TCF Blogger's blog

 

New Vista High School students and staff meet twice a week to create events to raise awareness of the school’s environmental impact and to offer accessible solutions the school, teachers, staff, and students can take to reduce their environmental impact. It's the newest program out of the Cottonwood Institute.

I just got off the phone with U.S. Rep. Jared Polis' office and wanted to forward this invite to anyone who hadn't seen it. If you're interested in getting federal funding for education or the arts, this workshop may be up your alley.

The Community Foundation's Civic Forum has been burning the midnight oil lately to create two new tools that Boulder County people can use to make more informed choices when it comes to giving and voting.

Nearly one year has passed since The Community Foundation launchedits Community Trust Initiative, on Sept. 8, 2008. Its mission was to double ourunrestricted grant making fund’s support for Boulder County nonprofits, now andforever, while also raising enough money to significantly impact one specificarea of community need.

Who knew when we launched it that the economy wouldimmediately fall apart?

And who could have predicted that the community would rally around thisinitiative in the face of such harsh economic reality?

I wrote a couple months ago about The Community Foundation's bold decision to make its largest-ever Community Trust grant to an innovative program aimed at closing the achievement gap by training Latino informal daycare providers.

Giving a $90,000 bridge grant to an organization at risk of closing was a somewhat risky move that not a lot of foundations would have taken. But I'm thrilled to report that it paid off.

Every other year, The Community Foundation publishes a report on the changing demographics of the Boulder County community. "Trends" points out where we stand in terms of education, the environment, civic engagement, health care access, arts and culture. Our Civic Forum Director, Morgan Rogers, is pounding out this year's installment, to be published this Fall. She recruited several of us to help write various sections. I was in charge of writing about our new Early Childhood Initiative. What follows is a sneak peak of what I came up with:

My spin class instructor, who is a gifted photographer, is raising money for local charities by taking quality photographs of one million people this year, expressing their hopes and dreams for the world on a dry-erase board.

Peggy Dyer will be at the Boulder Creek Festival, near the childrens' area, this Sunday and Monday at 10 a.m. Check her out if you're down there. Suggested contribution is $10.

For stories on her project, go here:

A first-of-its-kind program aimed at narrowing the achievement gap in Boulder County has received the largest grant ever from The Community Foundation's unrestricted fund. 

A friend of mine, Leson Dunkley Hansen, is one year into an intense struggle with breast cancer. She is a single mother of four children, ages 10 through 19, and is a beloved teacher at The Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies.