SEOW Summer 2021 Newsletter

THANK YOU!!

... for sticking through another year with us. And to the many new members, partners, and friends we’ve gained over the past 12 months, welcome! Whether you've been with us for a week, a year, or since Day One, we appreciate you.

As we wrap up another funding cycle and move into our next year of planning, we wanted to share some highlights with you from the past 12 months. In this issue of the newsletter we are introducing a few new publications and highlighting the group’s accomplishments over the past year.

TRAINING WORKGROUP- Data State of Mind: Becoming a Data Citizen in Colorado is a data literacy training manual that was informed by our previous needs assessment. Through collaboration with the University of Oklahoma- Southwest Prevention Center and the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center, we created a seven-section training manual with corresponding video modules. You can download the manual and register for the (free!) training modules on the SEOW Training page. Thank you to everyone who was involved in the two-year process of bringing this project to life!

SEOW STEERING COMMITTEE- With the goal of connecting people to data, the SEOW Steering Committee has assembled a webpage of frequently used dashboards surrounding substance use data in Colorado and the U.S. While the SEOW does not maintain any of the dashboards, we encourage all members to use these resources from our trusted partners around the state and country. The dashboards page can be found on SEOW Colorado Data page. For those looking to use data in appropriate and equitable manners, we have also created a Data Equity Checklist. This document serves as a guidence to ensure your data, and the data you're using is equitable. To download this checklist, visit the SEOW Colorado Data page.

The Steering Committee has also been busy recruiting and selecting a new Co-Chair for the next two years. As a result of those efforts, we would like the introduce Shaina Riciputi Swain as the next SEOW Co-Chair. Shaina has been involved in the SEOW for three years, first during her time as an Evaluation Data Manager for Prevention at OBH and is now as a Research Associate at the Butler Instiute for Families. While we welcome Shaina to the Steering Committee as our new fearless leader, we send our greatest gratitude to Allison Rosenthal and Elyse Contreras for their time and service as SEOW Co-Chairs.

A YEAR IN REVIEW- Despite the uncertain and unprecedented times that came with this past funding cycle the SEOW persevered. With the support of our members and community partners, the SEOW produced 11 publications including the 2020 round of five Epidemiological Profiles, three data briefs, one training manual with corresponding videos, and one dashboard webpage. Additionally, we reached 75 unique individuals through five SEOW meetings with 11 presentations from eight organizations. SEOW members also engaged in 18 work group meetings throughout the year leading to high quality, collaborative products. Thank you to all of our SEOW members for your participation and contributions this year.

As we transition to a new year, we can’t help but feel hopeful for what lies ahead. The SEOW will conduct a needs assessment this fall to inform what the next five years hold for us. In the meantime, all workgroups will be on hold until the results of the assessment are analyzed and next steps are determined. We anticipate sharing needs assessment results with the SEOW in early 2022. Regular, bi-monthly SEOW meetings will take place as normal. We look forward to hearing how we can improve and stay relevant from the community. If you have ideas you’d like to share with the Steering Committee, please contact Sydney Chaves.

Connecting people to data is one goal of the SEOW. Check out these additional resources and opportunities from our partners and other reliable sources.

RECENT REPORTS:

Officer Inolved Shootings in Colorado: January 1, 2010 - June 30, 2020. Published March 2021.
Summary of Law Enforcement and District Attorney Reports of Student Contact. Published March 2021.

Check out both of those, and other recent reports from the Colorado Department of Public Safety here.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Public Health in the Rockies registration is open! The conference will be held in-person at Keystone Resort (public health and safety guidelines permitting) August 25-27, 2021. Early bird prices are still available, rates increase on July 17, 2021. Check the schedule and register here.
American Public Health Association Annual Meeting (virtual, and in Denver!) will take place October 24-27, 2021 with virtual posters becoming available October 18, 2021. Learn more about the event and register here.

Does your organization have an upcoming event you would like us to promote? Contact Sydney Chaves to coordinate promotion at our next meeting, or in our next newsletter!