News: Community Development

[ Start with reflection on big-picture state of community development in 2019, and tie to Gates’ strategic focus areas. Below is some fodder from your 2019 report to the Gates board. Feel free to edit or cut. A good target for length is about 500 words. NOTE that the list below includes all 2019 strategic grants, capital grants, and impact investments coded to Vibrant Communities focus area holistically — so we may add a few lines from Sue, Lisa, and/or Melissa into the letter. Thank you!]

In 2019, the community development program committed $932,500 in strategic grants to 13 organizations and $465,000 in responsive capital grants to 12 organizations. New community development impact investments in 2019 included: a $500,000 PRI to Accion/DreamSpring, $500,000 MRI to Greater Colorado Venture Fund, $3 million MRI to Rose Affordable Housing Fund V.

ELEVATION COMMUNITY LAND TRUST: Joined with six foundations and Urban Land Conservancy to launch a new public-private partnership to acquire or develop 700 permanently affordable homes and serve 2,000 residents in five years in Front Range communities from Ft. Collins to Aurora: https://www.elevationclt.org/

EAST COLFAX  / SUN VALLEY REDEVELOPMENT: Helped catalyze the Federal and Colfax cloverleaf redevelopment project, which received major investment from Colorado Department of Transportation and the City and County of Denver in 2019,

COLORADO MEDIA PROJECT: Launched the Colorado Media Project, a community-led effort to strengthen public-service journalism across Colorado through collaboration, innovation, and community engagement.

[ The end is a good place to tout anything important that we’ve got on tap so far in 2020. ]

Laia Mitchell, Senior Program Officer – Community Development
Whitney Johnson, Program Officer – Natural Resources and Community Development

2019 Grants and Impact Investments Awarded: Vibrant Communities

[ Start with reflection on big-picture state of education in 2019, and tie to Gates’ strategic focus areas. Below is some fodder from your 2019 report to the Gates board. Feel free to edit or cut. A good target for length is about 500 words. Note that the list below includes all 2019 strategic grants, capital grants, and impact investments coded to Educational Equity as a holistic focus area — so we may add a few lines from Sue and/or Lisa into the letter. Thank you!]

In 2019, Gates Family Foundation’s education program awarded $2,745,750 in strategic grants to 23 organizations and $214,765 in responsive capital grants to seven organizations.

Through our Rural District Capacity-Building program, we joined with Wend Ventures to support local groups in Alamosa, Cañon City, and Durango with facilitation, data analysis, and strategy development to advance big ideas for their schools, students, and communities at large. Our case study, Bridges to Collective Vision, shares what the groups accomplished  — and what we all learned in the process, with technical support from Civic Canopy — to share insights for nonprofit partners and philanthropic peers statewide and nationally for working alongside rural communities to strengthen public education and student success.

Gates also joined with national funders to launch Lyra Colorado — an independent nonprofit dedicated to expanding the public innovation zone model that advances educator and family empowerment and accountability. [more on Lyra and C3EN]

[ The end is a good place to tout anything important that we’ve got on tap so far in 2020. ]

Mary Seawell, Senior Vice President – Education
Ana Soler, Senior Program Officer – Education
Abby Schaller, Senior Program Officer – Education

2019 Grants and Impact Investments Awarded: Educational Equity

[ Start with reflection on big-picture state of natural resources in 2019, and tie to Gates’ strategic focus areas. Below is some fodder from your 2019 report to the Gates board. Feel free to edit or cut. A good target for length is about 500 words. NOTE that the list below includes all 2019 strategic grants, capital grants, and impact investments coded to Natural Resources as a holistic focus area — so we may add a few lines from Sue and Lisa into the letter. Thank you!

In 2019, the natural resources program awarded a total of $1,256,900 in strategic grants to 15 organizations and $255,000 in responsive grants
to five organizations. New natural resources impact investments in 2019 included a $1 million MRI to the Lyme Conservation Opportunities Fund, a $3 million MRI to the Blackhorn Industrial Impact Fund, and a $240,000 PRI to the Clean Energy Credit Union.

WATER

Launched ReStORE,  a new strategic partnership with Great Outdoors Colorado, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and others to fund large-scale habitat restoration and stewardship projects across several habitat priorities: https://bit.ly/ReStORE

Partnered with the Water Funder Initiative to include the Rio Grande River in its “Resilient Rivers” fundraising campaign: https://www.waterfunder.org/watercampaign

Co-sponsored two-day convening for 50+ journalists covering Western water issues: https://gatesfamilyfoundation.org/12551-2/

LAND

Launched Keep It Colorado as a new statewide membership organization for the land trust sector: https://www.keepitco.org/

Supported the protection of Fisher’s Peak, resulting in Colorado’s newest state park near Trinidad: https://bit.ly/Fishers-Peak

[ The end is a good place to tout anything important that we’ve got on tap so far in 2020. ]

Russ Schnitzer, Senior Program Officer – Natural Resources
Whitney Johnson, Program Officer – Natural Resources and Community Development

2019 Grants and Impact Investments Awarded: Natural Resources