Longmont Journey: Making change after disaster

Is it equity work or is it working equitably? That’s the question Boulder County Commissioner Marta Loachamin asked when discussing ongoing needs for diversity, equity and inclusion in the county.

“Addressing, acknowledging and accepting that there are inequities first seems like a big piece of the actual work,” Loachamin said. “From the systems of government, organizations and board rooms, there are a lot of different levels to what that work might be.”

County commissioners are responsible for the distribution and allocation of county taxes, as well as organizing and funding county programs, according to Ballotpedia. Commissioners also sit on operating and advisory boards in the county. More than running for a seat in the state legislature, Loachamin felt her background made her uniquely qualified for the position.

Long before she campaigned for the county commissioner seat in Boulder County’s District 2, representing Longmont, Loachamin worked for the community. 

Loachamin is a mother of two, a Longmont resident, licensed realtor and a former educator in the St. Vrain Valley School District. Around a decade ago, Loachamin said she was approached about joining a political campaign but it didn’t get far.

After the 2013 flood, Loachamin worked with the Boulder County and city of Longmont as a cultural broker under Longmont’s Community and Neighborhood Resources Manager Carmen Ramirez’s supervision. Longmont had received a grant from Colorado’s Division of Local Affairs, enabling the city to launch the Resiliency for All project to identify barriers the local Latino population faced accessing resources for recovery.

A cultural broker acts as a go-between advocating on behalf of a community — in this instance with Loachamin, between local government and the Latino community in Boulder County and Longmont. 

Loachamin wanted to help, but demanded a commitment from the hiring team for Resiliency for All that they hear from as many people in the community as possible to address inequity if they were going to make people relive their experience with the flood.

The experience was revelatory for Loachamin, she said, working in a position where she didn’t need to cut through layers of bureaucracy and white supremacy to do what was necessary for the job to succeed. There was no need to submit things to a board that would ignore or undermine her work, she said. 

“Working with (Ramirez) I didn’t need to convince her to add training materials or create multimedia pieces,” Loachamin said.

Through Resiliency for All’s interviews and focus groups, Loachamin found herself working with a pair of young Hispanic women attending high school in Boulder County. The young women were raw and frustrated, Loachamin said, discussing the barriers and effects of the flood on their family. The women talked about being the only brown faces in their all white honors classes, the struggle to gain access to scholarships, Loachamin said. One of the women said something that struck a chord with Loachamin.

“‘Tell them to let us speak for ourselves,’” Loachamin said as she relayed the words of the young woman.

That moment of raw frustration and vulnerability helped Loachamin finish her report to the state and present it, she said. That moment also brought her some clarity and realization that she had the experience and perspective to be one of the people in the room speaking for her community.

The other moment Loachamin pointed to that spurred her political campaign was in September 2018, at a conference for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. Two of the speakers at an event were discussing immigration stories and how nobody was sharing them. 

“It was so in your face, because I knew it wasn’t true,” Loachamin said.

For Loachamin, she felt it was less about stories not being told and more about stories not being heard. Loachamin was already connected to Boulder’s Motus Theater, which was sharing immigrant stories, and worked closely with organizations like El Comite, so she knew the stories were out there and being told.

“Systems choose not to share stories,” Loachamin said. “It’s not that we aren’t out there sharing our stories, it’s that we aren’t invited into the room where people hear them.”

Having experienced being silenced  and seeing the work that still needed to be done to build a better community for all within Boulder County, Loachamin had the impetus she needed for her run at commissioner. With her work as a cultural broker after the flood, along with her background in finance, real estate and education, Loachamin knew she was qualified for the position. 

After two years of campaigning, Loachamin won the 2020 general election with 140,100 votes out of 207,965 ballots cast. Loachmin’s relentless pace and desire to draw the community back to engaging with local government kept her busy at events where she heard people’s stories.

Loachamin believes in making herself available to the public that elected her, to hear their needs first-hand and carry them with her in her work. Knowing it wouldn't be a simple position, Loachamin knew she had to hit the ground running to learn the ins and outs of the work, so she could start rebuilding trust and engagement with local government. 

“I could sit back now that I’m elected,” Loachamin said. “But I’ve made a commitment to being out there and available.”

Lately, that work has extended to how Boulder County allocates funds granted to the county through the American Rescue Plan. Loachamin and the County Commissioner's Office worked with the Community Foundation of Boulder County and other agencies to build a survey seeking input from the community on where to put those funds to use. A public hearing on November 10 will present the initial findings from that survey.

Loachamin hopes that her role will inspire others in the community to get involved in local politics, from seats on boards and commissions to work with local nonprofits. Loachamin’s current term runs through January 2025 and she already has plans to run for a second term. Until then, Loachamin wants to work for the betterment of future generations in the county.

“I’m one of three on the board, I’m one of a whole executive leadership team (in the county). People have to hold all of us accountable,” Loachamin said.