Regional Partnerships

The Big Picture: Many parts of Colorado don't have access to the same resources as the state's bigger cities, yet these areas still have important issues to confront. In 2003, El Pomar Foundation established the Regional Partnerships program to better understand and respond to the specific needs of these often under-served communities across the state. At the heart of the Partnerships are more than 60 community leaders who form Councils that advise the trustees. The Foundation wanted to find an effective way to gain the kind of knowledge that can only come from living, working and being involved at the local level.

The Details: Our Regional Council members come from all walks of life and represent the business, nonprofit, and public sectors. They provide firsthand information about the needs in their own communities. Each Council member comes to El Pomar with an established record of community engagement and involvement. There are nine Regional Councils throughout the state. One El Pomar trustee sits on each Council. To date, $7.6 million has been granted by the Regional Councils, including $1.6 million in 2011.

What's new: El Pomar's network of advisers includes: nine state elected officials; five newspaper publishers; four county commissioners; four chamber/economic development commission presidents; four leaders of financial institutions; three current (and one former) college presidents;  three business owners; two judges; and numerous other nonprofit, government, and community leaders. For 2012, each of the nine Councils can provide up to $200,000 in grant recommendations to the trustees. Over five years, that equals one million dollars of impact per region.

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