Western Colorado Latinos to set 2027 policy priorities in Grand Junction

For too long, many of the policy decisions affecting Western Colorado have been made without enough input from the Latino communities who live, work, raise families and help power the region’s economy.

On Saturday, October 3, Voces Unidas will partner with Hispanic Affairs Project, Compañeros, Integrated Communities and others to convene the first Western Colorado Latino Policy Summit at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, bringing together more than 50 Latino leaders from communities across the region.

The goal is to identify the most important issues facing our communities and begin developing shared policy priorities and solutions for the 2027 legislative session, when Colorado will have a new governor and a new General Assembly.

Participants will include community leaders, nonprofit leaders, educators, elected officials, workers, business leaders and others with deep connections to their local communities. Attendance is by invitation, with participation intentionally distributed across the region so the conversation reflects the geographic and economic diversity of Western Colorado.

The Summit comes at an important moment.

Latinos are an essential part of Western Colorado. We work in agriculture, construction, hospitality, education, healthcare, small businesses and nearly every other sector of the regional economy. We are parents, homeowners, renters, students, workers, taxpayers and voters.

But our communities continue to face challenges that require better public policy.

Housing costs continue to strain working families. Immigrant communities are navigating an increasingly hostile federal government. Workers continue to fight for basic protections and fair wages. Families are concerned about healthcare, education and the rising cost of living. Rural communities are also confronting wildfire, drought and other climate-related threats.

The Summit will give Latino leaders the opportunity to look across individual communities and ask a larger question: What issues do we share, and what can we accomplish together?

That conversation will be informed by new data from the 2026 Colorado Latino Policy Agenda, our annual nonpartisan research initiative documenting the priorities, concerns and experiences of Latino communities across Colorado.

Community-informed data is critical because our policy work should not be based on assumptions about what Latinos need. It should be grounded in what people are actually telling us.

But polling alone is not enough.

The people closest to these issues understand how policies work — or fail to work — in real life. The Summit will bring that lived experience together with research and policy expertise to begin identifying practical solutions that can be advanced during the next legislative session and beyond.

Western Colorado is not one community. Grand Junction is different from Glenwood Springs. The Roaring Fork Valley is different from the Eagle River Valley, Summit County or the San Luis Valley. Yet many of the challenges facing Latino families cross county lines.

Building regional power requires identifying where those experiences connect.

We hope to leave Grand Junction with greater clarity about what Western Colorado Latinos want policymakers to address and a stronger network of Latino leaders prepared to help move those priorities forward.

The voices of rural Latinos belong at the policy-making table. The Western Colorado Latino Policy Summit is another step toward making sure we are there.

For questions about this event, reach us at policy@vocesunidas.org.