Caring for Colorado goes beyond grantmaking in key areas to respond more aggressively to community needs. That may mean connecting the work of grantees or filling unmet needs in areas where gaps exist.  Through innovative partnerships, we work with nonprofits, businesses, government agencies and other foundations to find solutions to critical health issues.

Oral Health Improvement

Caring for Colorado Foundation's  Oral Health Improvement Project seeks to address the need for better access to oral health services for the underserved. The ten-year, $10 million Oral Health Improvement Project has three goals: 1) Increase the long- term capacity of the oral health safety net to meet the needs of the underserved in Colorado, 2) Enable a new generation of Colorado children to be free of the devastating consequences of oral disease, 3) Develop lasting solutions for addressing the oral health needs of Colorado's underserved. 

Cavity Free at Three

Caring for Colorado has joined with The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation, and Rose Community Foundation in a three-year, statewide effort to prevent oral disease in young children. Cavity Free at Three provides technical assistance grants to nonprofit or government organizations interested in increasing access to services for the prevention and early detection of oral disease in pregnant women and children less than 3 years of age.  Thirty organizations throughout Colorado will participate in this program during the life of the project. 

Advancing Colorado's Mental Health Care

This is a five-year, $4.5 million joint project of the Caring for Colorado Foundation, The Colorado Trust, The Denver Foundation and The Colorado Health Foundation. The goal of Advancing Colorado's Mental Health Care is to improve the integration and coordination of mental health services, so people with severe mental health needs can be treated with the services they need most.  Six communities are funded through this project:  Mesa County, Larimer County, Prowers County, Summit County, Denver Public Schools and El Paso County.

Kids' Health Now

In 2006, Caring for Colorado Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, and Rose Community Foundation joined together to fund a study of children's access to healthcare in Metro Denver. Although we chose to focus on Metro Denver because it is home to more than half of the state's uninsured children, the findings and their policy implications are often applicable statewide. The four foundations commissioned Health Policy Solutions to conduct the study. The study examined the current state of health care access; coverage, provider capacity, and quality of care for all children in the Metro Denver area to help us better understand the underlying issues and opportunities for improvement.

Creating Dialogues -Public Health Dialogue

In the summer of 2007, Caring for Colorado and community partners hosted a series of community Dialogues statewide to identify gaps and barriers in providing the Essential Public Health Services to all the people of Colorado. Participants were asked to envision the ideal public health infrastructure and recommend action steps to help the state achieve that vision. The meetings were sponsored through a partnership of the Caring for Colorado Foundation, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the Public Health Alliance of Colorado. The gaps and issues identified through those meetings were collected in a document (see publication downloads) that outlined a series of nine action steps. In the winter of 2008, top public health officials met at the Foundation, using that document as a road map toward improvement, and expanded upon the action steps.