Advocacy | Partnership | Impact
Impact Report
2023
2023 Total Funding - $2,079,320
Youth Advocacy Project – $810,000 (30 organizations)
Environmental Justice Project – $190,000 (6 organizations)
Equitable Access to the Arts Project – $145,000 (6 organizations)
Behavioral Health in the Schools Initiative – $150,000
Discretionary Funding – $178,820
Legacy Funding – $605,500
The Youth Advocacy Project champions community partnerships that create equitable opportunities in health, education, and well-being for youth and families to achieve their optimal potential.
The Equitable Access to the Arts Project partners with community organizations to provide vibrant and meaningful arts and culture opportunities for under-resourced youth and adults throughout Northwest Colorado.
The Environmental Justice Project advances fair and equitable practices and policies, influenced by the collective voices of the broader Yampa Valley community, to benefit the local environment and its inhabitants.
In partnership with UCHealth and the Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation, funding was provided for the Behavioral Health in the Schools Initiative to the South Routt, Hayden, and Steamboat Springs Schools Districts, the North Routt Community Charter School, and Steamboat Montessori to increase wellness outcomes for youth and families.
CSFF Discretionary Funds provide resources to increase capacity building opportunities for organizations. Funding may support systems and trainings that enhance the strength, impact and sustainability of an organization.
Legacy Funding supports organizations and community initiatives of which the founders of the Foundation, Michael and Sara Craig-Scheckman, are personally passionate.
Legacy Funding:
- Circle of Change (Youth Justice)
- Colorado Mountain College (Holistic Student Support Services)
- Fully Liberated Youth (Youth Justice)
- Great Plains Foundation (Socioeconomic and Environmental Justice)
- National Center for Youth Law (Colorado Youth Justice Initiative)
- Queens College (First Generation Immigrant Student Support)
- ReproCollab (Reproductive Health Equity)
- Steamboat Mountain School (Education and Wellness Support)
- UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center (Emergency Department)
Highlights
In addition to our funding projects, CSFF embraces opportunities to create long-term systemic change by working with others to identify solutions to complex issues. Here are just a few of our highlights in 2023.
Official Launch of Two New Projects
In 2023, CSFF successfully launched two new projects: the Equitable Access to the Arts Project and the Environmental Justice Project. Several of the organizations that were supported through these new projects had previously received funding through CSFF’s Legacy and Discretionary funds. The CSFF staff and Board of Directors wanted to support arts and environmental organizations more fully throughout our local community, so a formal process was created like the Youth Advocacy Project. Hence, CSFF now provides multi-year capacity funding to strengthen these partnerships using a Trust Based Philanthropy approach.
Pictured: Warrior Wellness Center at Central High School in Grand Junction, Colorado
(Merillac Health and its school based health center is a fund recipient)
ReproCollab
Through the Legacy Fund, CSFF has the opportunity to partner on initiatives that improve pathways towards equitable access to wellness and quality of life beyond Routt County. Our strong value of equity drives our partnership with ReproCollab, an initiative of Caring for Colorado Foundation, which elevates the importance of quality reproductive health care, including family planning options, to support individuals in achieving their life goals.
ReproCollab supports health care organizations in improving the delivery of reproductive health care with an emphasis on family planning. ReproCollab is a multi-year initiative supported by a collaborative of Colorado-based funders: Caring for Colorado, The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, Colorado Gives, and Rose Community Foundation.
In 2023, ReproCollab awarded $1,575,000 to 12 health care organizations, reaching 69 clinic sites in 28 counties. Clinics will receive individualized technical support to improve access to person-centered contraceptive care within Colorado’s health care safety net system over two years. What makes this initiative unique is the implementation partner, Upstream USA, which works with health clinics to identify their barriers to providing person-centered care. They build a custom implementation plan and provide coaching to clinical and operations teams within health centers to deliver health care methods that center the culture and experience of the individual being served.
This past year, Caring for Colorado also added Choose When, which was founded in Routt County, as an initiative designed to improve patient-centered care by providing financial support to safety net clinics across Colorado to cover the costs of family planning methods, especially long-acting methods, for people with financial barriers to care.
Centering Community Voice
CSFF dove more deeply into its commitment to amplify and center community voice in 2023. First, in collaboration with The Health Partnership and the UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation, CSFF commissioned the Yampa Valley Behavioral Health Landscape Scan, a qualitative study designed to understand how residents of the region experience mental health challenges, supports, and services, in their own words. The project sought to learn from key communities in the Valley who are typically under-represented in decision-making and system building: youth and young adults, adult males in traditional economies, the LGBTQ+ community in Moffat County, and Latinx-identifying individuals within each of these communities. The findings of the study bring context and nuance to existing quantitative data in the region, such as the Community Health Needs Assessment, and will serve as the basis for community-led planning in 2024 to enhance the behavioral health system and supports in the Valley.
Next, CSFF was proud to support the Routt County Youth Services Coalition in launching the YouthScan Project in Routt County. YouthScan is an innovative, statewide initiative that empowers youth aged 14 to 24 to share their point of view and impact decision-making that directly affects their lives. Members of the Routt County Youth Services Coalition will spend 12 months piloting the project with local youth to generate insight that informs decision-makers about the greatest needs facing youth, while also lifting up their ideas for solutions. CSFF will lean more deliberately into community voice and insight to inform our work in 2024 and beyond.
Early Childhood Education
In partnership with First Impressions, CSFF contracted with the Butler Institute for Families at the University of Denver to identify the current and future early childhood education needs in Routt County. The results of the Routt County Childcare Needs Assessment highlighted many of the challenges our community understood, including workforce shortages, lack of infant and toddler care, inequitable search opportunities for families, and affordability. The report also collected suggestions from families, providers, and system partners about possible solutions to address these areas of concern. Using this information First Impressions has embarked upon creating a strategic plan to meet community needs as well as identifying the most efficient structure to manage complex advocacy efforts, service delivery and funding opportunities in Early Childhood Education.
If you are interested in learning more about CSFF, our funding partners, community engagement, or our philanthropic philosophy, please give us a call at 970-879-0148; we would be glad to hear from you.