Deadline: 2-Feb-23
The Great Outdoors Colorado’s (GOCO) Community Impact Program seeks to enhance a community’s quality of life and access to the outdoors through investments in capital infrastructure projects and the community-driven processes that inform them.
GOCO believe when partners work together with community members in project visioning and design, and when processes elevate unheard voices, outdoor connections are more impactful and communities become more cohesive and inclusive.
People and communities experience a multitude of benefits from an increased connectedness to the outdoors ranging from improvement to physical and psychological health, to diversified local economies, to educational impacts and more. Funding for the outdoors can also be a meaningful equity lever in Colorado – and a means to address issues of disparity and disproportionality. When developing local projects, they ask partners to consider the multifaceted benefits of outdoor recreation and outdoor education and advance the most needed and urgent projects that will serve the highest and best interests of their communities.
Components
- Through this program, GOCO invites partners to apply for funding to develop and revitalize parks, trails, school yards, fairgrounds, environmental education facilities, and other outdoor projects as identified and prioritized by the communities they serve. To facilitate project outcomes, applicants may request funding, as needed, for the following components:
- Local capacity building through investments in existing staff, community members, and/or consultants
- Community planning, organizing and collaboration to identify existing barriers to outdoor experiences and solutions for overcoming them
- Land acquisitions
- Site-specific, community-centered design
- Storytelling, project communications, and celebrations.
Funding Information
- Matching requirements and project timelines will be customized to their partners and your projects. While there is no maximum request amount, they expect most requests to fall below $1 million for any given grant cycle.
Eligible Cost
- Costs associated with project planning/coordination/implementation/communications/ celebration
- Staff expenses incurred by the applicant and any contracted service providers for professional services directly related to project outcomes and administration.
- Costs of surveys, engineering, design, GIS/mapping, land acquisition due diligence costs, etc.
- Costs associated with volunteer engagement and retention, e.g., prizes, awards, food, etc.
Eligibility Criteria
- Colorado municipality or county
- Title 32 special district eligible to receive distributions from the Conservation Trust Fund
- Political subdivision of the State of Colorado that includes in its mission the identification, acquisition, or management of open space and natural areas
- 501(c)(3) non-profit land conservation organization that includes in its mission the identification, acquisition, or management of open space and natural areas, e.g., land trusts
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
For more information, visit GOCO.