Choose When: Reduce Financial Barriers to Contraception Grant

Overview

At Caring for Colorado, we believe reproductive healthcare, including access to affordable, person-centered contraception, is a fundamental human right. The power to decide if and when to start a family is essential to a person’s health, autonomy, and future. We work to improve health outcomes for people experiencing the greatest inequities in health, well-being, and opportunity. We seek to remove health disparities and build a more equitable future for:

* Young people ages 9-25 and their families - Our primary focus is on prevention and early intervention to support the optimal health and well-being of young people. Our priority is to support programs and organizations that serve those who are pregnant or parenting; aging out of the foster care system; rebuilding their lives after exiting the juvenile justice system; and at risk of homelessness. Recognizing that young people are part of family systems, we also focus on supporting the parents and caregivers of these youth.
* Young people furthest from opportunity and experiencing the greatest health inequities - Our goal is to eliminate disparities in health, well-being, and opportunity for young people due to race and ethnicity, socio-economic status, stigmatized identities, or disabilities.
* Rural communities - Rural communities working to address health inequities for young people will receive high priority in Caring for Colorado funding decisions due to resource constraints in rural communities, such as lack of transportation, inadequate or aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, lack of a robust tax base, and other barriers.
* Other considerations - Other community health indicators will be considered when making decisions regarding grant awards. These indicators include, but are not limited to the rates of child abuse and neglect; the rates of out-of-home placements of young people; High school graduation rates; adolescent pregnancy rate, especially for adolescents under 19; adolescent suicide rate; and adolescent homicide rate.

Choose When: Reduce Financial Barriers to Contraception Grant

Choose When began in 2017, created by a group of community members concerned about access to reproductive healthcare in Northwest Colorado. With insight from healthcare professionals and community members experiencing barriers to care, they decided to fund local clinics to increase access to long-acting reversible contraception for patients who could not afford it. This decision came after learning that women in the community desired more birth control options beyond the pill and that long-acting methods were financially out of reach for those without insurance or in need of confidential services. Their successful approach inspired Caring for Colorado to expand Choose When statewide in 2023. Choose When continues to support clinics in the Northwest region.

* Choose When is committed to making all contraceptive methods affordable and accessible for everyone in Colorado.
* We prioritize support for health clinics serving communities that face the greatest obstacles to care, including financial hardship, geographic location, language and cultural barriers, and obstacles based on age or identity. By addressing these systemic gaps, we’re working to make reproductive healthcare more equitable for all.
* Our funding opportunity provides financial support to cover the costs of contraception, especially long-acting methods, to improve access to this basic healthcare need. Through grants to community-based safety-net health clinics, we help eliminate cost barriers for people who are uninsured, underinsured, or in need of confidential care. These grants allow clinics to offer contraception at no cost to patients, expanding their access to the full range of options.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Caring for Colorado considers applications from organizations that benefit the people of Colorado and are:
* Charitable, nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt classification from the Internal Revenue Service; or
* Tax-supported institutions including state and local governments and schools.
* New or emerging organizations or for-profits are permitted to apply through a tax-exempt organization acting as a fiscal agent. The most common type of fiscal agent arrangement is between a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization and a non-tax-exempt group. The fiscal agent has the ultimate authority and responsibility to see that the funds are used for the intended purpose; it cannot simply be a pass-through organization.
* Open to Colorado-based safety net clinics, public health agencies, school-based health centers, and rural health clinics

Ineligibility

* Caring for Colorado does NOT fund:
* Organizations or projects that unlawfully discriminate with regard to employees, volunteers, delivery of programs or services, or clients based on age, sex, religion/creed, race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, marital status, military or veteran status, pregnancy, or genetic information.
* Individuals.
* Activities supporting political candidates.