The Colorado Disability Funding Committee, operating under the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office, will award $2 million in grant funding to 34 organizations across the state.
A spokesperson with the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office said the grants will support new and innovative projects aimed at improving the independence and quality of life for Coloradans living with disabilities.
“The funding for these grants comes from the partial sale of historical license plates, including the black-background license plates which have become very popular,” a spokesperson said. “Thanks to the popularity of these plates, the Colorado Disability Funding Committee has been able to increase its grants over 300% in the past two years.”
Since the Colorado Disability Funding Committee was formed, it has funded disability application assistance grants to organizations that assist individuals and families with various applications for disability benefit programs. Recently, the committee divided the funding and allocated half of it to new ideas.
The committee selected 34 organizations to receive funding for various programs such as education, employment advocacy and training, adaptive recreation, technology, housing, therapy and medical innovations, service animal training and placement, general advocacy and more.
A spokesperson from the Colorado Disability Funding Committee said the organization received 191 applications totaling over $15 million in requested funding.
“The Colorado Disability Funding Committee is made up of 13 governor-appointed members, most members identifying as living with a disability or having first-hand experience working with someone who does,” a spokesperson said. “This committee worked tirelessly through 253 grant applications in order to select the recommended winners. The committee looked at how many people would be served, what geographical areas would be served and what new and innovative ideas would be employed to improve the lives of Coloradans.”
Applicants were eligible to request up to $100,000 each.
“The organizations were delighted to hear they had been selected, given the difficult budget year many of them are facing,” a spokesperson said.
Julie Deden, the executive director of the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton, said her organization is grateful for the $60,000 grant it will receive from the Colorado Disability Funding Committee in July.
“We’re planning on using the grant to assist blind people of all ages to work in the area of technology and to learn technology,” Deden said. “We’re going to be doing a lot more training in the area of technology, while at the same time weaving AI into it. So we’ll be working with people here at our Colorado Center for the Blind, but we’ll also be working with some blind people outside of the center itself. So we’re really excited about it.”
The Colorado Disability Funding Committee said it was happy to see the high number of applications.
“While the demand for funding is high, we’re hopeful that as more Coloradans learn that the historical license plates aren’t just cool and trendy, they’re actually making a positive impact across the state, we’ll be able to increase the available funding even further in the future,” a spokesperson said.