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If The Navigator looks short or cut off in your email, use the "View as a webpage in your browser" link above to view the entire newsletter in your browser. Email platforms can "Clip" newsletters and you will miss the clipped content. You know you are looking at the entire thing if you see our logo in the footer. | | |
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Holiday Wishes | Commission updates
Where we've been | Mark your calendar
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Image Description: 2025, We are ready! Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind staff from left to right - Back Row: Dr. Katie Cue, Trish Leakey, Luke Adams, Christine Pendley, JoAnne Hirsch, Ali Lombardi, Mandy Pierce-Turner. Front Row: Heather Wilcox and Elli Streifer. Quotes read: We cannot ignore our gift of the future. To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. President Jimmy Carter. | |
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Happy New Year! As we step into 2025, we are filled with gratitude for your continued support and partnership. This year, we look forward to building on our shared successes, embracing new opportunities, and making an even greater impact together. May this year bring you joy, health, and prosperity. Here’s to a remarkable 2025 ahead!
~ Commission Staff
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We will resume monthly newsletter updates beginning January 2025. You will also see some digital accessibility changes that started with our November/December 2024 newsletter.
Digital Accessibility: Small steps with big impact
We continue to work towards a barrier-free Colorado. Part of the journey involves changes to The Navigator experience for accessibility reasons. Starting with this issue, things will look a little different.
Some examples:
- Discontinue the use of "View in ASL" Buttons.
- Titles will be hyperlinked to the ASL videos for viewing.
- Discontinue the use of resource hyperlinks in articles.
- Resources and links will be listed at the bottom of each article.
If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about newsletter accessibility, please email us at outreach.ccdhhdb@state.co.us.
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The Spring 2024 CCDHHDB Sunset Review included a recommendation to evaluate its organizational structure by an outside organization. Mindy Gates, Deputy Director of the Office of Adult, Aging, and Disability Services (OAADS), hired ResultsLab to conduct this evaluation with help from CCDHHDB. In August 2024, Dr. Sandy Ho, Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Officer, took over the project. Due to time constraints, ResultsLab used a quick evaluation method to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement. The goal was to see what’s working and what’s not, and to suggest changes.
From June to November 2024, 28 participants, including staff, commission members, and community members, took part in interviews and focus groups. ResultsLab also reviewed all CCDHHDB’s statutes, budgets, and organizational structure, and provided a final report with recommendations.
Key Themes
Key themes identified were efficiency, effectiveness, and equity.
Efficiency:
This is about achieving goals without wasting resources, time, or effort. It was noted that staff, leadership, and commissioners feel their roles are unclear and responsibilities are undefined. Administrative tasks take up a lot of time, and complex processes reduce efficiency. The report questioned whether a centralized or individualized program structure would be more effective. Staffing shortages were also a key concern. The report also raised questions about whether CCDHHDB should be under OAADS (this was before CCDHHDB moved to EDI).
Effectiveness:
This is about how well something works. Participants pointed out that CCDHHDB staff are dedicated, motivated, and innovative, but they are also overworked and overwhelmed. There’s a need to improve external communication and better use the commission and advisory council members. Rising costs, fewer vendors, limited funding, and growing needs were also noted as challenges affecting the availability of programs and services and how they are prioritized.
Equity:
This is about ensuring people are treated fairly and addressing imbalances. Participants noted that some community needs are still unmet and felt that CCDHHDB doesn’t always meet those needs. Members of the hard of hearing and deafblind communities specifically pointed out that CCDHHDB has struggled to build strong relationships with them. Staff agreed with this and expressed a desire to address it.
Takeaways and Recommendations
Participant recommendations
Based on these findings, participants recommended:
- Increasing funding
- Establishing an administrative and fiscal unit
- Creating a budget reserve fund
- Improving communication with commissioners and advisory council members
- Hiring a deafblind person for the deafblind staff position
- Addressing accessible communication needs
Takeaways
ResultsLab highlighted the main takeaways from the evaluation as:
- Organizational structure
- Staffing challenges
- Budget limitations
- Communication gaps
- Equity and representation
ResultsLab recommendations
To improve efficiency, effectiveness, and equity, ResultsLab recommended:
- Using the results to spark action and discussions
- Enhancing measurement practices with an equity focus
- Improving transparency and communication
- Creating ongoing ways to amplify community voices
Moving forward
In response to the Sunset Review and ResultsLab’s evaluation, CCDHHDB staff mentioned that some changes are already underway, including:
- Moving from OAADS to EDI
- Implementing an interim co-director model
- Hiring a deputy director
- Adopting a member compensation policy
Some changes are still under review, such as the new organizational structure, program changes, a new proposal, and updates to the statutes. We will keep you updated on these in future newsletters. While the ResultsLab report was originally for internal use only, we are sharing it with the public for transparency.
Article links
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Highlighting our activities in the communities we serve | |
Image Description: Dr. Sandy Ho and Luke Adams (front row, far right) attend the Denver Chapter Hearing Loss Association meeting on November 16, 2024 to engage with hard of hearing community members. | |
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On Saturday, November 16, 2024, Chief EDI Officer, Dr. Sandy Ho, and Outreach Specialist, Luke Adams, attended the Hearing Loss Association (HLAA) Denver Chapter meeting. This event featured a presentation by Spencer Kontnik who discussed the state of disability accommodation law in Colorado. He focused on equal access for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Mr. Kontnik also discussed his lawsuit as a prospective juror in Denver and provided guidance on how to be an effective self-advocate. The HLAA Denver Chapter website has a recording of his presentation (YouTube link below).
Article Links
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Image Description: Staff and commissioners gather for a group photo after the December meeting. Left to Right: Dr. Sandy Ho, Christine Pendley, Mandy Pierce-Turner, Luke Adams, Dr. Katie Cue, Elli Streifer, JoAnne Hirsch, Trish Leakey, Katherine Wagner, and Rebecca Herr. | |
On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, the quarterly commission meeting was held in person at the Arvada Public Library. Agenda items included a welcome, committee and liaison updates, and two presentations. The first presentation was by CDHS State Board and Boards & Commissions Administrator Kyle Zinth on Colorado Open Meeting laws. The second presentation was by Dr. Katie Cue on the ResultsLab Final Report and its set of recommendations. The commissioners decided to digest the report and recommendations and reconvene in early January 2025 to discuss the report and hold a vote. | |
Image Description: Dr. Katie Cue (back row far left) poses with the Colorado EHDI team members and partners after a successful Winter Festival for deaf and hard of hearing children. The event included crafts, storytime, and a signing Santa. | |
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On Saturday, December 7, 2024, COEHDI Director Dr. Katie Cue attended the annual Winter Festival for families of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children aged 0-8. COEHDI was one of the sponsors including Rocky Mountain Deaf School, Colorado Hands & Voices, the Listen Foundation, A.G. Bell Colorado, Marion Downs Center, and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. The event featured crafts, storytime, music, a signing Santa, and abundant fun and socialization for families of DHH children.
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Image Description: Signing Santa and a signing elf (CHIP Coordinator Robin Getz) engage with deaf and hard of hearing children at the COEHDI Winter Festival. | |
Image Description: Interim Director Trish Leakey and Deputy Director Dr. Katie Cue connect with Russha Knauer, director of MINDSOURCE – Brain Injury Network, during Disability Day at the Capitol. | |
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Interim Director Trish Leakey and Deputy Director Dr. Katie Cue attended the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition’s (CCDC) 2025 Disability Legislative Preview Day at the Capitol on Monday, December 9. It was the first time CCDHHDB staff attended the event and it was a helpful preview of the upcoming legislative session. Co-Executive CCDC Director Hillary Jorgensen presented a summary of disability-related legislation which included the Colorado Department of Human Services’ budget request to enterprise a portion of the Telephone Users with Disabilities Fund. The community will be monitoring this throughout the legislative session.
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Image Description: Colorado's Lead English/ASL interpreter Christine Pendley explains communication access during a training for newly appointed judges. Communication Access Services Coordinator Mandy Pierce-Turner also spoke during the training. | |
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Lead ASL/English Interpreter Christine Pendley and Communication Access Services Coordinator Mandy Pierce-Turner, along with Director Lorrie Kosinski from Denver Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, gave a warmly received presentation on communication access services at the New Judge Orientation on Wednesday, December 11, in Denver. This orientation is for new judges and magistrates from around the state and is a wonderful opportunity to plant the seeds for access to effective communication from the beginning of each judge’s career.
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Image Description: Dr. Katie Cue, Trish Leakey, Dr. Sandy Ho, and a legislative liaison present to the Joint Budget Committee while Interpreter Kirk Neuroth interprets ASL to English. | |
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Chief EDI Officer Dr. Sandy Ho, Deputy Director Dr. Katie Cue, and Interim Director Trish Leakey gave a presentation to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) on Thursday, December 12. They thanked the JBC for responding to community members by generously providing $500,000 in supplemental funding to CCDHHDB for each of the past two fiscal years. The budget request seeks to address ongoing funding needs and has two main parts: (1) to stabilize and provide a slight increase in funding for CCDHHDB’s programs and services, and (2) to enterprise a portion of the Telephone Users with Disabilities Fund (TUDF). The presentation was well-received by those in attendance and those who followed the live feed. The JBC members had no questions for the presenters. The next step is a draft bill for the legislative session which begins on January 6, 2025. All JBC proceedings are recorded.
Article Links
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JBC presentation (audio recording with captions available).
- NOTE: CCDHHDB’s portion is between 9:26-9:41 minutes.
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Image Description: Colorado's Support Service Providers from left to right: Hope Atz, Vivica Tipper, Ellie Carlson, Traci Hefferman, Savvy Jackson, Vicki Scarboro, Edd Armstrong, Terri Tupps, Tricia Suazo, and Suzanne Paul. Support service providers work with deafblind individuals, allowing them to perform their essential daily activities. | |
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On Thursday, December 12, 2024, we had the first in-person DeafBlind Advisory Council (DBAC) meeting since the pandemic. There were approximately 40 deafblind individuals, support service providers (SSPs), and prospective SSP mentees in attendance. The meeting was led by DBAC members Cynde Vaughn and Carolyn Haas. CCDHHDB updates were shared as well as information about the SSP mentoring project, recruitment for deafblind individuals to support the mentoring effort, and the introduction of the paid member compensation program. The paid member compensation program is an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiative to compensate members of our boards, committees, councils, and those with lived experience. CCDHHDB has adopted it and is rolling it out with DBAC members first!
DBAC members are still looking to fill four vacant seats on their council:
- An individual who is both deaf and blind
- An individual who is a parent of a deafblind child
- An individual who became deafblind later in life
- An individual who is deaf and has low vision
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Image Description: Cynde Vaughn represents the hard of hearing and low vision members of the DeafBlind community. | Image Description: Carolyn Haas represents the hard of hearing and blind members of the DeafBlind Community. | |
Image Description: Dr. Sandy Ho joins CCDHHDB staff for lunch after Vicarious Trauma training. From left to right: Dr. Sandy Ho, Trish Leakey, Mandy Pierce-Turner, Luke Adams, Ali Lombardi, Katie Cue, Elli Streifer, Christine Pendley, and JoAnne Hirsch. | |
CCDHHDB staff participated in a Vicarious Trauma training presented by Ami Garry, MSW, to better understand the impacts of vicarious trauma in the work we do, identify symptoms of vicarious trauma, and utilize different tools, techniques, and coping strategies to address vicarious trauma. Afterward, the team and Dr. Ho gathered for a holiday lunch at a tasty Thai restaurant. | |
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Interim Director Trish Leakey and Deputy Director Dr. Katie Cue joined a Colorado Daylight Partnership (CDP) meeting on December 19. CDP’s mission is to advance access to behavioral healthcare services for deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind Coloradans. CDP has historically been led by WellPower and the Commission but is currently in transition after WellPower’s Mary Sterritt and Cliff Moers retired.
The discussion focused on restarting CDP efforts, including recruiting new members; updating its Standards of Care document (now more than ten years old); identifying partners at Behavioral Health Administration and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; doing a statewide baseline survey of behavioral access services; increasing access to direct services (meaning direct communication with providers as opposed to relying on an interpreter) by focusing on workforce efforts; potential collaboration with the new Colorado Disability Opportunity Office; and others. The Commission expects to become more active with CDP once a new CCDHHDB director is hired.
Article Link
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Our office will be closed on the following date in observance of the state holiday.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Monday, January 20, 2025
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This is The Navigator newsletter, a monthly report of news and updates from the Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind. You can subscribe to related topics and other newsletters using our sign-up form. Contact us via email at
outreach.ccdhhdb@state.co.us
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