The Agriculture Behavioral Health Working Group on Thursday approved new charter language that sets attendance expectations for members and allows the commissioner of agriculture or the commissioner’s designee to replace a member who accumulates more than four unexcused absences in a calendar year.

Chair Clinton Wilson, who identified himself as AgrAbility program staff at Colorado State University and a Rocky Mountain Farmers Union member, said the change is intended to preserve continuity of representation as the group prepares an annual report for the legislators who created the working group. “We really want people in the working group that are committed to this effort and that we can depend on as we’re continuing to move forward,” Wilson said.

Members also approved the previously distributed meeting minutes by voice vote. The charter vote was taken by voice and chair Wilson said it passed and will be forwarded to the commissioner of agriculture.

Why it matters: The working group, formed by recent legislation to advance behavioral-health supports for agricultural communities, is compiling an end-of-year report and policy recommendations the group intends to send to state legislators before the end of the year. Rosie, a program assistant with the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s drought and climate resilience office, has assembled a statewide resource document that members are editing to inform that report.

The meeting focused heavily on outreach and inclusion. Members emphasized centering agricultural workers in program design and broadening public awareness through media and community events. Julissa So to, who described her work in the agriculture behavioral health program and advocacy for Latino farmworkers, said the group should “sit down with them and ask them,” noting researchers’ studies sometimes omit the communities they aim to serve.

The group announced a planned Spanish-language behavioral health conference to begin in Aurora on Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the intent to take the conference to Delta, Montrose, Grand Junction and New Mexico. Jefferson Center for Mental Health and other partners will provide interpretation for attendees. “For the first time ever, we will have that behavioral health mental health conference in Espanol,” Julissa said.

Members urged a bolder communications push to raise statewide awareness. JC Kurica of Access Health Systems encouraged the group to pursue broadcast media and legislative updates to educate the broader public about barriers facing producers and farmworkers.

What’s next: Rosie will continue to maintain the shared document and accept edits from working-group members; members discussed creating a subcommittee to finalize the report before the end-of-year deadline. The approved charter language will be sent to the commissioner of agriculture for final review.