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The Colorado Trust Grants $20,000 to Rural Philanthropy Days Participants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Julian Kesner, Director of Communications
303-539-3147; [email protected]

DENVER, COLO.The Colorado Trust today announced it has made $20,000 in grants to strengthen the work of four nonprofit organizations working to advance the health and well-being of rural Coloradans. The Colorado Trust, a health foundation dedicated to achieving health equity, made the grants after meeting with nonprofit organizations at Rural Philanthropy Days in September in Winter Park, Colorado.

Rural Philanthropy Days (RPD) connects funders with nonprofit organizations and government officials that serve rural Colorado. September’s RPD brought together representatives from Grand, Jackson, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt counties. This biannual three-day event was created in 1991 by the Community Resource Center (CRC) and the Anschutz Family Foundation to strengthen nonprofit-funder relations and to address critical needs in rural communities across Colorado.

“We know that good health depends on more than medical care,” said Ned Calonge, MD, President and CEO, The Colorado Trust. “It is affected by where we live, the education we receive, the work we do and the wages we earn. Growing up in La Junta, I understand the challenges rural Coloradans face. Participating in Rural Philanthropy Days, we are able to partner with communities to advance opportunities for all Coloradans to be healthy.”

The Colorado Trust awarded grants of $5,000 each to the following four nonprofit organizations that participated in RPD:

  • Community Agricultural Alliance – increases availability to local foods to enhance healthy eating for all residents (Routt County)
  • Grand County Council on Aging – provides medical transportation to seniors and persons with disabilities (Grand County)
  • Reaching Everyone Preventing Suicide – provides hospital-based suicide prevention, group therapy, crisis support and community education (Routt and Moffat Counties)
  • Rocky Mountain Youth Corps – engages youth in the outdoors, teaching responsibility, teamwork and service (Routt County).

Since 2010, The Colorado Trust has provided $245,000 in grants to rural Colorado nonprofit organizations through RPD.

In addition to providing grant support to nonprofit organizations, The Colorado Trust also provides general operating support to CRC to help make RPD possible. To learn more about funding on the Western Slope generated by RPD, view CRC’s new map.

The Colorado Trust will participate in the 2014 RPD in June in Pagosa Springs.

For additional information about The Colorado Trust and its grantmaking, visit www.coloradotrust.org. For additional information about RPD, please contact CRC at www.crcamerica.org.

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Learn about the health equity issues affecting Coloradans at Collective Colorado, a publication of The Colorado Trust.