County awards $25,000 in discretionary grants

Includes $5,000 toward UpRoot Colorado’s effort to bolster LIFT-UP food banks

PRESS RELEASE
May 18, 2020

GARFIELD COUNTY, CO – Qualifying local nonprofits and organizations have received a combined $25,000 in second-quarter discretionary grants from Garfield County. The Board of County Commissioners approved six requests from local nonprofits May 11, as well as a joint request from the Garfield County Public Library District and Colorado Mountain College (CMC) to improve access to internet services.

Nonprofit recipients of second-quarter grants are Liberty Classical Academy – $5,000 toward its theatre arts program; the Youth Water Leadership Program – $2,500 to fund watershed literacy for local students; Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra – $2,500 to help cover scholarships for music lessons and training; the Lower Valley Trail Association (LOVA) – $5,000 toward its trail-building efforts between Glenwood Springs and New Castle through South Canyon; and West Elk Trails – $2,500 for winter recreation trails management expenses for the 2020-21 season.

UpRoot Colorado was also awarded $5,000 for gleaning efforts to collect fresh fruits and vegetables from Garfield County’s farms, backyard gardens and fruit trees to dispense to LIFT-UP food pantries.

The library district and CMC were awarded $2,500 toward launching a Wi-Fi hotspot-lending program that assists residents and students without internet access. The effort creates 45 hotspots with data; the library district and CMC in Rifle are providing $5,000 and $2,500 respectively for this program. The hotspots are loaned to customers in a similar manner as books are lent.

The discretionary grants were approved unanimously, 3-0. These quarterly grants, which are available to local nonprofits and governmental entities, are capped at $5,000. The county allocated $120,000 for 2020 out of its discretionary grant fund. The $25,000 the board awarded, coupled with $27,500 in first quarter discretionary grants in February, leaves a balance of $67,500 in the fund for the third and fourth quarters.