The Community Emergency Relief Fund awarded $50,500 in grants to nonprofits in five counties in Southwest Colorado in 2020. The grants went to nonprofits working to help people who have been harmed by restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Now, funds have been disbursed to nonprofits to assist them in their COVID-19 economic recovery.

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The Community Emergency Relief Fund awarded $50,500 in grants to nonprofits in five counties in Southwest Colorado in 2020. The grants went to nonprofits working to help people who have been harmed by restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Now, funds have been disbursed to nonprofits to assist them in their COVID-19 economic recovery.

The Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado has disbursed $300,000 in pandemic recovery grants through the Community Emergency Relief Fund to 91 nonprofits across Southwest Colorado.

The disbursal included $195,000 to 55 nonprofits in La Plata County, $54,000 to 20 in Montezuma County, $38,000 to 12 in Archuleta County, $8,000 to three in San Juan County and $4,500 to one in Dolores County.

All nonprofits that applied received funding. The average grant was about $3,000 per organization.

The money was raised solely by individual donations and an anonymous matching donor.

CERF is designated for broad-based community emergencies in Southwest Colorado. The fund was established in 2008 as a response to the Seasons’ restaurant fire. Since then, it has been activated for the Gold King Mine spill in 2015, the Adobe Building fire in Pagosa Springs in 2016, the 416 Fire and now for COVID-19 economic recovery.

To learn more about the Community Emergency Relief Fund, visit swcommunityfoundation.org/cerf.