The Outdoor Equity Grant Board recently announced recipients of a $1.3 million equity grant, and Adaptive Sports Association of Durango is on the list, along with the Montezuma Inspire Coalition and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.
The purpose of the grant program is to improve outdoor recreation accessibility for Coloradans who may not have as easy an ingress to recreational lands.
According to the Colorado General Assembly website, the Outdoor Equity Grant Fund is part of a bill signed by Gov. Jared Polis in 2021. Its purpose was to increase access and opportunity for underserved youths and their families to Colorado's open spaces, state parks, public lands and other outdoor areas.
Twenty-seven Colorado organizations will be recipients of the $1.3 million funding. Adaptive Sports Association, which provides sport and recreational opportunities to people with disabilities, is slated for $50,000 of the money. Montezuma Inspire Coalition, which provides outdoor curriculum programs to Montezuma County youths, will get $70,000, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe will receive $10,000.
Organizations that submitted requests for funding were required to contain detailed budgets on how they intended to use the money, according to Outdoor Equity Grant Program Manager Andrea Kurth.
“The Outdoor Equity Grant Board reviewed requests and tried to honor requests for funding as much as possible,” Kurth said in an email to The Durango Herald. “The OEGB is committed to a fair, equitable, and efficient review process for applications and uses a consensus-based process to arrive at funding recommendations. OEGB will rely upon the collective wisdom of the board members rather than vesting power or authority in individual reviewers.”
The grant program will focus on funding those organizations that center around helping the disadvantaged and disabled populations of Colorado, as well as those that deal with environmental conservation.
“Program focus should aim to address one or more of the following issues: the racial inequities Coloradans face in accessing the outdoors, improving environmental justice, accessibility to the outdoors for Coloradans from marginalized communities including LBGTQ+, the disability community, and/or Native Americans and Indigenous peoples,” Kurth said. “They should raise awareness of and or seek to address the root cause of the disparities Colorado youth experience while trying to access the outdoors. Our goal is to build the Colorado of our future through strategic investments that improve the lives and well-being of youth and their families.”
This year’s recipients are the second round of applicants receiving funding from the program, which was championed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and sponsored by Colorado House Democrats.
“Adaptive sports and educational experiences help introduce more Coloradans to the great outdoors,” said Colorado Rep. Barbara McLachlan in a news release. “I’m pleased the Adaptive Sports Association, Montezuma Inspire Coalition and Southern Ute Indian Tribe, among others, will be receiving an Outdoor Equity Grant. Breaking down barriers to accessing the outdoors will help foster a new generation of Coloradans that can enjoy, explore, respect and protect our public lands.”
molsen@durangoherald.com
