Thriving Young People Grants

The Colorado Health Foundation aims to empower young people in Colorado, particularly those facing health inequities, including youth of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Their funding focuses on creating equitable outdoor spaces that foster community engagement and active participation. By prioritizing planning grants for outdoor projects, the Foundation seeks to address barriers to physical activity in low-income and rural communities, encouraging holistic health through collaborative design and inclusivity.

The Colorado Health Foundation believes all young people living in Colorado should live healthy and thriving lives. We envision a Colorado where physical and mental health is in reach for all young people in our state, especially for those who experience greater health inequities, including young people of color and LGBTQ+ youth.
Why it Matters
Physical fitness is just one aspect of a young person’s health. Their sense of belonging and community, the relationships that surround them, and access to resources like education and social supports all contribute to their mental health and total well-being. We know that encouraging not just a sound body through healthy movement and proper nutrition, but a sound mind through a strong sense of agency, safety, and identity are what it takes to set young people up to live healthy and thriving lives. Because we know that certain young people experience greater health inequities than others, we focus our efforts on young people of color and LGBTQ+ youth to ensure that physical and mental health is in reach for all.How We Will Reach Our Vision
The Foundation is currently updating our strategic approach to supporting thriving young people in Colorado.
2025 Funding Cycles: Equitable Community-Designed Outdoor Spaces
This funding opportunity supports planning grants to inform the design and construction of outdoor spaces, such as playgrounds and parks across Colorado that allow children, youth and families to become co-designers of their own reimagined spaces for physical activity while fostering a sense of community, agency and belonging.Race is a central consideration for the development of healthy communities. Effective strategies that engage all youth, especially youth of color, must recognize race and place barriers that impact opportunities to create lifelong physical activity practices. Limited recreation space coupled with safety concerns restricts the physical activity opportunities of communities of color. Families in rural communities also lack outdoor amenities and safe places to play. Often, the areas with the least access to public play spaces are the most stressed. Rarely are spaces provided for intergenerational physical activity and cohesion in rural communities.This funding opportunity prioritizes outdoor spaces that center the needs of communities living on low-income, communities of color and rural communities in Colorado in the pursuit of health equity.This funding opportunity differs from previous opportunities as it emphasizes a more dynamic planning process for how communities are engaged in designing outdoor spaces. Applicants must undertake a planning process that includes deep community engagement bringing community members together to actively co-design spaces that reflect the community’s needs, history and culture, and encourages positive physical activity and psychological safety. Projects may utilize the Community Engagement Spectrum, Equity-Centered Community DesignTM*, or another relevant model to support the planning and design process. We invite you to work with a program officer to determine the right process for your community project.Planning funds in the range of $25,000 - $50,000 can be used to support community engagement and co-design activities. Planning grants may include personnel costs, meeting space needs, stipends for community members, administrative costs, meeting materials, translation and interpretation costs, among other needs. Landscape architects selected by the Foundation will provide technical assistance to support communities through the design process, as needed. Costs for this technical assistance will be covered by the Foundation separately from the planning grant.At the conclusion of planning grants and by invitation-only, projects will be considered for capital grant support for construction of shovel-ready projects. This funding is not guaranteed. We expect that the strength and depth of the community engagement process will yield a competitive project to be considered for implementation funding by the Foundation and other funders.Proposed projects must reflect the Foundation’s cornerstones . These outline who we serve, how our work is informed and our intent to create health equity.Have questions? We are here to talk through your ideas and encourage you to connect with us before applying for funding.

Eligibility

Each funding opportunity offers its own eligibility criteria and applicant deadlines. Typically, we consider grants for the following:Projects: Specific sets of activities carried out over a defined period of timeGeneral Operating Support: Day-to-day expenses to carry out the organization's missionCapacity Building: Enhancing financing, governance, planning and other business capabilitiesCapital: Facilities or infrastructure improvements
Who We FundColorado organizations classified as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3)
Colorado public agencies, including state and local governments
New or emerging organizations without 501(c)(3) status are permitted to apply through a tax-exempt organization acting as fiscal sponsorThe fiscal sponsor must maintain full discretion and control over any awarded grant funds and should have the organizational capacity to manage and accept the risks involved with fiscal sponsorshipThe project must be aligned with the fiscal sponsor’s charitable missionThe fiscal sponsor’s board must approve the project as furthering the sponsor’s charitable mission before applying for a grant from The Colorado Health FoundationFor more information, download the Foundation's fiscal sponsor policy and sample memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Ineligibility

Programs that do not require ongoing participation for a specific duration (e.g. drop-in programs)
Programs focused on respite care only
Programs centered on competition or whose primary outcome is focused on training toward individual athletic ability, progression and success
Organizational staff training or developmentWho We Don’t FundOrganizations that willfully discriminate against a particular class of individualsOrganizations not abiding by all applicable local, state and federal anti-discrimination laws in hiring, employment practices and when providing servicesIndividualsScholarships and scholarship fundsPrograms that require membership in a certain religion or advance a particular religious faith (faith-based organizations may be eligible for funding if they welcome and serve all members of the community regardless of religious faith, provided they do not require participation in activities that are specifically religious)Programs operated by, or that benefit, for-profit organizationsDebt retirementFundraising eventsEndowments