LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FUND AWARDS $76,540 TO 29 COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Community and Copper Mountain Resort Grants Announced
We are excited to report that the Lake County Community Fund Board of Directors met April 11 to determine two significant 2024 grant awards—the Lake County Community Grant and the Copper Mountain Resort Award.
The Board awarded $51,040 to 22 Lake County nonprofit organizations as part of the Community Grants and $25,500 to seven nonprofits under the Copper Mountain Resort grant program.
Thirty applications totaling $178,239 in requests were received in this 2024 grant cycle. In addition to the generous grant from POWDR and Copper Mountain Resort, substantial support from the Lake County Board of County Commissioners, the City of Leadville, and more than 127 corporate, foundation, and individual donors have made these grant awards possible.
Since 2017, the Lake County Community Fund has awarded 147 grants totaling more than $446,000 to Lake County nonprofit organizations.
Recipients were selected from a tremendously qualified and deserving pool of applicants through a robust and competitive grant review process.
Lake County Community Grant
The Lake County Community Grant supports projects that fit within the following areas:
- Arts and Culture
- Community and Economic Development
- Education and Training
- Environmental Initiatives
- Health and Wellness
Copper Mountain Resort Grant
In 2020, thanks to a four-year $200,000 gift from Copper Mountain Resort and POWDR, a $25,000 annual grant-making program was initiated to fund projects which include the following criteria:
- Outdoor adventure education
- Development of lifetime sports skills and
- Environmental causes
The objective of this grant is to inspire a healthy adventure lifestyle among Lake County youth, promote lifetime sports, and to support environmental causes.
Since 2020, the Lake County Community Fund has awarded 28 Copper/POWDR grants to local nonprofits, totaling $125,000.
The Board of Directors is pleased and honored to announce the recipients of the Lake County Community Fund’s 2024 Grant Awards:
Lake County Community Awards
Advocates of Lake County: Awarded $4,000 to be used for the operations budget, and to keep the facilities up to date, clean, and comfortable for clients.
Bright Start Learning Center: Awarded $4,500 to improving classroom knowledge to keep providing high-quality care using Teaching Strategies GOLD assessment tools with appropriate technological and classroom equipment. Bright Start is also striving to
support teachers by providing continuing education opportunities as well as classroom tools and materials.
CASA of the Continental Divide (Court Appointed Special Advocate): Awarded $3,500 to serve child victims of abuse and neglect in the Dependency and Neglect program and students who are experiencing barriers to their education in the Truancy program.
Cloud City Curling Club: Awarded $1,500 to fund equipment purchases and replacements to continue the sport of curling in Lake County.
Cloud City High School: Awarded $1,500 to fund Workforce Bootcamp Days which empowers students to explore diverse career pathways and opportunities. Students participate in internships, jobs, and work-based learning to support and prepare them for the workforce.
Greater Good Acupuncture: Awarded $1,000 to provide seed funding for the development of no-cost, Five Needle Protocol clinics in Lake County, allowing community members who may not otherwise have access to acupuncture to receive effective treatments in an accessible, safe, and supportive setting to support their healing process.
Lake County Build a Generation: Awarded $1,500 to support the Fair Housing Fair a low-barrier way for community members to learn about the housing crisis in Lake County, engage in the work of the Housing Coalition, and understand other ways they can support work for affordable housing.
Lake County Open Space Initiative: Awarded $2,500 to fund the creation of a pubic-accessible digital archive of more than a quarter century of records that include the preservation and enhancement of open space, wildlife habitat, historic resources, outdoor recreation, public education, and community sustainability.
Leadville Dance Collective: Awarded $2,500 to fund the acquisition of new portable mirrors to use for classes, and support trauma informed training from the Strategic Trans Alliance for Radical Reform and the Center for Adolescent Studies.
Lake County Civic Center Association: Awarded $1,000 to fund a project to move the current theatrical lighting controls to a more user-friendly location of the Old Church facility. This project requires an up-grade of the electrical sub panel.
Lake County Search and Rescue: Awarded $1,100 to fund the ‘Know Before You Go’ educational event. For the past two years, Lake County Search and Rescue and Colorado Avalanche Information Center have organized this educational program to inform residents of Lake County about traveling safely in avalanche terrain.
Lake County Public Library: Awarded $1,500 to provide funding to purchase an e-bike which will be used with the mobile library or book bike (a.k.a. Bibliobicicleta) that will allow the library to increase the amount of outreach involving books and mobile checkout services.
Leadville Imagination Library: Awarded $2,000 to fund Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Lake County. This program provides at no cost to families an age-appropriate book monthly to each pre-school child (0 – 5 years of age) enrolled in the program until they reach age five, to promote early childhood literacy.
Leadville Mainstreet: Awarded $2,000 to fund in collaboration with the Leadville Historic Preservation Commission the development of the Leadville Historic Walking Tour highlighting some of the significant historic structures in the Leadville downtown corridor.
Lideres Latinx: Awarded $2,500 to support the Posadas event, a cherished holiday tradition across Latin America. Posadas is a tapestry of experiences that unite the Lake County community.
National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum: Awarded $500 to help fund the re-branding of the Museum’s website. The Museum will collaborate with a web designer and a branding firm to drive more traffic to the Museum and Leadville.
Planned Pethood Assistance: Awarded $1,500 to support Planned Pethood Leadville’s efforts to offer reasonable, affordable options and access to pet healthcare for all Lake County community members.
Smart Bellies: Awarded $5,000 to fund Smart Bellies efforts to fill the gap of food insecurity in Lake County by providing bags of nutritious food to school aged children, allowing them to get the full benefit of their education and development.
St. George Episcopal Mission: Awarded $3,940 to fund the Mobile Food Pantry which provides easy access to healthy, culturally relevant food for those who are unable to come to the St. George Food Pantry.
Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation: Awarded $3,000 to provide the funding to acquire high-quality wireless/cordless headset microphones and all necessary electronic/tech supplies and training for local youth and community technicians.
St. Vincent General Hospital District: Awarded $2,500 to support the annual one-day 2024 Health Fair in Lake County in September.
Summit Community Care Clinic: Awarded $2,000 to fund advertising services to ‘get the word out’ to the community that the Care Clinic is now open at Lake County Public Health as well as the School Based Health Center located in Lake County High School.
Copper Mountain Resort Awards
Blue Elements: Awarded $4,000 to fund one AmeriCorps member devoted to water education, stewardship, and water quality initiatives in Lake County.
Cloud City Wheelers: Awarded $500 to fund operational expenses to support year- round efforts to increase organizational capacity. The Cloud City Wheelers exists to create, enhance, and promote trail opportunities in Leadville and Lake County and work year-round to build, maintain and steward trails and encourage people of all ages and abilities to get outside, enjoy and use the trails while learning to be responsible users.
Cloud City Conservation Center: Awarded $5,000 to support Nature-Based Learning programming with Lake County School District to engage all Lake County students in transformative outdoor learning experiences that support their academic success and overall well-being.
Cloud City Mountain Sports: Awarded $3,500 to fund scholarships that provide access to outdoor recreation programs including mountain biking, nordic skiing, snowboarding, and alpine skiing.
Colorado Outward Bound School: Awarded $2,000 to fund outdoor education programming with the Lake County School District and Get Outside Leadville! Through this partnership Lake County youth (6th graders) will experience life-changing Outward-Bound adventures through a two-day overnight group program at Colorado Outward Bound School’s Leadville basecamp.
Desert Mountain Medicine: Awarded $3,000 to fund the translation of materials for the Wilderness Medicine Education Initiative. Desert Mountain Medicine will offer Spanish language courses to the Lake County community to learn basic first aid, CPR, and wilderness preparedness.
Project Dream: Awarded $7,500 to fund after school outdoor clubs on Fridays in Spring and Fall of 2024. Project Dream provides free after school and Friday programs which serve students K-12.