$90,000 Community Foundation grant leveraged to secure $629, 468 for early childhood education

Boulder (July 17, 2009) –  The Community Foundation’s recent and largest unrestricted grant of $90,000 served as leverage for the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition’s Providers Advancing School Outcomes program (PASO) to receive a $629,468 grant from the Statewide Strategic Use Fund (SSUF). In essence, every dollar of The Community Foundation’s original $90,000 investment has been turned into 8 dollars.  

PASO is a groundbreaking and nationally innovative pilot program addressing school readiness for children most at risk. The program focuses on skill-building for childcare providers who work in informal settings through a network of family and friends, i.e., at-home providers who care for their friends’ or family’s children younger than 5.

The Community Foundation’s $90,000 grant helped PASO secure the SSUF grant, move forward with training a third co-hort of Boulder County providers, and expand the program into one additional metro-area county.  There will be a request for proposals and a competitive process to choose that second county.

The $629,468 SSUF grant’s term is September 1, 2009- June 30, 2011. The grant is the only of SSUF’s grants this round in Boulder County and the only related to the critical issue of school readiness.

Insuring that each and every child is ready to learn when they start school is a critical issue affecting children individually, how they contribute to the overall learning environment of their classes throughout their school career, and eventually the quality of our work force. The connections between school readiness and a variety of other social and economic issues are immediate and transformable. The Community Foundation has chosen early childhood education as a multi-year focus area for Community Trust funding. The Community Trust is the Foundation’s permanent unrestricted fund serving Boulder County.

PASO, Co-Directors, Denys Vigil and Tikki Heublein, Ph.D., said, “The educational achievement gap in Colorado between Latino students and White students has been, and continues to be seriously out of line.  The Community Foundation of Boulder County, not only has demonstrated the courage to face this issue head on, but moreover, has clearly understood the positive impact that early childhood educational interventions have on young Latino children from birth to 5 years of age.  It is this combined organizational commitment and wisdom that has greatly resuscitated the viability of the FFN PASO vision to open new and expanded doors.   The Community Foundation of Boulder County is, indeed, a catalyst.”

Purpose of The Community Foundation
The Community Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in Boulder County, now and forever, and to build a culture of giving. The Foundation is the place where giving is informed and inspired to have the greatest impact on the vision of a better Boulder County. We are committed to intimately understanding needs and connecting to the nonprofits that address those needs. Purpose and passion are the inspiration for everything we do. Together, Boulder County residents and The Community Foundation can make a meaningful impact on our fellow residents’ quality of life today and in the future. To learn more, please visit www.commfound.org or call 303-442-0436.                    


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