The Health District and community partner Homeward Alliance have been recognized for working together to operate Isolation, Recovery, and Quarantine shelters in Fort Collins and Loveland for those with nowhere safe to go during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRQ shelters housed individuals with no place to isolate when they had COVID symptoms or had tested positive, or to quarantine when they’d had close exposure to someone with the virus. In addition to caring for guests, site staff worked with county contact tracers on positive cases so others who may have been exposed could be found and alerted.

The two organizations earned the Nonprofit Collaboration of the Year Award from BizWest Media. The honor is part of the inaugural Community Builder Awards, a program that salutes Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado’s best corporate citizens and most effective nonprofit organizations.