Introducing Our 2021 Front Range Women & Girls of Color Fund Grantees
Twenty-one Front Range Initiatives to Receive $255,000 in Funding from the Women & Girls of Color Fund
Applications for the second cycle of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado’s Women & Girls of Color Fund, focused on Front Range initiatives, opened in July. Over the next several months, we received 84 applications and met with each applicant’s executive director to learn more about their work. After extensive review and long conversations about our funding priorities, our advisory council selected 21 organizations headquartered from El Paso county to Larimer county and serving all 64 Colorado counties to receive $255,000 in unrestricted funding. Grants range from $10,000 – $20,000 and each executive director received an additional $750 for self care or personal or professional development.
Our 2021 Front Range grantee partners address issues critical to the prosperity of Colorado women and their families, including reproductive justice, food justice, disability justice, family advocacy, workers’ rights, and much more. You can meet them below.
Grants from the first round of funding are already making a difference for our rural grantees. We invite you to join us in this work. Thanks to Ford Foundation’s generous $50,000 matching grant, your gift of $5, $50, or $100 to the Women & Girls of Color Fund goes even farther to increase philanthropic investments in women and girls of color.
Applications for the 2022 rural cycle of the Women & Girls of Color Fund will open in January of 2022. Sign up for our eNewsletter and check back on our website later this year for more information.
We are deeply grateful for the time and energy that every applicant spent on the application process. Although we were only able to fund a quarter of the applicants, each one is doing critically important work that is worth funding. Are you a funder interested in investing in women and girls of color? We would love to share information about our grantees and unfunded applications with you. Please reach out to Camisha Lashbrook, donor relations manager, at camishal@wfco.org.
Meet 21 of the Incredible Women and Non-binary People of Color at the Forefront of This Work
To visit a grantee’s website, click on the organization’s name. Click on the organization’s county to meet the executive director and learn more about their mission.
*Denotes organizations that have a conflict of interest with a Women & Girls of Color Fund advisory council member. Advisory council members recused themselves from review and voting on organizations with which they had a conflict of interest. Please note that many organizations with a conflict of interest did not receive grants.
Casa Milagro Youth Solutions, Denver County
Millie Duran, Executive Director
Service Area: Adams, Conejos, Denver, El Paso, Jefferson, and Pueblo counties
Mission: We present interactive theater performances for our youth on teen dating violence, gang intervention, males disrespecting females and bullying. Our performances deal with real-life issues, stimulating the youth’s problem solving and critical thinking skills. Our performances provide our youth the opportunity to address issues of abuse in a welcoming surrounding on topics they were directly or indirectly affected by.
Colorado Circles for Change, Denver County*
Angell Pérez, Executive Director
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties
Mission: To create a pathway for our youth to discover sacred relationships with self, family, and community, to reduce violence and incarceration so that youth can reach their full potential.
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), Denver County
Dusti Gurule, Executive Director
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Delta, Denver, Jefferson, Lake, Prowers, San Miguel, and Summit counties
Mission: Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) is a community-rooted nonprofit organization that works to enable Latinx individuals and their families to lead safe, healthy, self-determined lives.
Colorado People’s Alliance, Denver County
Lizeth Chacon, Executive Director
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: Colorado People’s Alliance (COPA) is a racial justice, member-led organization dedicated to advancing and winning progressive social change locally, statewide and nationally. COPA builds power to improve the lives of all Coloradans through leadership development, organizing and alliance building.
The Compound of Compassion, Arapahoe County
Shana Shaw, CEO
Service Area: Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Pueblo, and Weld counties
Mission: The Mission of the Compound of Compassion to provide a self-sustainable environment created to encourage a safe place of healing for youth, young adults, veterans and seniors. To meet those in need where they are and provide disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and other tangible assistance.
Curls on the Block, Arapahoe County
Analise Harris, Founder/President
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Hinsdale counties
Mission: Curls on the Block is an enrichment program for girls of all curls and colors to embrace, explore and empower their natural selves while working to increase engagement, investment, and commitment to careers in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).
Denver Indian Family Resource Center, Denver County
Tara Manthey, Executive Director
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties
Mission: Denver Indian Family Resource Center (DIFRC) was founded in early 2000 as a child welfare agency dedicated to meeting the diverse and emerging needs of American Indian children and families in the Denver metropolitan area. Our goal is to assist families to avoid involvement with the child welfare system and to support and advocate for families already involved. We provide a variety of services that build up the strengths of Native families and that help children thrive.
The Family Center/La Familia, Larimer County
Gloria Kat, Executive Director
Service Area: Larimer County
Mission: Adopted by the board of directors in 2018 with extensive input from staff, families and the community, the mission of The Family Center/La Familia (TFC/LF) is:
Working alongside diverse families we provide high quality childcare and supportive services, with an emphasis on cultural attunement with the Latinx community. This work is done with an explicit vision of creating a community in which all families are safe, supported, and thriving.
Fortaleza Familiar, Adams County
Mimi Madrid, Co-founder/Executive Director
Service Area: Adams and Denver counties
Mission: Fortaleza Familiar is dedicated to the wellness of Indigenous Chicanx Latinx Lesbian Gay Bi Queer Trans Two-Spirit young people and their families in Colorado.
Greater Purpose Media, Adams County
Summer Nettles, CEO
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: She Quit is a series dedicated to highlighting the unique skills Black women bring to the work force, unearthing the inequities Black women face in the workplace that force us to leave and facilitating conversations within workplaces that lead to significant workplace reform and safety for the women most impacted by the effects of COVID-19: Black women.
IDEA Stages (IDEAs), Boulder County
Alicia Young, Founder
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: We galvanize theater makers to take demonstrable action toward inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.
The Initiative, Denver County*
Ashlee Lewis, Executive Director<
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: Founded over 30 years ago, The Initiative (previously known as the Domestic Violence Initiative for Women with Disabilities or DVI) is the only organization in Colorado that focuses our services on the intersection of cross-disability issues and abuse. “Cross-disability” means that we serve people with all kinds of disabilities, including physical, sensory, cognitive, developmental, mental-health, and health-related. Through our advocacy and outreach programs, The Initiative strives to create an abuse-free culture for all.
Kaizen Food Rescue, Arapahoe County
Thai Nguyen, Founder
Service Area: Adams, Denver, and Jefferson counties
Mission: According to the National Resources Defense Council, 40% of the food supply in the U.S. is wasted, which works out to more than 20 pounds of food per person per month, (NRDC, 2017). To combat this adversity, Kaizen Food Rescue aims to prevent food waste, improve food justice and health equity in Denver metro.
Kingdom Builders Family Life, El Paso County
Lisa Jenkins, Executive Director
Service Area: El Paso and Teller counties
Mission: KBFLC is committed to changing the narrative of underserved individuals, families and youth who have been impacted by various forms of Trauma. We do this by: Advocacy, Education, Case Management, and Mentorship
Light Carrier, Arapahoe County
Candice Bailey, Executive Director
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: We focus on making the maximum positive effort for our community. Our members and volunteers provide the momentum that helps us affect change. Using human driven approaches to everything is the only resolution to human issues.
Red Light Resources International, Boulder County*
Pasha Ripley, Executive Director
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: RLRI, a nonprofit coordinating support services to those in need and education. Human Trafficking Victims are separate from Consenting Sex Workers.
The Road Called STRATE, Arapahoe County
Michelle Sykes, Executive Director
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, and Douglas counties
Mission: The Road Called STRATE is a training and employment agency which collaborates with other community based organizations to provide a “road map” for low income families, immigrants and ex-offenders seeking employment and other supportive services.
Sheridan Rising Together for Equity, Arapahoe County
Nelly Limon, Executive Director
Service Area: Arapahoe County
Mission: To improve health equity in the city of Sheridan by creating power in the community, facilitating the process of self-determination regarding education, programs, activities, and housing with community members.
Show and Tell, Arapahoe County
Yvette Plummer Burkhalter, Executive Director
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties
Mission: We give parents and caregivers the resources they need to help their children with disabilities thrive.
Soul 2 Soul Sisters, Denver County*
Rev. Dr. Dawn Riley Duval, Co-founder/Executive Director
Service Area: Statewide
Mission: We are a grassroots, faith-filled, racial justice nonprofit organization based in Denver. We transform Colorado and beyond through Black Women-led programs focusing on Black Women’s healing & health, reparations, Black voter engagement and ending anti-Black racism. Shaped by Womanist creative thought and theology, Soul 2 Soul Sisters is founded by two Black clergy Women, Rev. Tawana Davis and Rev. Dr. Dawn Riley Duval. Soul 2 Soul Sisters provides sacred space for Black Women to rest, be, share, and develop and implement plans for peace, power, healing and liberation.
Vuela for Health, Denver County
Diana Pineda, CEO/Program Director
Service Area: Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, and Denver counties
Mission: VUELA’s mission is to mobilize and engage parents by offering education, resources, and support that strengthen their sense of self-worth, and promote a healthy change in their families and communities.
VUELA’s primary objective is to engage the Latino community through strategic partnerships that build leadership, promote public health, and foster economic, environmental, and social well-being.
