Janette Keene Taylor, Nederland.  A lot of people may not know this, but a ground-breaking organization exists in the mountains that has the main purpose of bringing easy access to public assistance, emergency financial relief, health care and other help to mountain residents.

About six years ago, then-Mayor Joe Gierlach proposed a regular gathering of groups providing human services to mountain residents, and thus the Peak to Peak Human Services Task Force was born. A few years ago, the word “housing” was added to the name, as the affordability of housing in the mountains became an increasingly pressing issue. This year, the “Task Force” designation was replaced with “Alliance.”

The P2P, as we call it, meets every month on the third Wednesday, at 9 a.m. in the Nederland Community Center multipurpose room. There are about 20 regular organization members of the group; all voting members must represent a specific organization providing human services to Peak to Peak residents, and only one vote is allowed per organization.

What do we discuss? Primarily, we hear a presentation from a member or from another organization that serves mountain residents, so that we keep up to date on the ever-changing world of human services. What do people have to do to sign up for Medicaid? If they are on Medicaid, how do they find a doctor? How do they get transportation to and from their doctor visits? How do they get a flu shot? These are just some of the questions member organizations have presented on at the P2P, and just some of the services offered by members.

One of the strongest presences at the P2P are the representatives of Boulder County. Mostly from the Human Services departments, but also from the Area Agency on Aging, Boulder County is eager to provide services to mountain residents and help them avoid the long trek down to Broadway and Iris, where many of their offices are. Part of the agreement with the Alliance and the Food Pantry is that BOCO reps, as well as reps from other service organizations, will be available to mountain residents on the last Thursday of every month at the Nederland Community Center, from 10 a.m. - noon, known as the mini-human services fair.

Some of the presentations the P2P has heard lately include Connect for Health, about insurance sign-up for those not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or an employer; the Boulder County Transportation Department which has been surveying residents to find out their transportation needs; Colleen Sinclair of the Area Agency of Aging to talk about what services the AAA can offer. Upcoming presentations include “the Human Face of Disaster,” an update from TEENS, Inc., an update on the affordable housing complex to be built in Nederland and many others.

The Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Alliance works with the Mountain Human Services Collaborative, the funding arm of the organization, to fund several employment positions to serve the mountains, the primary being the Northern and Southern Mountain Resource Liaisons.

The Northern position is just getting started, but Kristi Venditti has been the liaison for over a year now. She has an office in the Community Center, and frequently meets with locals to help them get connected with the services they need. The other position funded is the Consultant to the P2P, who does the P2P groundwork, and attends group meetings from around the Front Range to make sure the most up-to-date information is available to P2P members.

Three organizations that were born of the P2P and now function independently are NICHE, the Mountain Health Collaborative and the Housing Subcommittee.

NICHE, the Nederland Inter-agency Council for Homeless Encampments, is a partnership between several government offices, law enforcement agencies, human services organizations and other groups affected by issues regarding homeless camping in the mountains. It is guided by the local Presbyterian Church. NICHE has an employee who has a similar job to the Mountain Resource Liaisons, but specifically to connect the homeless with appropriate benefits and provide education around camping, forest concerns and local community concerns.

The Housing Subcommittee advocates for good housing policies, connects people in need to existing housing programs, and offers direct maintenance support for substandard housing problems that can’t be addressed through other means.

The Mountain Health Collaborative, organized by Peak to Peak Counseling and working in conjunction with non-profits, towns, county, state and federal agencies, is comprised of local health professionals who volunteer during disasters in The Peak to Peak Region to meet immediate health needs, with the overall goals of increasing community resiliency and recovery rate post-disaster.

If you have any questions or concerns about the Peak to Peak Housing and Human Services Alliance, please feel free to contact me, Janette Taylor, at Janette.Taylor@Forethought.net. More information can be found about the organization on P2PHHS.org.

(Originally published in the January 31, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)