"A Home In Paradise" is a documentary about the growing health disparities here in Chaffee County, including housing, mental and behavioral health, and the socio-economic divide. This film is a call to action for community members to begin important conversations around these issues and work together to mend our divided paradise that we call home.

The documentary highlights the lives of the following Chaffee County community members.

Ursula Jones: Immigrant from Peru discussing the importance of community and the challenges of being an immigrant.

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Jordan Cunliffe: Jordan shares his experiences living with addiction and staying sober in Chaffee County.

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Shelley Schreiner: Executive Director of The Alliance, shares her personal challenges with housing both for herself and her staff. During filming, Shelley lived in the Saguache Valley which was a 45-minute drive each way to get to work.

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William Doyle: William gives us a window into the local recreation economy as a raft guide in the summer and ski patrol in the winter. When William’s rental was sold suddenly, it left him facing an unaffordable housing landscape and nowhere to live.

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“Shepherding this documentary has been a very important project for me personally,” says Julie Speer Jackson. “I’ve lived in Salida since 2018 and have seen housing costs rise astronomically. Bringing together local talent, including Sarah Hamilton who’s the editor and lead videographer, Amy Turner who wrote the script, and many local musicians, allowed us to tell this story with completely local creatives. It’s truly a home grown documentary film exploring a phenomenon that’s happening across the country. We’re using our art to shed light on these issues and creating a tool that brings the community together to talk about it is a great first step to solving the housing crisis.” The film also engages many local experts who share their personal and professional perspectives and offer hope for the future.

This documentary was developed with a “Creative Committee” of 25 local representatives from diverse parts of the community. The committee provided guidance throughout the process of the development of “A Home in Paradise”, and ensured that it is honest and true to Chaffee County. The committee drew on information from Chaffee County’s Public Health and Housing Reports and their real-life experiences with housing insecurity, behavioral health challenges, aging, transportation, and the general growing socio-economic divide within Chaffee County.

“A Home in Paradise" is funded through a grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: Office of Health Equity, and is managed by Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority.

The We Are Chaffee storytelling initiative was developed in 2019 and works with community members to share their stories in short videos, written stories, and a podcast that is available worldwide on any podcast app. We Are Chaffee partners with local authors, Colorado Mountain College, KHEN Radio, nonprofit organizations and others to make this possible. “Storytelling is a powerful advocacy tool that empowers people to speak up about the issues that they care about and that impact them, while also informing our community’s leaders and decision makers to make thoughtful and equitable policies and build inclusive systems. Chaffee County Public Health and the Chaffee Housing Authority have been working together for several years to ignite a storytelling movement, We Are Chaffee, to highlight the rich
diversity of our county while also uniting us,” says Andrea Carlstrom, Chaffee County Public Health Director.