For 25 years, Caring for Colorado has been dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the people of Colorado. We’ve always believed that communities are the best judges of their own needs. Our role is to listen, learn, and respond in ways that elevate the voices and experiences of people in Colorado while leveraging our partnerships, leadership, expertise, and resources to advance health equity and improve health outcomes.
In 2023 and 2024, as part of a comprehensive year-long strategic planning process, we posed a crucial question: “How can Caring for Colorado best support community-led efforts to enhance the health and well-being of young people and families who are furthest from opportunity?”
Today, we are excited to announce our new 10-year strategic direction at Caring for Colorado, shaped by conversations with young people, their caregivers, and those who serve youth, as well as our research on adolescent developmental frameworks and our understanding of our niche in Colorado’s philanthropic landscape.
Since our inception, our North Star has been to identify and address resource gaps while collaborating with others to meet complex community needs. Our commitment to building stronger, more equitable systems that enhance health outcomes and tackle health, and social inequities remains steadfast.
As we move forward, our funding priorities will change in four significant ways as part of our new strategic direction:
- Funding will be directed to improving the health and well-being of young people ages 9 through 25 and their families. By focusing on protective factors, we will work to build services, supports, and environments to help young people find their path, develop decision-making skills, and cultivate positive relationships that will help them grow into healthy, hopeful, contributing adults in our state.
- Health equity for young people is our goal, so we will provide funding that reaches young people furthest from opportunity and those experiencing discrimination in any form. Our work will be centered within our defined priority populations. We intend to work hard to bring forward the voices and lived experiences of young people and their families to ensure that our funding is relevant, inclusive, and results oriented.
- Youth and family-centered prevention programs, system building, and policy development will be prioritized to create lasting, generational change for young people in our state. Our resources will be directed to building equitable systems and policies and the community infrastructure needed to create environments that support the optimal development of all young people.
- Our funding priorities and our grantmaking philosophy will change based on ongoing feedback from grantee partners, and from our own learning and evolution as a foundation.
- We will apply Trust-Based Philanthropy principles to our grantmaking, including:
- Developing stronger relationships with our grantee partners.
- Providing general operating support and multi-year grants.
- Sharing our networks.
- Helping organizations leverage other funds.
- We will continue to fund organizations across Colorado, including:
- Having a statewide breadth and rural depth. We will continue to forge partnerships with mission-aligned organizations, leveraging our collective resources to respond together in addressing complex issues across Colorado.
- Focusing our efforts to increase resources in Colorado communities that are under-resourced and where young people are experiencing the greatest health inequities.
- We will apply Trust-Based Philanthropy principles to our grantmaking, including:
Our Hope
We hope these changes will enable us to collaborate more effectively with our partners in advancing policies and improving conditions for young people facing health and social inequities. Our priority is to learn alongside our partners, gaining insights into what works and identifying barriers, so we can continuously refine and enhance our grantmaking efforts over time. We remain deeply committed and energized to leverage a variety of strategies that will help unlock the potential of young people in our state, empowering them to realize their promise and contribute meaningfully to our world.
Learn More
Please contact our team for more information about Caring for Colorado’s new strategic direction. Thank you for your continued interest in our work and for sharing these updates with your aligned and interested connections.
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Upcoming Open Funding: Youth Health and Well-Being
We are working to advance health and well-being for young people, ages 9 to 25, in Colorado who experience health inequities due to economic injustice, racism, and discrimination. Grantmaking opportunities will be available to support young people, strengthen families, and build youth-centered communities. Learn more about our Youth Health and Well-Being funding priority and watch for our announcement next week.