The League Wins Health and Wellness Grant

The Colorado Trust is proud to share that the Colorado League of Charter Schools is among 83 entities selected to receive multiyear grants under the organization's seven Community Resilience Initiatives. The League's winning proposal falls into the Healthy Food Access category which strives to expand access to both healthy food and activities that promote healthy eating.

With these newly awarded funds, the League will significantly increase access to nutritious and affordable food for twelve rural charter schools spanning nine counties across the western slope and northern Colorado. These schools serve small, rural communities with unique inequities and barriers to accessing nutritious foods and in some cases, even the economic benefits of the National School Lunch program.  

Barriers include food deserts and a lack of meal partners, equipment and facilities as well as facility limitations for preparing and offering nutritious meal options. The new grant will increase access to nutritious foods, especially for those experiencing food insecurity, and promote healthy eating for over 2,500 charter school students, their families and school staff. The project will also enable investments in low cost, high impact sustainable solutions such as equipment, infrastructure and partnerships to increase meal access and quality meal options for these twelve rural schools. 

The Colorado Trust grants commenced July 1, 2024 and will continue through 2026.  According to The Colorado Trust, funding in all seven categories aims to bolster grantees working to respond effectively to community disruptions resulting from economic downturns, social turbulence, public health crises, or a lack of coherent or effective public policy.

In its press release, The Colorado Trust shares, "The organization received more than 600 applications for these competitive funding initiatives, and all applicants were asked to describe how they would use grant funding to develop, implement and sustain effective methods to address areas of concern in the communities they serve—thus generating a pool of grantees that will address food, housing, and mental and behavioral health via a locally informed lens."

Fifty-three percent of the entities that applied for these grants were first-time applicants, and 61% of the awardees were new grantees of The Colorado Trust. All 64 Colorado counties are currently served by one or more of the grantees in the seven initiatives.