Rural Strategies Specialist - Term Limited

Overview

This is a Term-Limited position with the term ending 9/29/2026. This posting may be extended.

This position is only open to Colorado state residents.

This position is remote and serves the following locations highlighted in yellow in Northeast Colorado, Northwest, Colorado and Southwest Colorado Regions, see map.

Although the full salary range for this position is provided, appointments are typically made at or near the range minimum.

Be BOLDand make a real difference

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our staff and providing culturally responsive programs and services. Therefore, we encourage responses from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities

If your goal is to build a career that makes a difference, consider joining the dedicated people of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Our tobacco-free campus offers free parking and is conveniently located near RTD bus lines, Glendale City Set, and the Cherry Creek bike path. In addition to a great location and rewarding, meaningful work, we offer:

• Employee wellness programs and facilities
• Extensive internal professional development opportunities on a wide variety of subjects
• Bike to work programs, including access to storage lockers and bike racks
• Distinctive career advancement opportunities throughout the State system
• Strong, yet flexible retirement benefits including a choice of the PERA Defined Benefit Plan or the PERA Defined Contribution Plan, plus optional 401K and 457 plans
• Medical and dental health plans
• Paid life insurance
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• 11 paid holidays per year plus generous personal time off
• Mentoring program with opportunities for mentors and mentees
• Tuition assistance for college level courses including Master’s degree programs
• Excellent work-life programs, such as flexible schedules, and a variety of employee resource groups

Some positions may qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. For more information, go to: public-service-loan-forgiveness

Please Note - As of August 27, 2025, a hiring freeze is in effect for the Colorado Executive Branch. State agencies will be allowed to finalize the hiring process only if a position has been posted by August 26, 2025. Any positions that are posted after August 26, 2025 have been either exempted from the hiring freeze or have been approved for a waiver and the hiring process may proceed.

The Work Unit
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The Prevention Services Division works with public and private partners across Colorado to improve the health of all Coloradans. Division professionals develop, review, implement and evaluate public health interventions proven to promote healthy living, prevent chronic disease, protect against injury and ensure access to health care and opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. The Division is committed to the professional development, collaborative effort and sustained wellness of its workforce.

The Office of Suicide Prevention (OSP) serves as the lead entity for suicide prevention, intervention supports, and postvention efforts in Colorado, collaborating with communities statewide to reduce suicide through health policy, legislation, public awareness and education, training, assessments, and intervention programs.

This position leads suicide prevention initiatives related to rural, agricultural, and frontier communities across Colorado. The position determines and designs appropriate processes and intervention strategies using analysis of complex community, cultural, behavioral health, and systems-level data providing technical assistance to grantees and stakeholders working on suicide prevention initiatives.

Additionally, this position builds and maintains multi-level partnerships by providing staff support and leadership to the Colorado-National Collaborative (CNC) project; outreaches to and supports rural and frontier health systems and the Follow-Up Project implementation; provides technical assistance to the Gun Shop Project in rural and frontier counties and facilitates the OSP Rural Communities Workgroup. Within CDPHE, this position collaborates with other state injury and violence prevention programs in PSD…