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GOCO board awards $536K in grants for Generation Wild planning efforts in four communities

DENVER – Today, the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) board awarded $536,898 in Generation Wild planning grants to four community-based coalitions. The funding will help groups in the Pueblo area, Greeley, the Uncompahgre Valley, and Towaoc advance their missions and explore joining the Generation Wild network of communities deepening connections between youth and the outdoors.

To date, 12 existing Generation Wild communities have delivered more than 7,000 programs to 270,000 participants. A tracking study by Kaiser Institute of Health Research showed that middle and high school students reported greater interest in outdoor activities after participation in Generation Wild programming. The number of middle school-aged youth spending five or more hours per week outside increased by 27%.

New planning projects are described here:

Generation Wild Planning Grant, $190,532 to the City of Pueblo

With a $190,532 planning grant, City of Pueblo Parks & Recreation, and partners including Pueblo Communities That Care, Boys and Girls Clubs of Pueblo (BGCP), the Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center, the Pueblo Zoo, and the Pueblo County Department of Parks & Recreation, will collaboratively identify barriers to outdoor access and devise a plan to connect youth and families with more outdoor experiences. These could include nature-based programs and career pathways like volunteer positions, jobs, and internships.

Partners will work with collective impact consultants Civic Canopy to establish a structure for community engagement, collaboration, and program sustainability. They’ll build relationships with local organizations such as local governments, schools, nonprofits, businesses, and churches and connect with a BGCP outdoor program manager, hired with support from a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Equity Grant.

Despite Pueblo’s abundant outdoor amenities, local youth and families face barriers to outdoor recreation including transportation access, entry and parking fees, lack of equipment, language barriers, and more. Partners aim to offer structured programs that provide accessible, fun, and safe opportunities to play outside.

Generation Wild Planning Grant, $151,400 to the City of Greeley

A $151,400 planning grant will help the City of Greeley build on years of community-driven efforts to bring nature access and outdoor amenities to the city’s highest-need areas and help establish a coalition of organizations to create youth-and-family outdoor programs. The City of Greeley Natural Areas and Trails, Poudre Learning Center, and the Trust for Public Land will lead a community engagement and planning process to produce a five-year strategy for outdoor programs, services, and partnership.

The coalition will engage community members through listening sessions and convene youth-serving organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club, Lutheran Family Services, Immigrant and Refugee Center, the local school and library district, and other city departments, to identify community needs and strategies to address them.

Generation Wild Planning Grant, $105,000 to Montrose Recreation District (MRD)

A $105,000 planning grant to MRD and partners from Uncompahgre Valley Outdoor Recreation Group (UVORG) will expand efforts to connect youth to outdoor experiences in Montrose and Ouray Counties. Funding will help develop a five-year plan to increase community access to outdoor programs and pathways to outdoor careers.

The Uncompahgre Valley in southwest Colorado is rich in recreation opportunities, but factors like transportation, fees, equipment, and recreation knowledge can be significant barriers to family participation. With funding from the Colorado Health Foundation and support from collective impact consultants Civic Canopy, a group of organizations including MRD, Friends of Youth and Nature, Outer Range Outdoor School, Colorado Canyons Association, and Voyager Youth Program launched UVORG in 2023 to connect the region’s kids with the outdoors. Since then, the collaborating entities have delivered a range of programs and services, from outdoor trips and learning opportunities to events and a gear library.

With this GOCO grant, partners aim to set bigger goals for the coalition and expand their reach, particularly with Latinx and low-income residents. It will help improve their efficiency and impact, supporting continued training and technical assistance, community engagement efforts, partnership development, programs and internships, and more.

Generation Wild Planning Grant, $89,966 to Montezuma Land Conservancy (MLC) in partnership with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT)

An $89,966 grant to UMUT and MLC will help the partners develop a strategic plan to connect Tribal youth to outdoor experiences. The plan will enhance outdoor programs in Towaoc and strengthen the partnership between the MLC-led coalition of youth-serving organizations Montezuma Inspire Coalition (MIC) and the UMUT.

MIC is a diverse group of nonprofits, businesses, and governmental organizations in and around Montezuma County that are collaborating to get youth outside and connected to nature. Since 2017, MIC has connected thousands of young people and their families to the outdoors with programs, career pathways, and a Gear Lending Library.

With new funding, MIC, UMUT, and partners like the Ute Mountain Ute Recreation Center and charter school Kwiyagat Community Academy (KCA) will develop a strategic plan to guide outdoor programming and collaboration for the next five years.  A Tribal Recreation Liaison will gather community feedback through surveys and listening sessions.

A key partner, KCA is a four-year-old charter school in Towaoc, serving 55 K-3 students in 2023-24 with plans to expand to around 80 students in grades K-5 by August 2025. The school serves a 99% Native American student population and delivers an interdisciplinary and project-based education guided by Ute culture and language. The Generation Wild planning process will help KCA connect its students with more outdoor programs.

"We’re so excited to invest in planning for four new communities interested in joining the Generation Wild network," said GOCO Executive Director Jackie Miller. "Committed to collaboration, they've been hard at work developing the relationships, resources, and community engagement plans needed to connect kids and families with high quality, close-to-home outdoor experiences. GOCO is proud to help these coalitions take their next steps towards achieving their visions, and to support the continued growth of Colorado’s youth-in-outdoors movement."

Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers, and open spaces. GOCO’s independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created when voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1992, GOCO has since funded more than 5,700 projects in all 64 counties of Colorado without any tax dollar support. Visit GOCO.org for more information.