In January 2026, Colorado launched its Multi-Sector Plan on Aging Dashboard, a centralized hub for local-level data on older Coloradans. The dashboard reflects years of work to give state and local leaders a clearer picture of how community conditions and outcomes for older adults vary across Colorado. The idea took shape in 2020, when Erica Felder, PhD, program evaluator at the Colorado Division of Aging and Adult Services, and Jarett Hughes, former director of policy and research, Colorado Governor’s Office, reviewed healthy aging data profiles developed by Massachusetts and other New England states and saw an opportunity to build a similar resource for Colorado. The Modernization of Older Coloradans’ Act of 2022 helped move the vision forward, and Kristine Burrows later joined this project as lead for Colorado’s multisector plan for aging (MPA). This blog post explores how Colorado turned its vision for healthy aging into a practical data tool and highlights lessons for other states looking to do similar work.
Multisector Plans for Aging (MPAs) are part of a broad national effort to help states prepare for a rapidly growing older adult population through coordinated strategies that span health care, housing, transportation, and social services. Colorado’s dashboard is one of five state MPA dashboards developed to support this work, offering a data-driven approach to tracking progress and informing policy. Explore related national trends through the West Health National Aging Readiness Dashboard, which brings together state and national data to help policymakers and stakeholders better understand and plan for the needs of older adults.
Envisioning the Colorado MPA Dashboard
Colorado’s primary goal for its aging dashboard was to better understand the state’s aging landscape and create a central place where policymakers, agency partners, Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), and the public could access aging-related data to inform policy development, service planning, and community action. While a large amount of data already existed, much of it was difficult to access or lacked the age-specific breakdowns the state needed. To shape the dashboard, the team drew inspiration from several existing models, including California’s data dashboard, the Healthy Aging Data Reports, Minnesota’s aging data profiles, the America’s Health Ranking Seniors Report, and the West Health National Aging Readiness Dashboard. Felder noted that California’s dashboard stood out for the way it tracks policies and measures, and Colorado drew on many of the same data sources—a valuable approach as the state sought to measure the impact of its cross-sector MPA.
One message came through clearly: stakeholders wanted local-level data. As Felder explained, “For us, that really meant county-level, as much as possible.”
Funding the Work
Through the Modernization of Older Coloradans’ Act, Colorado created a dedicated position to lead development of the state’s MPA and required the Colorado Department of Human Services to “develop, maintain, and make publicly available a collection of available datasets.” This created an opportunity to explore the state’s aging data, but the legislation did not include funding for a position dedicated to building the dashboard.
To fill this gap, Colorado drew on several sources: Felder’s time; support from Trust for America’s Health; a grant through the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) MPA Learning Collaborative; and funding from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing to gain access to the Colorado All Payer Claims Database. CHCS’ support also allowed Colorado to engage a consultant who helped the team narrow an initial list of 300 indicators to a manageable set for the first version of the dashboard, guided by policy priorities.
Building the Dashboard’s Data Foundation
As Colorado identified which data to include, the team focused on establishing baseline information for key initiatives, identifying what data were available, and assessing gaps. The team sought feedback from the state’s Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging, the Colorado Commission on Aging, AAAs, and other stakeholders on what information would be most useful. One message came through clearly: stakeholders wanted local-level data. As Felder explained, “For us, that really meant county-level, as much as possible.”
To manage the data, the team centrally tracked its raw datasets and sources, including those from data providers, such as the Gerontology Institute of the University of Massachusetts Boston (creator of the Elder Index), and national entities, such as the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. They were intentional about using data that could be updated, which helped keep the dashboard manageable and would allow them to show trends over time. Working with county-level data also required close attention to quality and consistency. For example, Colorado found that counties were not always listed the same way across datasets, creating challenges when matching and displaying information. Some smaller counties were also missing from certain sources, underscoring the need for careful review before data are published.
Putting Aging Data to Work
Colorado’s dashboard is already serving as a practical tool for planning and accountability across the state’s aging work,including its MPA, state plan on aging, and area plans. The dashboard covers eight domains, drawing largely from AARP and the World Health Organization’s domains of livability: demographics, economic security, housing, communication and information, lifelong learning, home and community services, health care access, and health and well-being. Each domain includes maps, tables, and county-level data, where available, for its indicators.
“Make sure you’re keeping good documentation from the beginning” on all data sources and measures.
Colorado is planning for how the dashboard will remain useful as priorities shift and new data become available. After its launch, the dashboard sparked conversations with other state agencies that were interested in contributing data to the dashboard. To support this, the team created an online form for collecting input on new data sources and ongoing feedback. One planned addition includes caregiving data, and Felder is also seeking to include transportation data to better understand the unmet needs for older adults beyond commuting patterns.
Colorado’s Advice for States
For states developing their own dashboards, Felder’s advice is straightforward: document your process. “Make sure you’re keeping good documentation from the beginning” on all data sources and measures. Organizing that information before building the dashboard makes the launch and future updates easier.
Torshira Moffett, MPH, is a senior program officer at the Center for Health Care Strategies.
Erica Felder, PhD, program evaluator, and Kristine Burrows, MPH, senior specialist on aging, at the Colorado Division of Aging and Adult Services, contributed to this blog post.
Photo credit: Shutterstock/Gaudi Lab
