said that he wasn’t totally shocked that he’d been initially confronted by the police, but he was shocked and how much the situation escalated.
                      “I’ve been here since the beginning of fall, but I was familiar with the area, so I wasn’t surprised, I was surprised when he pulled out his gun,” said Atkinson.
                      The gun was pulled by a Boulder police officer who stopped his vehicle to question Atkinson, who was using a trash grabber to pick up garbage from his lawn near Folsom and Arapahoe. He said he feared for his life.
                      “There was a moment, especially when he pulled out the pistol,” said Atkinson. “I thought he was going to shoot me, I wasn’t expecting that. I had my headphones in and he came out of my blindside, and then I realized he was an officer of the law and I wanted to respect that, but he wanted to detain me and that’s when I walked away and continued doing what I was doing and things escalated.”
                      The incident prompted a huge community response with rallies in support of Atkinson. Boulder City Council convened community conversations on racism. A task force was created to explore forming a community police oversight board. The incident prompted the community to reflect on what it means to promote values of diversity while having many people of color reporting feeling unwelcome.
                      Ramon Gabrieloff-Parish, who teaches in the Environmental Studies program at CU remembers vividly what happened to Zayd Atkinson.
                      “if you’ve watched that tape at the bare minimum, the police escalated that situation beyond what it needed to be escalated, you know, like beyond what it was needed. And they created a situation that’s almost, it was almost deadly watching it.”
                      Gabrieloff-Parish also teaches the Diversity Seminar, part of the core curriculum at Naropa.
                      “We were studying racial profiling and policing. And I was like, ‘well folks,  if you didn’t know why we were studying this, I think, you know now. Like how much harder can the lesson come than having one of our students?”
                      Gabriellof Parish says that we as a society need to confront racism head on.
                      “If we can look race in the eye, I think that we can look gender in the eye. I think we can look sexuality in the eye. I think we can look class in the eye, but if we can’t look race in the eye… we’re not really going to be able to hold the gaze and really figure out what is up and how to undo and transform the other ones.”
                      Kayik Wildcat grew up in Arizona and now lives in Boulder. He is a senior at Fairview Highschool and is with AIYLI, the American IndianYouth Leadership Institute. Kayik says that is always aware of the lack of diversity living in Boulder County.
                      “… high school is probably 90% white,
                      29 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: Census 2020
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.

                      Listen to the Census 2020 TRENDS podcast episode below:
                      Resources:  ● Boulder Census Info ● Longmont Census Info ● El Comite de Longmont

                      2020 is an important year.  In November, voters will have their voices heard in the Presidential election, senate races and on many local issues. But people can also have their voices heard before the election even begins…  and that is by being counted in the census.
                      However, not everyone wants to share their information with the government. While recent attempts to get a citizenship question included in the census were struck down in the courts, a feeling of distrust remains among certain communities.
                      With so much at stake, local groups are mobilizing to reach out to communities that have been historically undercounted to let them know the importance of taking part.
                      This time on the TRENDS podcast, a collaboration between KGNU and the Community Foundation of Boulder County, we take a look at local efforts to mobilize people to take part in the 2020 census.
                      Peggy Leech of the League of Women Voters of Boulder County is one of the co-chairs of the Boulder County Nonprofit Complete County Committee, one of four countywide Complete Count Committees.

                      “Colorado currently has seven representatives to Congress, says Leech. “It’s widely expected that our population has grown enough to where we’ll have eight representatives.”
                      There is also a lot of money at stake in the census says Chris Barge of the Community Foundation of Boulder County.
                      “There are 55 sources of federal funding that make their way into Boulder County, and this works out to about $2,300 per person per year. You multiply that by 10 years and you’re talking about $23,000 in federal funding allocation for every Boulder County resident.”

                      “[The census] leads to a tremendous amount of resources for all of us, from medical and emergency services to transportation and more funding for schools and school lunches,” says Ari Gerzon-Kessler, the Director of Equity and Partnerships at BVSD.
                      According to Gerzon-Kessler, “it really has ripples across our whole society in Boulder County and everywhere.”
                       
                      BVSD passed a resolution in September that made a strong commitment to encouraging all community members to participate in the census.

                      Census PSA (Spanish) from JOHN WILLIAMS on Vimeo.
                      At Boulder High School, Samantha Ibarra, Alison Aredondo Arellano and Paola Garcia Barron members of the Zonta or Z Club, have produced videos in English and Spanish to educate the Latinx community on the importance of the census.

                      She adds that in previous years, “many Latinos weren’t aware of what the census was and how they can get involved.”
                      Another group that is often undercounted are those experiencing homelessness.
                      Scott Medina of the Bridge House in Boulder says it’s important to count this community as it is a recognition of their humanity.
                      30 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: Living With Disability
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
                      Listen to this TRENDS podcast episode below:


                      This time on the TRENDS podcast, a collaboration between KGNU Community Radio and the Community Foundation of Boulder County, we take a look at the challenges facing those with a physical disability, the issues they face and the solutions that they themselves are creating.
                      Being visually impaired does not stop 82-year-old Oswaldo Gomez from getting up and helping others in the community who are struggling with physical disabilities.
                      “I’m from Cuba, a professional dancer from my country. I’m working here as a volunteer because I like to give. I’m helping people.”
                      Osvaldo is determined to share his talents with the community, despite his own physical challenges. Today he is teaching a Zumba class at the Applewood Living Center. Most of the people in his class are elderly, dealing with a physical disability and in wheelchairs but that doesn’t stop Oswaldo.
                      “The music makes you move your body. It is what I do. They move because they sit so long in the chair. They need to move, it makes them happy.  They don’t even know they move but they move.”
                      Osvaldo is visually impaired which can often lead to isolation. He has been able to stay connected to the local community through his volunteer work helping others with disabilities. He can stay connected to the outside world through adaptive technology.
                      Kim Ann Wardlow is the Executive Director at the Audio Information Network of Colorado that provides audio access to print for individuals who are blind, visually impaired, or have another condition that makes reading difficult for them.
                      “The seniors, if they have lost their vision later in life it’s often very difficult. They’re trying to learn many alternative techniques and ways of doing things without vision all at once. Very different from learning starting as a child and learning throughout your whole life. And that can be overwhelming in some cases. They may have other conditions that make mobility difficult. And so combining that with vision loss, it’s not unusual to see someone become isolated in their home and not getting out and about as much.”
                      Of course, not everyone dealing with physical disabilities is a senior. For some, it is something that comes earlier in life. This was the experience of longtime Boulder resident, Jeannine Fox.
                      “I’m fifty-three and I was diagnosed with MS in August of 2011 and my father actually had MS as well and was completely disabled, a quadriplegic, couldn’t move anything. So I’m familiar with the disease, unfortunately. And once I was diagnosed, I had to retire from doing real estate because my disability, disabled me.”
                      It takes a lot of effort for Jeannine, an avid cyclist and swimmer, to get out and about, but she does it to stay connected.
                      “So for longer traveling and for longer distances in town, I’m on an electric scooter, but maneuvering around town I can do on my sticks. But I move very, very slowly and the effort it takes for each step in concentrating so I don’t trip and fall means that I’m not engaging with people. And that makes me definitely feel like more of an outsider than I already feel.”
                      Another way Jeannine stays connected and finds a sense of purpose is through her volunteer work at Intercambio.
                      33 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: Isolation Among Seniors
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
                       
                       
                      Adults over 65 are expected to comprise 20% of Boulder County’s total population by the year 2030. Between 2020 and 2050, the county’s overall population is expected to rise by 33%, with a 58% increase in older adult population and a 244% increase in adults over 80. With an ageing population, we take a look at how many seniors in Boulder County are vulnerable to isolation.
                      “You become a very solitary individual and that makes you depressed, sad, lonely and, more importantly, you wonder what it is you’re doing in your old age, why are you still around?” — Barbara Steinmetz
                      82-year-old Barbara Steinmetz became aware of the danger of becoming an isolated senior when she began to lose her hearing.
                      “A number of years ago, my husband was getting cancer treatment and there was a big sign at the hospital, and it said: ‘free hearing test.’ So I immediately went and I had my hearing tested, and I found that I had a severe hearing problem, and I spoke with the otolaryngologist and I said, ‘well, you know, I’ve been getting along just fine without hearing aids.’ You know, I just wanted, I just wanted the information, I wasn’t planning on doing anything and I was told that if you don’t do anything, what will happen is you will lose your cognitive skills, you will lose your brain’s ability to take in information. And in addition to that you’ll experience social isolation.”
                      Social isolation is a major problem for seniors. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 11 million people aged 65 and older live alone. In fact, as people age, their likelihood of living alone increases. Children grow up and move away, sometimes a spouse or partner dies. Living alone does not necessarily mean you are isolated, but for seniors it puts you at a greater risk and that is a big concern, says neuropsychologist Dr. Naomi Rusk.
                      “Isolation is one of the main causes of health problems and premature death.” — Dr. Rusk.
                      A recent survey by the Boulder County Area Agency on Aging showed that 31% of older adults reported feeling lonely or isolated, and this should concern us all, says Dr. Rusk.
                      “One study says that loneliness is just about as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, which I actually thought was pretty interesting: just as dangerous as smoking 16 cigarettes a day. That gives us a context of the impact of loneliness on our actual physical health. So loneliness can affect all of these different systems in the body: heart health, cardiovascular health, mental health, depression and anxiety. It can exacerbate any mental illness we have, being alone and isolated. Just imagine you’re alone with your own thoughts. You’re alone with your own fears. You know, you’re not reaching out and you’re not being reached into either. It exacerbates mental illness; it causes, and it also perpetuates alcoholism and drug abuse. It affects our immune system. These are all systems affected by loneliness. So, we see this amazing interaction between feeling alone and the lack of purpose that you describe, and an actual impact upon our physical health. So, it turns out that loneliness isn’t just about whether or not you’re with people, because like you and I, we’ve all had that feeling of if you’re at a party, you could feel very alone. So, loneliness also has to do with not just how many people are around us, but how connected we feel when we’re with people. So, it’s important to notice inside ourselves: are we feeling connected to o...
                      29 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: Mobile Home Communities Mobilize Around Land Ownership
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
                       
                      https://objects-us-east-1.dream.io/kgnu-news/2019/10/TrendsPodcastEpisodeTwoMobileHomeLandOwnership.mp3
                      Featured image: Doretta Knight Hultquist, a resident of Sans Souci.
                       
                      “I am 77 years old and this is my home and I would like to stay here, but I want to be safe and I want to be comfortable like everybody else.” — Doretta Knight Hultquist
                       
                      There are 4 manufactured home communities in the city of Boulder and about 25 overall in the county and they are home to thousands of families, single people, immigrants, working people and  seniors. People from all walks of life live in the mobile home communities and many have no other place to go.  77 year old Doretta Knight Hultquist, a resident of Sans Souci, a mobile home community in south Boulder, has been concerned about her future since a corporation bought the park over a year ago.
                      “We’re trapped because we, like I say, we can’t move them anywhere cause no one else will accept them. And because mobile homes older than 76 are not allowed to be moved…we don’t know if they will allow us to sell them on site and with this new ownership, we don’t know if people will want to buy here because everything’s up in the air. We don’t know what’s what’s going on.”


                      Listen to an extended conversation on issues facing mobile home residents in Boulder County with Crystal Launder, housing planner with the City of Boulder, Jesus Salazar, resident of Orchard Grove and an official Community Connector for the City of Boulder, Susan Lythgoe with Habitat for Humanity and Renée Hummel, resident of Vista Village and member of CMOB (Coalition of Manufactured-home Owners in Boulder.)
                       

                       
                      Doretta’s situation highlights the paradox of being a mobile home owner. You own your home, but you don’t own the land that it sits on, and that creates uncertainty. Carmen Ramirez, the Community and Neighborhood Resources Manager for the City of Longmont, says mobile homes have become the last affordable home ownership option, but the fact that people don’t own their land creates vulnerability.
                      “Historically this country has had that action of taking land and making it ownership of an individual and we own our individual homes. But if you look at back historically when we just how this country started, it started by taking the land of people that already lived on that land, which was our native American communities. They already lived there. And it, it they were not only were they killed, but they were taken from the land and forced onto other lens. And so I think that that has a lot to do with where we are in present, in the sense of we continue to do that.  Maybe not at a visible rate like when this country got started, but we continue to do that through gentrification [inaudible] through not allowing mobile home owners to really find ways to own the land themselves…so ownership of land then becomes the power of those that have resources. And in this case, it’s financial resources. It’s wealth. And that’s why corporations many times are the ones that own these mobile home parks. And again, it’s the basis of the land that gives the power.”
                      Owning mobile home parks is big business.
                      32 min
                    • TRENDS Podcast: Mobile Home Residents Face Water Quality and Infrastructure Issues
                      The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
                       
                      https://objects-us-east-1.dream.io/kgnu-news/2019/10/10-3-19_TrendsPodcastEpisode1MobileHomeInfrastructure.mp3
                       
                      “I feel like Boulder has a lot of protected areas, you know, and I feel like Boulder protects a lot of land, you know, I know a lot of open spaces, parks, so I feel like protecting someone’s home would be a great thing, you know?” — Adrian Duran.
                       
                      In Boulder, the median home price has more than doubled during the past 15 years, and is almost one million dollars.
                      The rest of the county has seen sharp housing increases too. Longmont which has traditionally offered the cheapest housing in the county now sees the median price of a single family home at more than four hundred thousand dollars, nearly twice what it was 15 years ago.
                      Things aren’t much better for renters. Census data shows that more than half of renters in Boulder County spend more than a third of their income on housing costs. And there is one group that is at the intersection of home ownership and home renting. Those that are living in mobile home communities.
                      Mobile homes, or manufactured homes, are one of the last affordable housing options. There are 4 manufactured home communities in the city of Boulder and about 25 overall in the county and they are home to thousands of families. Analee Perez moved to the park when she was 2 years old. Her mother, Soledad, still lives there.
                      “It’s really nice. It’s really calm. It’s a great, we have a yard to play in.”
                      Orchard Grove is one of the four parks within Boulder City Limits. Analee had a happy childhood here. It is a strong community with neighbors helping neighbors and people looking out for each other. But residents have faced challenges.
                      “If Boulder has standards for water and sewer infrastructure for you know, just compensation in the event of a water leak, none of that will apply to parks that are not within Boulder. So there they’re left to be more vulnerable.” — Shay Castle.
                      “In the last few years, there’s been a lot of changes. Um, unpleasant changes. There’s been changes between, um, owners of the mobile home park and, um, landlords and a lot of instability. Um, the biggest problem that I can recall having in the last 29 years of living here is, when we had our water shut off, um, in February, so it was two weeks without water.”
                      The Orchard Grove park is privately owned by a Michigan-based company called Riverstone Communities. So, when the 1960s-era infrastructure failed earlier this year and the residents were left without water for days, Analee reached out to city officials.
                      “We were thinking, Oh, maybe, you know, a few hours. And then those few hours came 24 and then those 24 became longer and longer. And there’s plumbers working and digging up yards and it’s like we’re trying to locate the problem. And then, you know, then we went to, you know, w I guess the first hours is like, Hey, do you have water? No, I don’t have water. Do you? Oh, that’s weird. Oh, okay. And you know, once we knew we were having an issue with a water, um, I don’t know if anybody else did this, but I called the Boulder, the city of Boulder health department because we had been without water for more than 12 hours.”
                      Soledad,
                      27 min

                    About TRENDS – KGNU Community Radio

                    From the publisher's feed

                    An independent, noncommercial community radio station licensed in Boulder and Denver and dedicated to serving its listeners.