Focus Areas

Public Policy
Advocacy

Our Focus

Children are more likely to thrive when caregivers, families and communities experience opportunities for health and well-being. We believe all children, youth and families deserve equitable access to systems of support.

Partnering to promote public policy advocacy and systems change can promote justice and equity and achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people in Colorado.

What We Fund

Caring for Colorado seeks to create lasting, meaningful and broad change that improves the lives of children for generations to come. We support public policy advocacy as a central tool for advancing our mission.

Public policy advocacy funding can support general operating, capacity building, network and coalition building, research and analysis, public education, policy implementation engagement and monitoring, leadership development, polling, nonpartisan voter education, regulatory efforts, and, in some cases, limited lobbying.

Public Policy Advocacy

Caring for Colorado funds public policy advocacy at local and state levels to support efforts that improve health, well-being and opportunity for children, youth, and families in Colorado. We prioritize work that aligns with the foundation’s Guiding Principles.

Statewide

We fund statewide public policy advocacy efforts that improve access to high quality health care for children, youth, and families experiencing barriers to care or support efforts to strengthen or expand public programs or benefits to help families prosper.

Children, youth, and their families must be a core component of an organization’s advocacy agenda, and the organization must explicitly work to create or improve policies that reduce economic, racial and gender-based inequities.

Local

We fund local policy advocacy efforts that respond to emergent or urgent issues, or capitalize on new opportunities to improve health, well-being and opportunity for children, youth, and their families.

Youth-Led

We fund policy advocacy efforts that partner with young people to identify and respond to issues that affect youth health, well-being, and opportunity.

Recent Grants

Colorado Center on
Law and Policy

Work to ensure behavioral health parity, promote the integration of physical and behavioral health and continue to inform policymakers, advocates and foundations about health policy affecting Coloradans with low incomes.

Together We Count

Act as a hub of census information, training and support for trusted messengers, including to strengthen education and messaging and ensure that all Coloradans are counted in the 2020 census.

One Colorado
Education Fund

Complete a policy scan on disciplinary policies that negatively affect LGBTQ youth, create resources and trainings for schools, and train youth, parents and youth-serving adults.

Seeking a Grant?

Related Work

Healthy
Beginnings

Healthy
Youth

Strong & Resilient
Families