Built Environment Coordinator

This position is only open to Colorado state residents.

As a term-limited position, the anticipated expiration date is September 30, 2026 however, it could expire sooner. 

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff and providing culturally responsive programs and services. Therefore, we encourage responses from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Be BOLD and make a real difference . . .

Do you desire a career that provides you with opportunities to improve the world around you? The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) is seeking diverse individuals from all backgrounds to apply for a career position that makes a direct impact on improving the lives of Colorado residents. Our mission is to advance Colorado’s health and protect the places we live, work, learn, and play. Our vision is to create a healthy and sustainable Colorado where current and future generations thrive. 

If your goal is to build a career that makes a difference, consider joining the dedicated people of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Our tobacco-free campus offers free parking and is conveniently located near RTD bus lines, Glendale City Set, and the Cherry Creek bike path. In addition to a great location and rewarding, meaningful work, we offer:

• Employee wellness programs and facilities
• Extensive internal professional development opportunities on a wide variety of subjects
• Bike to work programs, including access to storage lockers and bike racks
• Distinctive career advancement opportunities throughout the State system
• Strong, yet flexible retirement benefits including a choice of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan or the PERA Defined Contribution Plan, plus optional 401K and 457 plans
• Medical and dental health plans
• Paid life insurance
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• 11 paid holidays per year plus generous personal time off
• Mentoring program with opportunities for mentors and mentees
• Tuition assistance for college-level courses including Masters degree programs
• Excellent work-life programs, such as flexible schedules, and
• A variety of employee resource groups

(This posting may be extended and used to fill multiple openings.) 

Some positions may qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. For more information, go to: https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/pslfFlow.action#!/pslf/launch

The Work Unit

The Prevention Services Division works with public and private partners across Colorado to improve the health of all Coloradans. Division professionals develop, review, implement and evaluate public health interventions proven to promote healthy living, prevent chronic disease, protect against injury and ensure access to health care and opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. The Division is committed to the professional development, collaborative effort and sustained wellness of its workforce. The Prevention Services Division is actively building a workforce reflective of the diverse communities we serve. The Division strives to understand the needs of Colorado’s communities and encourages contributions of stakeholders in identifying and solving public health problems. We are committed to providing a respectful, supportive and inclusive work environment that demonstrates our commitment to accept and respect individuals from all communities.

The Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch, in the Prevention Services Division (PSD), reviews, plans, designs, implements, and evaluates public health interventions related to chronic disease and related risk factors, with a goal of improving health-related quality of life for all Coloradans. Special emphasis is placed on evidence-based practices, data-based decision-making, capacity-building, partnerships, and integration between program efforts for efficiency and effectiveness. The Healthy Communities Unit is part of the Healthy Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch (HPCDP). The Healthy Communities Unit works collaboratively across the Division and across multiple sectors to advance evidence-based policies and environmental changes to impact community health across the lifespan.

Many chronic diseases share the same systemic causes including the lack of built environments to support physical activity, access to nutritious foods, and social connectedness as well as poverty and economic instability. As we seek to address these crucial issues, we commit to being responsive to the reality that structural racism intensifies each of them. The HPCDP Branch recognizes that racism is a public health crisis and is committed to improving racial and other forms of equity through all of its programs. 

These systemic injustices and additional risk and protective factors are shared across many of the outcomes we address. Our work continues until all Coloradans have the opportunity to live and have healthy lives, in a way that celebrates intersectional identities including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, education level, age, language, religion, ability, and geographic location. Collectively, we all can work to achieve this goal by improving racial justice and other forms of equity through all of our programs and practices.

The Position

The Built Environment Coordinator provides expertise and builds partnerships to advance community-level, public health, and built environment policies and practices to promote healthy communities. The position promotes awareness and implementation of evidence-based policies, systems, and practices to address the social determinants of health, such as safe active transportation systems, quality parks, housing, and social connectedness to support healthy behaviors for the prevention of obesity, cancer, chronic disease, injury, and violence. This position collaborates with other Prevention Services Division programs in the Health Promotion Chronic Disease Prevention Branch (HPCDP), Violence, Injury Prevention-Mental Health Promotion Branch (VIP-MHP), and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) and across the Department to further built environment goals.

What you will be doing: 

Build and strengthen partnerships with state and local organizations to enhance cross-sector collaboration and identify opportunities to promote public health, health equity, and resilience through the built environment.

Provide training and technical assistance to local public health authorities and other sectors on the social determinants of health and topics related to the built environment, safe systems approaches to transportation, policy change processes, data-informed decision-making, equity, and community engagement.

Serve as a subject matter expert in local and state community planning policies and procedures to identify context-appropriate strategies to improve equitable access to safe places for physical activity, food and nutrition, transportation safety, access to parks and open space, and social connection. This includes local land use policies, connections to health equity, and knowledge of the evidence base, surveillance data, and promising practices and trends in the field. (ex: active transportation, park access, housing, social connection).

Identify and implement work plan activities that lead to achieving grant milestones and goals related to healthy communities, such as safe active transportation routes to everyday destinations, a safe systems approach to transportation, and access to parks.

Support the development of accessible and effective public health communications and strategies that reflect the needs of communities disproportionately impacted by historic inequities in the social determinants of health.

The position also ensures that equity is central to all training, technical assistance, evaluation, and communication with partners and is responsible for building and maintaining community, state, and national relationships. 

An applicant may meet the minimum qualifications for this job in one of two ways: They may qualify through their work experience alone or through a combination of education and work experience.

Experience Only:

Six (6) years of relevant experience in applying public health, community-level, and built environment strategies to enhance health outcomes, providing technical assistance, program coordination and implementation, and coordinating multi-sector partnerships.

OR

Education and Experience:

A combination of related education, graduation from an accredited college or university in urban planning, public health, public policy, or a closely related field, AND relevant experience in applying public health, community-level, and built environment strategies to enhance health outcomes, providing technical assistance, program coordination and implementation, and coordinating multi-sector partnerships equivalent to Six (6) years.

Preferred Qualifications and Essential Competencies

The preferred experience, competencies and abilities are highly desirable for this position and will be considered in selecting the successful candidate: 

• Experience applying public health, community-level, built environment strategies to address health. 
• Experience in identifying and selecting evidence-based strategies for upstream prevention. 
• Experience providing training or technical assistance to groups and individuals. Strong customer service and interpersonal skills, responsiveness, credibility and confidence. 
• Strong customer service and interpersonal skills, responsiveness, credibility and confidence.
• Demonstrated proficiency in working collaboratively to build diverse multi-sector partnerships.
• Flexibility and adaptability; ability to take initiative and adapt to changing priorities and assignments while still meeting established deadlines. 
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex issues using plain language.
• Fluency with Google Suite (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Calendar, Meet) and MS Office. 
• Excellent problem-solving skills, including the ability to develop creative solutions.
• Understanding of racial equity and racial disparities, including an understanding of the social determinants of health and identifying strategies for working to achieve racial equity through one’s work. 

Essential Competencies

• Strong Communication Skills: Ability to communicate effectively with staff, state agency and local partners, and communities in person and in writing. Maintain ongoing communication with stakeholders across the state. Comfort presenting, communicating, and synthesizing complex information to various audiences.
• Critical Thinker: Take initiative to identify various perspectives and address complex problems.
• Collaborative: Ability to build strong partnerships and work effectively with others, including colleagues, state partners, and local public health authorities, to achieve common goals. 

Conditions of Employment:

• Pursuant to CDPHE policy, a background check is required for all positions at CDPHE.
• Must be willing to travel 10% of the time as the position requires.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Studies have shown that marginalized communities, including women, LGBTQ+, and people of color, are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet all qualifications. PSD is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging. If you’re enthusiastic about this role but your prior experience does not perfectly align with every qualification in this job description, we urge you to still consider submitting an application. You might be the ideal candidate for this role or another one of our vacancies.

APPEAL RIGHTS:

If you receive notice that you have been eliminated from consideration for this position, you may file an appeal with the State Personnel Board or request a review by the State Personnel Director.

An appeal or review must be submitted on the official appeal form, signed by you or your representative. This form must be delivered to the State Personnel Board by email ([email protected]), postmarked in US Mail or hand delivered (1525 Sherman Street, 4th Floor, Denver CO 80203), or faxed (303.866.5038) within ten (10) calendar days from your receipt of notice or acknowledgment of the department’s action.

For more information about the appeals process, the official appeal form, and how to deliver it to the State Personnel Board; go to spb.colorado.gov; contact the State Personnel Board for assistance at (303) 866-3300; or refer to 4 Colorado Code of Regulations (CCR) 801-1, State Personnel Board Rules and Personnel Director’s Administrative Procedures, Chapter 8, Resolution of Appeals and Disputes, at spb.colorado.gov under Rules. 

A complete application packet must include:

• A completed State of Colorado application.
• Unofficial transcripts if using to verify educational requirement
• If you are a veteran, a copy of your DD214 attached to your colorado.gov/jobs application.

The Selection Process 

• All applications that are received by the closing of this announcement will be reviewed against the Minimum Qualifications in this announcement. Candidates who meet the minimum qualifications proceed to the next step.
• Colorado Revised Statutes require that state employees are hired and promoted based on merit and fitness through a comparative analysis process. Part of, or all of, the comparative analysis for this position may be a structured application review, which involves a review of the information you submit in your application materials by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) against the preferred qualifications.
• A top group, of up to six candidates, will be invited to schedule an interview with the hiring manager.

E-Verify: CDPHE uses e-Verify, an Internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities.

You must be legally eligible to work in the United States to be appointed to this position. CDPHE does not sponsor non-residents of the United States.

ADAAA Accommodations:

The State of Colorado believes that equity, diversity, and inclusion drive our success, and we encourage candidates from all identities, backgrounds, and abilities to apply. The State of Colorado is an equal opportunity employer committed to building inclusive, innovative work environments with employees who reflect our communities and enthusiastically serve them. Therefore, in all aspects of the employment process, we provide employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, medical condition related to pregnancy, creed, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, or military status (with preference given to military veterans), or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, our agency will assist individuals who have a disability with any reasonable accommodation requests related to employment, including completing the application process, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, participating in the employee selection process, and/or to perform essential job functions where the requested accommodation does not impose an undue hardship. If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodation to ensure you have a positive experience applying or interviewing for this position, please direct your inquiries to our ADAAA Coordinator, Dan McKenna, at [email protected] or call 303-692-2060, option 5. 

Read Full Description