The air was filled with anticipation the night of Nov. 15 at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia as 10 local non-profit representatives shared their organization’s vision and goals prior to receiving a portion of the $34,375 grant money from the West Elk Community Fund (WECF).

Elaine Brett, co-chair for WECF, opened the evening with a brief explanation about Western Colorado Community Foundation, the umbrella organization over WECF. Western Colorado Community Foundation (WCCF) serves seven counties in Western Colorado providing funds in health and human services, education, arts, culture, environmental services and others.

“One of the strategies that we put into place while I was on the board was to try and reach out into the communities that the foundation serves. We felt it would be more intimate and successful if we looked at the communities as a community, that people would be more inclined to donate monies for their specific community and we would be able to identify projects that were most important to that community,” Brett said.

Read the full Delta County Independent story here.

Read more about our Local Community Fund here.