The Colorado Department of Law will provide up to $20 million in grants for school-community partnerships to promote holistic youth mental health services and support. Several foundations have pledged to help Colorado communities build capacity and submit strong proposals for the funding initiative, Attorney General Phil Weiser announced at the Colorado Education Initiative’s Hopeful Futures Conference this week.
“Youth are facing a mental health and vaping crisis that is driven by a lack of meaningful connections in their lives. Even before the trauma and isolation of the COVID-19 epidemic, children and youth were facing increasing rates of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, which research shows increases the likelihood of youth vaping,” said Weiser. “We are proud to advance our work with schools and communities across Colorado to develop preventive youth mental health strategies that will enable kids to live healthier lives and not turn to vaping in the first place.”
This competitive grant opportunity prioritizes collaboration between school districts and community partners to support youth connection and decrease youth vaping. Applications will open in fall 2024 and close in January 2025.
To further support these efforts, several foundations have pledged to invest in school and community-led efforts to help develop solutions that address individualized community needs, create partnerships that can promote better youth mental health, and prevent youth from turning to vaping. So far, these foundations include Rose Community Foundation, The El Pomar Foundation, The Telluride Foundation, Western Colorado Community Foundation, The Anschutz Foundation, Gazette Charities, The Craig-Scheckman Family Foundation, Caring for Colorado, Gary Community Ventures, and the Denver Broncos Foundation. The Denver Broncos Foundation will host a youth mental health conference at Empower Field at Mile High in the summer of 2025.
The $20 million in funding will be seeded by the attorney general’s multi-million dollar settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs, Inc., reached in 2023 to resolve a lawsuit against the company for targeting young people in its marketing and misrepresenting the health risks of its products. Colorado received $31.7 million from the nationwide settlement.
This week’s announcement builds upon Weiser’s efforts to address the youth mental health crisis. In 2021, the Healthy Youth/Strong Colorado Fund, a partnership between the Colorado Department of Law and Rocky Mountain Health Plans, provided $5 million to support youth empowerment and mental health programs throughout the state.
Earlier this year, the Department of Law requested proposals from non-profit organizations and governmental entities for $6 million in competitive funding opportunities. Weiser’s office is also working with the Colorado Department of Education to distribute $11.4 million in grants to local education providers to address the youth vaping crisis.
These grant awards will be announced in July 2024.