Big bucks going to nonprofits

Aspen, CO Colorado

ASPEN — The Aspen Community Foundation announced this week that it gave out $4.8 million in grants to more than 200 organizations in 2006.

That compares to approximately $3.4 million handed out in 2005, said ACF development officer Nikki Beinstein Strait. In a written statement, Strait said 77 percent of the grants went to nonprofit groups within the Roaring Fork Valley.

Some $3.8 million of the grants, she said, came from the organization's Donor Advised Funds, which essentially are vehicles for donors who want to direct where their money will go but want to leave the administrative details to others.

Another $1 million in grants came from the Aspen Community Foundation's own grants program (about $600,000) or from special funds established under the ACF umbrella, which include the Early Childhood Education Initiative, the Harley Baldwin Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Emergency Assistance Fund, the Senior Prescription Fund and the EBF Fund. Approximately $400,000 was distributed through this list of funds. Beinstein said.

The organizations that received grants include:

• Alpine Legal Services, which provides free legal assistance to those who need it.

• The Columbine Homemakers for Independent Living, which provides housekeeping and other services for homebound seniors and disabled adults who may not qualify for home health care under Medicare or Medicaid guidelines.

• Garfield County School District Re-2, with 4,200 students in schools in Rifle, Silt and New Castle, for the district's expanding "Latino Parent Liaison" position at Rifle Middle School and for other programs.

• Mountain Family Health Center, which the ACF called "the fastest-growing rural health center in the state." The center provides "critical medical care and preventive services to the valley's working poor, uninsured and underinsured," according to an ADF statement.

• Yampah Mountain High School Teen Parent Program, which serves pregnant teens and teens with children, allowing the teens to complete high school will still meeting their children's needs.

For more information, check the website at www.aspencommunityfoundation.org or call 925-9300.

John Colson's e-mail address is jcolson@aspentimes.com