Program-related Investments
Work Options chef instructor Bryan Machesky teaches students Veronica Prospero and Christopher Poole the proper way to cut and prep bell peppers and tomatoes on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at the Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Work Options is a nonprofit that helps people learn skills to prepare them for careers in the food industry. A Colorado Trust program-related investment supported ULC’s Mosaic Community Campus, South Platte Crossing offices and nonprofit space Holly Square. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options student Daydrian Evans has some fun as he finishes cooking a batch of fried chicken while chef instructor Tina Yarbrough watches and smiles on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the kitchens at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options instructor and supervisor Brian Marquez (middle) and students Michael Gresham (right) and Lois Williams prepare to-go meals on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. The meals are for people living in city-funded transitional housing micro-communities. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options students and supervisors prepared the to-go meals pictured in this photo on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options catering manager and instructor Shannon Boehler cuts onions on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the kitchens at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options student Lois Williams preps a tuna mix on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the kitchens at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options chef instructor Tina Yarbrough gives student Michael Gresham a thumbs up as he takes a turn cooking fried chicken while student Daydrian Evans looks on. The chicken is served Monday through Friday at the Helping Hen Cafe and Helping Hen food truck located at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Work Options operates the cafe and the food truck and offers students the opportunity to learn skills in food prep and catering. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options chef instructor Bryan Machesky teaches students Veronica Prospero and Christopher Poole how to properly cook and flip eggs on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the kitchens at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options chef instructor Tina Yarbrough picks up a batch of fried chicken on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the kitchens at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options student Leslie Miller prepares cantaloupe on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the kitchens at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options student James Bryant-Crews prepares for interviews with instructor Charlene Del Vescovo on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the classrooms at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Bryant-Crews was practicing his interviewing skills for future job opportunities. Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Work Options instructor Charlene Del Vescovo shakes student Lois Williams’ hand in a math class Del Vescovo was teaching on Thursday, July 17, 2025, inside one of the classrooms at the ULC Mosaic Community Campus in Denver, Colo. Also pictured are students Christopher Poole (front row), Kimberly Zelney and Edwin Triggs (back row). Photo by Armando Geneyro / Special to The Colorado Trust
Since 2015, The Colorado Trust has used program-related investments (PRIs) as a tool to advance its mission and deepen its impact across Colorado.
Overview
Since 2015, The Colorado Trust has used Program-Related Investments (PRIs) as a tool to advance its mission and deepen its impact across Colorado. PRIs are flexible, mission-driven financial instruments designed to support organizations and initiatives aligned with the foundation’s strategic priorities. PRIs can be below-market loans, equity investments, loan guarantees and more.
Rather than seeking significant financial returns, PRIs are focused on achieving mission-related outcomes. Investments are directed toward efforts that promote health equity and community well-being, including affordable housing, capital infrastructure, economic opportunity, and financial inclusion.
PRIs help fill capital gaps where conventional financing is out of reach, particularly for nonprofit and for-profit entities working on high-impact projects. These investments can also unlock additional resources by blending philanthropic, private and traditional capital, enabling more sustainable, long-term solutions across the state.
Colorado Trust PRI examples and highlights include:
- Contributions to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
- Equity investments in mission-aligned startup ventures, including one serving women entrepreneurs of color
- Loan guarantees that reduce lending risk for underserved borrowers
- Support for mobile home parks to transition to resident ownership
- Initiatives that assist first-time Black homeowners in accessing affordable mortgages
- Capital and infrastructure projects that include affordable housing, community health centers, early childhood education facilities and more.
Through its PRI program, The Colorado Trust is helping to catalyze lasting, equitable change for communities throughout Colorado.
Colorado Trust PRIs by the numbers
- Over 30 PRIs have been awarded since 2015.
- Over $36 million has been invested, making The Colorado Trust the second-largest philanthropic provider of PRIs in Colorado.
- Approximately $3 million across five PRIs has supported projects in rural communities, with a continued commitment to expanding rural investment in the years ahead.
- At least 43,000 Coloradans have directly benefited from projects funded through PRIs.
- More than 500 small businesses and entrepreneurs have received capital and support.
- Nearly 4,000 affordable housing units have been created or preserved through PRI-supported efforts.
PRI parameters
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Minimum of $250,000 for a rural-serving investment.
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Minimum of $500,000 for an urban-serving investment.
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Maximum of $1.5 million per investment.
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Maximum term of 10 years.
What’s next
At the end of 2024, The Colorado Trust Board of Trustees approved an expansion for the PRI initiative, ensuring The Colorado Trust will continue to grow its portfolio of such investments in the years to come. Several PRIs have already been successfully repaid, allowing even more PRIs to be made with this recycled capital.
Select PRIs are profiled in the stories linked below, or click any of the names in the Investee section to learn more about projects The Colorado Trust has supported to date.
Current Investments
Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative - Affordable Housing Fund (2021-2028)
Support for Colorado Housing Accelerator Initiative’s impact investment platform for housing in Colorado across the affordability spectrum, offering both debt and equity financing for non-Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects statewide.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $5,000,000
Community Enterprise Development Services - Loan Fund (2026-2036)
Support for small-business lending programs serving Colorado entrepreneurs historically excluded from or underserved by mainstream financing mechanisms, including people of color, immigrants and refugees.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
East Colfax Mixed Income Community Trust - Dallas Street Affordable Housing (2026-2036)
Enterprise Community Partners - Denver Regional Transit-Oriented Development Fund (2016-2034)
In partnership with other foundations, support for Enterprise Community Partner’s Denver Regional Transit-Oriented Development Fund, an investment program that finances properties within a half mile of fixed-rail stations; and/or a quarter mile within high-frequency bus stops. The purpose of the fund is to preserve existing affordable housing, as well as develop new affordable housing and supportive commercial uses, within close proximity to public transportation.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $875,000
First Southwest Bridge Loan Fund (2026-2031)
Support for the Bridge Loan Fund, providing short-term working capital loans to nonprofit organizations delivering services under government grants and contracts that are awaiting reimbursement.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
First Southwest Fortaleza Business Fund (2021-2028)
Support for the Fortaleza Business Fund, which is designed to give access to funding for entrepreneurship and small businesses run or managed by undocumented people in rural Colorado through loans, education and technical assistance.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $250,000
First Southwest Rural Women-Led Business Fund (2020-2032)
Support for the Rural Women-Led Business Fund, which is designed to give access to funding for women-led/femme-identifying entrepreneurs and small businesses in rural Colorado through loans, education, and technical assistance. The fund will have a focus on serving women of color in rural Colorado, especially the San Luis Valley.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $300,000
Montbello Organizing Committee - FreshLo Hub (2020-2032)
Support for the development of the FreshLo Hub in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver, which will include a grocery store, office space for local BIPOC-owned businesses, affordable housing units and mental health services.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
Pueblo Community Health Center, Inc. - New Facility (2021-2031)
Support for construction of a new facility and expansion of services into Pueblo’s Eastside neighborhood.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
Respite Care, Inc. - New Facility (2026-2027)
Support for the expansion of Respite Care’s new facility in Timnath, Colo., doubling the organization’s capacity to provide specialized short-term care for children with developmental disabilities and respite for their families.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
ROC USA LLC - Capital Pool (2022-2034)
Support for the Colorado Resident-Owned Communities Capital Acquisition Pool, helping empower manufactured home communities in Colorado through cooperative ownership.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $3,750,000
Sistahbiz Loan Fund (2022-2030)
Support for the Sistahbiz Loan Fund, providing resources to Black women entrepreneurs.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $300,000
Solvista Health - New Facility (2021-2028)
Support for the creation of a new regional assessment center, which provides mental health and substance use services.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $750,000
Tepeyac Community Health Center - New Facility (2021-2028)
Support for facility and services expansion.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
The Center for African American Health - New Facility (2021-2028)
Support for services and infrastructure expansion and updates.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
The Dearfield Fund - Down Payment Assistance (2022-2029)
Support for The Dearfield Fund, which provides down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers in Colorado who have faced systemic barriers to owning a home.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
Tigrai Community of Colorado - Community Center (2026 - 2033)
Support for the construction of a community center, which will provide a permanent home for cultural preservation, intergenerational connection, mental health services and more.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment Amount: $1,000,000
Urban Land Conservancy - Metro Denver Impact Facility (2018-2033)
Support for the Metro Denver Impact Facility, which will be used to acquire and develop urban properties in underserved Denver communities. The fund’s purpose is to support the creation and preservation of affordable housing, community facilities and affordable commercial space.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,500,000
Urban Land Conservancy - Mosaic Community Campus (2021-2026)
Support for redeveloping a former school campus in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver as part of the larger East Colfax redevelopment project.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
Past Investments
Boys & Girls Club of the San Luis Valley - Child Care Center (2025-2026)
Support in the form of a bridge loan to continue construction of a new early childhood learning center adjacent to the organization’s existing facility in Alamosa. Once complete, the center is expected to create 23 new full-time positions and provide high-quality early childhood education services for 160 children annually.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $1,000,000
Cleo Parker Robinson Dance (2021-2023)
General operating support.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $500,000
Colorado Enterprise Fund - Chambers Place (2017-2022)
Support for the development of a grocery store in the Chambers Place shopping center in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Invesment amount: $1,000,000
IndieDwell Colorado - Modular Housing Factory (2021-2023)
General operating support.
Investment amount: $6,500,000
Mi Casa Resource Center (2016-2022)
Support for increased staffing, website development, equipment and training.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $58,000
Mile High Ministry - Clara Brown Commons (2019-2024)
Support for the construction of Clara Brown Commons, a mixed-use affordable housing complex and community center in Denver.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $750,000
Mile High Ministry - Joshua Station (2025-2026)
Support in the form of a bridge loan to undertake critical infrastructure renovations at Joshua Station, a transformational housing community for families.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $500,000
Senior Housing Options, Inc. - Olin Senior Housing (2018-2019)
Funding to help redevelop a senior housing facility in downtown Denver that provides 111 apartment units, all of which are Section 8 housing and predominantly serve low-income Coloradans with disabilities.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $650,000
The Savings Collaborative - Savings Club App (2021-2024)
Support for the LaMedichi Savings Club, a community-led program driving upward economic mobility for low-income populations in Colorado’s mountain towns.
For more information, visit the organization’s website.
Investment amount: $900,000
Staff
Anna Brunt
Program-Related Investment Stories
Check out the stories below about some of The Colorado Trust’s program-related investments and the advancement of their mission-driven work.
