Community Engagement and Advocacy

Cultivating and Celebrating Community Through Advocacy and Engagement

We firmly believe that building a strong residency program requires a critical and dynamic evaluation of how we foster, accept, respect, and retain a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds in all their forms. It is our leadership’s mission to nurture compassionate, well-rounded physicians whose understanding of the full spectrum of human experiences equals their clinical acumen. In addition to providing strong clinical training, we aim to give all residents opportunities for community engagement and education focused on developing skills to be advocates and change-makers.

Some examples of the ways our program carries out our mission include:

• Recruitment & Application Review: As stated by the AAMC, holistic review “refers to mission-aligned admissions/selection processes that take into consideration applicants’ experiences, attributes, and academic metrics as well as the value they would contribute to learning, practice, and teaching”. Our program values everyone for their unique experiences and attributes, seeking students who want to join our community that aims to have an impact in medicine beyond the clinic and hospital walls. Each year, our residents and program leadership attend the SNMA, LMSA,  and Howard University conferences, as well as other events, to recruit outstanding students to join our program.
• Mentorship: Our residency, in partnership with Denver Health, collaborates with several pipeline programs (see below) that introduce young students to the field of healthcare. We invite these students to the Peña Clinic to shadow our residents and clinic preceptors, practicing basic clinical skills while offering opportunities for mentorship.
• Medical Career Collaborative (MC2) Program: A program that encourages high school students to pursue a career in medicine via exposure to different healthcare settings, paid internships, volunteer opportunities, and avenues for mentorship/professional development.
• Healthcare Interest Program: A program that hopes to support the “academic and professional development” of students who identify with the patient populations often seen by Denver Health, our community safety-net hospital. They offer students the opportunity to put their basic science knowledge into practice while also fostering an understanding of the unique healthcare needs of the Denver Health population.
  
• Education in Academic Half Day (AHDs): Our leadership team, with input from residents, schedules monthly four-hour Med-Peds AHDs. In addition to providing space for residents to teach, the AHD is an ideal venue to explore a range of other important topics in medicine, focusing on improving health and outcomes for patients in our communities. We are always excited to invite residents to bring new topics or speakers to our AHDs. It is a perfect place for residents to explore and share their passions.

Community Engagement and Partnerships

• Peña Community Engagement Committee: This committee was started by Dr. Venci and Dr. Gutierrez and includes our residents, Peña staff, and Denver Health leaders. This group meets regularly to discuss ways to foster a relationship of trust and mutual respect between the Southwest Denver community and the local healthcare system. Annual events include: Safe Halloween Trunk-or-treat, Back to School Celebration and Backpack giveaway, Kids’ Holiday Party, and much more!
• Re:Vision & Denver Urban Gardens: Our partnership with two local organizations has led to the Ruby Hill Community Garden and the Peña Produce Prescription Program (PPP). At the garden, pediatric Peña patients and local community members gather to learn how to grow and harvest fruits, vegetables, and herbs. During the summer months, Med-Peds residents join in on the fun, helping local kids with garden activities and education. The Med-Peds residency received an AAP CATCH grant for their community garden. Read all about it here. The Produce Prescription Program is an amazing collaboration between the Med-Peds program and Re:Vision. Patients are given a produce prescription to receive weekly produce boxes for 12 weeks. In 2025, Dr. Venci and residents received an ACP grant to address obesity stigma in health care. They will use the funds to partner with the Denver Health Research Department to create surveys and focus groups involving patients and community members. They aim to use this important data to improve care and outcomes for patients.
• Excalibur Outreach: Our Med-Peds program partners with this local nonprofit to support our annual Back to School event, during which we fundraise and organize backpacks filled with school supplies for the kiddos of our Peña Clinic.

Grants and Awards

Program Director, Dr. Julie Venci, was awarded several national and local grants to support her Building Trust in Medicine curricula. Over the past several years, she has designed interdisciplinary educational programs that teach learners how to enhance communication in healthcare and foster trust in the medical system. She has worked closely with leaders across the campus to advance this curriculum, which has included classroom didactics, simulation, and community circles. Dr. Venci strongly believes that the patient and community voice and perspective should be represented in medical education and training, so she continues to develop programs and education focused on community engagement.

In the last few years, our APD, Dr. Carolina Gutierrez, and resident, Dr. Jon Taylor-Fishwick, received the Community Pediatrics Training Initiative Advocacy Training Grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics. They used this award to enhance our advocacy curriculum, with the goal of providing residents with the foundational advocacy skills necessary to engage in advocacy for pediatric issues at both local and national levels. Their work was accepted for a poster presentation at an upcoming American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference.