Latinos in North Fort Collins Advocate for Safer Streets, Construction Begins

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A stretch of road in North Fort Collins, CO has little room for walking on either sides, yet many residents make the dangerous trek on foot because of limited transportation options. A main health care provider and a grocery store are just a few of the services that sit at the other side of the road. For many, the unsafe road conditions make getting to these services extremely difficult, if they go at all.

Seeing this barrier to both healthy food access and physical activity, Vida Sana, a community coalition addressing health disparities among Hispanic/Latinos and low-income community members in North Fort Collins, decided to take action.

In the Spring of 2012, several Vida Sana members participated in a project with CanDo, a program housed at the University of Colorado to engage community members and organizations in obesity prevention through support, advocacy and education, to tell the story of their neighborhood through pictures and group discussion. The intent of the project was is to start a dialogue around issues of access to healthy options throughout our community and to inspire solutions for improvement.

The residents presented their pictures and stories to City Council, and many council members were unaware of the dangerous conditions of that section of road. The city council wanted to do something to make it safer for residents to walk to the store and to their health care providers.

Fast-forward to 2014, and a construction plan has been announced and will begin soon on the road. Although it took time, the residents of North Fort Collins helped make a big and lasting change in their neighborhood that will affect the health of families for years to come.

Read more about Vida Sana’s work.