Adela Flores-Brennan, Executive Director
This week, CCHI moved our offices to a new location. We’ve gotten smaller and rents have gotten bigger, so it’s time for a bit of a change.
The process of preparing for the move made me incredibly, perhaps strangely, contemplative. For example, I contemplated the history of CCHI as I uncovered meeting notes from convenings that eventually led to our founding, and boxes of files on issues we collaborated on in the past. I also thought a lot about the simple acts of filling and stacking boxes in the context of the world around us. There are a couple of aspects of our move that positioned us in stark contrast to members of our community and communities around the country. First, we had somewhere to go. Second, our future is reasonably assured.
Given recent political decisions, that is more than can be said for the 800,000 DACA participants whose futures the Trump Administration recently jeopardized by ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. As an organization that works toward a vision of equitable access to quality and affordable health care for all Coloradans, we are part of a larger ecosystem of social justice organizations that work every day to make sure that systems are in place to house, to feed, to pay a living wage, to protect the environment we live in, and to provide health care, especially to those who need it most, whether due to a recent crisis or due to long-term systemic inequities.
Here at CCHI we have had weeks to prepare and carefully plan. We had a choice about where we are going and when we will do it. The members of our community who are participating in the DACA program, by stark contrast, face an unfathomable level of uncertainty about their futures. This uncertainty and worry can be toxic for mental and physical wellness. Thus, there is a direct implication for the health of our community. But, I do not need a direct connection to health care to cry foul on the ending of the DACA program. It is a matter of fairness, of justice, of equity that I stand–and as an organization working to improve the lives of the people of Colorado–we stand in opposition to this decision and in solidarity with our immigrant community. And, we call on our members and supporters to do the same.
Information, resources and ideas for action can be found here and here.