FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 12/10/2015

Contact:   Todd Cohen, o: 303.226.4530 c: 303-503-9068, tcohen@goco.org, or Laura Cardon, 303-226-4531, lcardon@goco.org

DENVER –Five schools will receive Great Outdoors Colorado funding for professional design services so they can develop plans to upgrade their aging upgrade aging playgrounds and incorporate outdoor education and nature play experiences.

The schools, which will receive $7,000 each, will return in April to seek up to $100,000 in constructions funds to execute their designs.

All five also will become partner schools in the Schools and Outdoor Learning Environments (SOLE) program run by Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) and funded by GOCO. SOLE provides schools with field trips, family nature nights, and training that will enable teachers to take full advantage of the redesigned playgrounds when they are finished

Eighteen schools applied for GOCO’s School Play Yard Initiative, which has already provided funds to transform 30 aging school playgrounds that serve 12,000 students across the state. The goal is to create more active play areas and create outdoor classrooms. The playground also typically serve as a community play space for surrounding neighborhoods.

The professional design services help guide schools through a student-led planning and community engagement process to design a highly creative, nature-focused playground.

GOCO is funded by net proceeds from Colorado Lottery.

Grant details are as follows:

ADAMS COUNTY: Clyde Miller P-8 in northeastern Aurora is just under the threshold to receive Title-I funding from the federal government, but still faces the variety of educational challenges correlated with poverty. The 34-year-old school playground is unable to handle the needs of the current student population of nearly 600 children, and a new playground will also help leverage existing after-school programming.

EAGLE COUNTY: Eagle Valley Elementary International Baccalaureate (IB) World School is the oldest elementary school in the Eagle County School District, where approximately 50% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch rates, 50% of students are English Language Learners, and most of the student body lives within half a mile of the school.  An important component of IB school curriculum is stewardship of the earth. The GOCO grant will not only revitalize a once-loved playground, but will also expand learning opportunities for students. The community has already engaged in fundraising and outreach efforts for the last three years.

GARFIELD COUNTY: Sopris Elementary School in Glenwood Springs has a student body that comprises 40% English Language Learners. The free and reduced lunch rate is just over 45%, and the school serves more than 600 students. Students have already led outreach efforts to various community groups, and the GOCO grant will help fix drainage issues, improve handicap and community-wide access, and will establish outdoor learning spaces. Drainage issues currently make half of the playground completely inaccessible in the spring. 

JEFFERSON COUNTY: Lawrence Elementary students are part of a refugee, housing-insecure, and generally underserved population in Arvada. Nearly 75% of the student body qualifies for free and reduced lunch and Lawrence is the closest playground for children in the area, many of whom do not have their own yards to play in. The school already serves as a hub for community and district-wide meetings, and the GOCO grant will turn the school’s significant outdoor space into an engaging space for unstructured play.

LOGAN COUNTY: Caliche Elementary School’s grounds are shared with the junior/senior high school, and the GOCO grant will help create an engaging hub for outdoor play in a small, rural school district. Caliche serves as one of the only outdoor play spaces for kids in the Iliff community, but it has outdated equipment that fails to meet safety standards. As part of the grant application process, students traveled to schools previously funded by GOCO and presented their proposal to local government entities to seek support.

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 4,500 projects in urban and rural areas in all 64 counties without any tax dollar support. Visit goco.org for more information.