Colorado racial equity commission seeks funding to complete studies

The Colorado Black Coloradan Racial Equity Study Commission has raised more than $1 million but needs additional money to complete its historical research and hire a third party to study the economic effects of systemic racism, Commissioner Brain said.

The commission discussed a draft request for qualifications, or RFQ, for the economic analysis at its Aug. 19 meeting. Members and staff plan to revise the document before seeking responses, tentatively by late October. Vendor selection is targeted for early January 2027.

The contract would be funded through gifts, grants and donations, as required by Senate Bill 24-053, the 2024 law that created the commission and directed the state to fund the study without additional General Fund money.

Brain estimated the entire project could cost about $1.8 million, leaving roughly $500,000 to raise. That was an estimate, not an approved budget.

History Colorado Director DePrince cited a different preliminary estimate. The law’s fiscal note projected the economic study at $300,000, she said, which she considered likely to be the high end. Using a hypothetical $200,000 study cost, DePrince estimated that about $230,000 could remain to finish fundraising for the historical and economic work. The final cost will become clearer after proposals are received and a contractor is selected.

“We still need to be fundraising while we are working on that RFQ process,” DePrince said.

Historical research faces archival barriers

Researchers have encountered obstacles in locating, accessing and digitizing state archival records. Some materials have been digitized, but millions of items remain difficult to search because of limited resources, cataloging systems, staffing and administrative processes, commissioners and researchers said.

Brain said he had met with the state archivist and staff about the issue. The study’s lead researcher has used some archival material, he said, but identifying records and obtaining access can take time, particularly when records are labeled by numbers or years rather than searchable topics. History Colorado and state archives staff planned to improve coordination. The meeting record did not specify how many items have been digitized or how much additional funding would be needed.

The historical team reported five draft chapters covering Colorado’s territorial period through the 1960s, with research continuing into later decades. Other work has examined Black students and faculty in higher education, Black participation in outdoor recreation and Black history in the Grand Valley. Planned research includes Black churches, Black LGBTQ history, Black cowgirls and chapters covering 1970 to the present.

Researchers are also examining segregated cemeteries and lost or poorly documented family burial plots. They said separate Black burial areas sometimes existed near churches or as family plots but could become poorly maintained or disappear from records.

One case study focused on Fruita, which researchers believe operated as a sundown town beginning around 1935. They said the town’s discriminatory ordinances barred Black people from remaining after dark and restricted the burial of people of African descent in the municipal cemetery, now called Elmwood Cemetery. After cowboy Charlie Glass died in 1937, the town made a specific exception allowing him to be buried in a Turner family plot, researchers said.

The ordinances were repealed in 1952 after a Black family traveling from Louisiana needed to bury its 15-year-old daughter near Fruita following a fatal accident. The town’s history resurfaced in 2019 after a Nazi flag was displayed there, prompting residents to adopt an inclusivity proclamation, according to the research presentation.

Commissioners said further research should address Black communities outside municipal boundaries, economic opportunity, homeownership and access to higher education. Researchers said evidence of other sundown towns can be difficult to document because some of the history survives primarily through oral accounts. The record did not establish a complete list or number of segregated cemeteries or lost Black burial sites in Colorado.

What the economic analysis would examine

The draft RFQ calls for an analysis of the financial impact of systemic racism on historically impacted Black Coloradans. It also asks vendors whether it is feasible to estimate the effects of state entities, policies, systems and practices on Colorado’s broader economy.

That broader question remains unresolved. Legislative Council Staff said the phrase “if feasible” came directly from the law and is not defined there. A consultant would have to determine whether available data support a quantitative estimate, a qualitative analysis or both, staff said.

Commissioners asked staff to include mixed-methods and critical quantitative research, experience collaborating with Black communities, cultural humility and equity-centered research among the qualifications. The draft allows subcontractors if respondents disclose those arrangements. The selected contractor would attend up to six commission meetings in 2027 and could be asked to provide a feasibility plan for the broader-economy analysis.

History Colorado will continue the historical research but does not plan to oversee the economic study. DePrince said the agency specializes in historical research rather than mathematics and statistics, and that separating the studies could help prevent the historical work from being shaped by predetermined economic conclusions.

The historical research is scheduled for completion in March 2027 and the economic analysis in September 2027. Neither study was complete as of the Aug. 19 meeting.

How the work will shape recommendations

The law requires the final report to include the study’s goals, the results of both research efforts and constitutionally consistent recommendations addressing harms identified in the research. It also calls for recommendations on incorporating the findings into Colorado K-12 history standards and increasing public awareness.

History Colorado’s project description says the economic analysis will be based on the agency’s historical research and used in drafting the commission’s final report.

Brain described the intended sequence as understanding historical harms, quantifying them and then proposing ways to repair them. The recommendations would be aimed at the Legislature, governor and state government, he said. The commission has not finalized them.

The commission also has not decided whether the third-party contractor will draft and finalize the report and recommendations. Legislative Council Staff included that work provisionally in the draft RFQ because the office said it could not write the report under the legislation. The commission could remove the provision and limit the contract to the economic analysis.

The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 30, 2026, when members are expected to continue discussing the RFQ and receive a more detailed fundraising and financial update.