Our Vision
Boulder County is a socially just, inclusive community where physical and mental health, social well-being, and the environment are valued, supported, and accessible to all.
Our Mission
Address social, economic, and environmental conditions to ensure that all people in Boulder County have the opportunity for a healthy life.
Staff
Under the direction of the Boulder County Board of Health (BOH), the department’s staff and numerous volunteers/interns provide services in several BCPH divisions housed within three municipalities to address the diverse public health needs of our community.
BCPH Programs and Services Brochure
Guiding Principles
The following key principles describe the actions we will take to conduct our public health work in order to make significant and sustainable improvements to health in Boulder County
- Use data and community input to identify factors that significantly impact equity, health, and quality of life. Employ evidence-based strategies and evaluation to inform decisions, assure quality, and demonstrate outcomes in policies and programs.
- Initiate, enhance, and promote efforts to address the social determinants of health to ensure health equity for people in Boulder County. Support community capacity in leadership and organizing that demonstrates collective power to affect change and influence public health programming, policy, and systems change efforts.
- Promote primary prevention and a population-based approach to maximize health impact at the broadest possible level, while intentionally targeting prevention resources toward populations that are experiencing inequities.
- Collaborate across sectors to initiate and strengthen partnerships toward making a collective impact to ensure common goals, shared measurement, coordination of activities, and reduced duplication.
- Clarify appropriate roles of Boulder County Public Health and our partners in the public health system.
- Ensure that people in Boulder County are empowered and equipped to make informed decisions for adopting healthy behaviors.
- Educate and influence policy makers so they are able to set policies that protect and enhance the health of individuals, families, communities, and the environment.
- Implement strategies in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.
Essential Services
- Monitor the health status of the population and the environment, and identify community health problems.
- Prevent and control the spread of communicable disease.
- Promote positive health behaviors and environmental practices.
- Mobilize community partnerships to solve identified health problems.
- Enforce laws and regulations that protect the health of the public and the environment.
- Counsel and support high-risk children, youth, and families.
- Assure access and provide linkages to personal health services.
- Provide alcohol and drug treatment services.
- Develop policies that support and protect the health of the community and the environment.
Strategic Plan
Boulder County Public Health’s (BCPH) 2024 – 2029 Strategic Plan is a roadmap that will provide strategic guidance and direction for our agency over the next five years. Developed through a comprehensive planning process, this plan identifies priority areas to focus agency efforts, outlines what we plan to accomplish within each priority, and how we will monitor progress. The six priorities for this strategic plan are:
- Mental and Behavioral Health
- Climate Action and Sustainability
- Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery
- Health and Racial Equity
- Community Engagement
- Sustainability, Transparency and Stewardship
BCPH 2024-2029 Strategic Plan- Summary (Spanish)
BCPH 2024-2029 Strategic Plan- Full Document
Boulder County aims to ensure all digital content and documents are accessible. While efforts have been made to maximize accessibility, some types of content have inherent technical limitations. For alternate formats or accommodations, please submit an ADA Web Accommodation Request Form or email ADA@bouldercounty.gov, or call 303-441-1386. View the county’s accessibility statement.
Budget
This document presents the 2025 Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) adopted budget, prepared in accordance with the Charter and state budget laws. Amid the ongoing volatility of public health budgets both nationally and within Colorado, BCPH has strengthened our governance policies and processes. This document reflects the ongoing focus on organizational development. Key changes this year include adopting a formal reserves policy, enhancing internal controls, and intensifying the focus on aligning the budget with historical expenditures.
This document serves multiple functions: it is a policy tool for the Board of Health (BOH), an operational guide for Public Health staff, a financial plan for County stakeholders, and a communication resource for the public. Key information is presented through data, graphs, and tables for clarity and accessibility.
BCPH’s 2025 total anticipated revenues from all sources are projected at approximately $24,427,935 million. BCPH benefits from a diverse revenue structure and general revenue sources are expected to decrease by 0.9% percent compared to estimated 2024 revenues. This moderate decrease is primarily due to updated projections of slower revenue growth.
At the end of 2023, BCPH’s cash reserves stood at $7,166,521, which includes a 3 percent emergency reserve along with the agency’s self‐imposed operating and safeguard reserves.
In closing, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Boulder County community. Our dedicated employees are committed to the relentless pursuit of excellence every day. Excellence means delivering effective and consistent programs and services, maintaining clear expectations for employees, the community, and leadership, and implementing effective policies and systems that drive measurable improvements.
In 2025, we will continue aligning our services with the Board of Health and County priorities, guided by agency values and community expectations. This will help us achieve meaningful outcomes that advance our vision: “At BCPH, we envision a Boulder County that is a socially just and inclusive community where physical and mental health, social well‐being, and the environment are valued, supported, and accessible to all.”
Budgeted 2025 Revenues by Source, Detail
- State Funding, $7,191,524
- Boulder County Appropriation, $7,000,000
- Fee Funding, $2,227,121
- Reserve Funding, $2,126,339
- County Passthrough Funding, $1,672,171
- County Tax, $1,510,683
- Local Funding, $1,121,205
- Federal Funding, $908,628
- Private Funding, $655,773
- Holding, $14,490
2025 Budgeted Expenditures by Division
- Environmental Health 26%
- Administration and Finance 20%
- Community Health 16%
- Family Health 16%
- Communicable Disease and Emergency Management 11%
- Strategic Initiatives 11%
Metro Denver Partnership for Health
Boulder County Public Health is a member of the Metro Denver Partnership for Health, a collaboration among the public health agencies serving the seven-county Denver metropolitan region made up of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson Counties. Nearly 3 million Coloradans, 60 percent of the state’s population, live in the Metro region. The Partnership collaborates with regional leaders in health care, human services, behavioral health, environment, philanthropy, education, business, local government and others to achieve its goals of advancing health equity across the region. In 2016, the Partnership identified four priority areas of focus including data sharing, healthy eating and active living, behavioral health, and partner alignment and formalized its approach to collaboration in the Metro Denver Partnership for Health.
