In January of 2012, the Latino Task Force of Boulder County contracted with Primetime Research and Evaluation to conduct a study assessing the strengths and needs of the Latino community in Boulder County. This study was a follow-up to a landmark community assessment conducted by the task force in 2001.
The Community Assessment had three main goals:
- Tto identify and understand the values/contributions made by the Latino community that have improved the quality of life for all residents in Boulder County,
- To identify needs for improving the quality of life for Latino residents in Boulder County, and
- To measure changes that have occurred since the 2001 Community Assessment.
2013 Community Assessment Report summarizes findings from both primary and secondary data.
Methods
Secondary data were obtained from: the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey (ACS), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), the Colorado Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the Early Childhood Council of Boulder County (ECC), and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE).
Primary data were collected in three ways:
- Interviews were conducted with 29 leaders in Boulder County. These included: mayors and other political figures; law enforcement and criminal justice officials; school superintendents, representatives from higher education, and other leaders within the educational system; health care administrators; non-profit representatives; and administrators involved in housing and employment-related services.
- Five focus groups were held with Latino residents of Boulder County each targeted a different demographic group: (1) Latino leaders, (2) Latino youth aged 14-19, (3) undocumented community members, (4) Spanish-speaking community members, and (5) Latino non-profit executives.
- A 92-question survey instrument was administered to a sample of Boulder County Latino residents. A total of 400 surveys were submitted – with exactly 200 completed online and 200 completed on paper. Fourteen respondents neither lived nor worked in Boulder County, resulting in a final sample size of 386 after these respondents were excluded.