“…life is so busy sometimes that I feel like I’m hardly looking up. People pass quickly on the sidewalk, or whoosh by in another car without my really seeing them. It’s easy to stay in our own little worlds. The Boulder County TRENDS Report – a biennial publication of your Community Foundation – pulls us out of our comfort zones, and helps us to really register and understand the community we live in.”
By Leslie Allen, Chair
Board of Trustees, Community Foundation Boulder County
In The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck wrote: “I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.”
Indeed, life is so busy sometimes that I feel like I’m hardly looking up. People pass quickly on the sidewalk, or whoosh by in another car without my really seeing them. It’s easy to stay in our own little worlds.
The Boulder County TRENDS Report – a biennial publication of your Community Foundation – pulls us out of our comfort zones, and helps us to really register and understand the community we live in. Here are some things that opened my eyes as I read the report this year:
I read about the social isolation that many of our senior neighbors are experiencing. I personally have older neighbors, both original Table Mesa homeowners since 1966, on either side of my house. TRENDS inspired me to stop by recently, and check in with them.
While the housing crunch is hardly an unseen thing, the data in this edition of TRENDS make the trade-offs clear: houses are appreciating by leaps and bounds, but many people are priced out of the market, leaving Boulder County for more affordable places. The resulting changes in our community affect us all; TRENDS shines a spotlight on what we are gaining and losing from this shift.
TRENDS also opened my eyes to the gender gap right here in my community. While I’m aware of it in my own life as a consultant, I was shocked to see that Boulder County has the largest gender-based wage gap of any of its closest neighbors – and lags Colorado and the country, as a whole, in gender pay equity. As a small business owner and a nonprofit fundraiser, I’m thinking hard about how I can influence my sector to balance the scales.
Additionally, TRENDS highlighted something I’ve seen in my life … and wish I hadn’t. Teen mental health and substance abuse issues have affected my own family, and there were times when I felt completely alone. Reading in TRENDS about young activists and other families who survived hits home … and helps me to feel seen.
“Seeing” isn’t the only value of TRENDS, however. There are some amazing stories of people with incredible ideas working to end child poverty, restore our soil, and close the achievement gap. At the end of each chapter, look for the “What Can I Do?” section that offers a few ideas for how we all can see and act to make this place we all love just a little better.
Indeed, we’re taking TRENDS to the next level. In partnership with KGNU Community Radio, we’ve launched a new journalism initiative to produce a TRENDS podcast about the most important issues in Boulder County. You can find the TRENDS podcast at commfound.org or news.kgnu.org/category/trends, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts, including iTunes.
TRENDS is a cornerstone of the work of your Community Foundation. The data helps us to frame the issues, talk to the right people, and convene the resources and brainpower to make positive change happen. Because we accomplish more together than we do alone.
As community members and supporter of the foundation, TRENDS is also your report. Browse TRENDS stories and community indicators online; or come by the Community Foundation on Spruce Street to pick up a hard copy…or several copies to share with your neighbors and friends.
TRENDS is free, easy-to-read, and chock full of hope. You’ll be surprised how it will open your eyes to really see.
