Nonprofits serving Jefferson County receive $3 million in grants to help feed local families

ARVADA, Colo. (April 17, 2025) – Jefferson County’s food system just got a boost, and this means more people will be able to find and afford food in communities like Lakewood, Golden, Arvada and the foothill communities of Evergreen and Conifer.

Colorado Gives Foundation awarded $3,077,889 million this week to sixty-eight nonprofits working to improve access to local, healthy and culturally relevant food for Jeffco residents.

“Nearly 1 in 10 Jeffco residents feel they can’t consistently provide food for themselves and their families, and nearly half of older adults in Jeffco say it’s difficult to find quality affordable food,” said savinay nathan, community impact vice president with Colorado Gives Foundation.

Much of this funding helps to address those challenges by supporting food pantries and helping eligible people enroll in programs such as SNAP and WIC benefits.

“It’s more difficult than it should be for Jeffco residents to figure out which public benefits they qualify for, how to apply, and how to use the benefits when they get them,” said nathan. “That’s why a number of organizations are using the funding to help Jeffco families enroll in and take advantage of public benefits that they may not even know they qualify for.”

Local food pantries are excited because they can offer more healthy food through government programs like Double Up Food Bucks.  

“We know that fresh fruits and vegetables are among the healthiest foods we can eat, but they can also be expensive. That’s why Nourish Colorado will use their grant to continue implementing the Double Up Food Bucks program in Jeffco, which allows people and families to use their public benefits to go twice as far when purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables,” added nathan.

Jeffco’s youngest community members are also being supported. One grant recipient, WeeCycle, plans to use the funds to provide baby food and formula at mobile operations across the county. 

“Filling kids’ bellies with nutritious food is a key part of ensuring they’re ready to learn,” said nathan, “which is what several grant recipients are working to address.”

• Jeffco Schools Foundation will provide healthy snacks to students in schools.
• Jeffco Remote Learning program will provide food to students in online/alternative schools.
• Conifer Rotary will provide meals for students to take home on weekends.
• Jeffco Eats will give students totes with food to take home for their families.

Grant recipients, including The Action Center, Benefits in Action, Mountain Resource Center, Evergreen Christian Outreach and others will help provide reduced price or free food to help address inflation and the rising costs of food impacting many Jeffco families.

For food pantries to receive fresh, culturally relevant and nutritious food from local farmers, there must be new and innovative systems in place. Organizations like Ag & Food Lab and HungerFreeWorld are coming up with novel ways to streamline the local food system by reducing waste and increasing access for those who need it most.  

Another challenge the Foundation hopes to address through its grant funding is the large amount of food that gets dumped before it can get to the people who need it.  

• Ekar Farms, Front Line Farming and Sprout City Farms will work to produce more healthy food.
• Denver Urban Gardens will help people plant gardens in their communities, which improves the health of both those growing and eating the food.
• UpRoot Colorado will work to ensure that healthy, safe food gets re-routed to food pantries instead of thrown away.

“It will take a collective effort in Jeffco to ensure mouths get fed, but it’ll also take a concerted effort at the local, state and federal government to ensure that the fundamental flaws in our food system are addressed,” said nathan. “That’s why some of the funding also supports advocacy in local, regional and statewide public policy to increase food access in Jeffco.”

“One of the most inspiring things about this grant opportunity was seeing the incredible number of organizations and people who are working together across Jeffco for the greater good,” nathan said.

Colorado Gives Foundation believes that collective wellbeing is achieved when all neighbors have consistent access to nutritious food, which is critical to supporting stable, accessible and affordable living conditions to build a promising future for all.

Learn more about the organizations receiving grant funding and our impact work.

Learn More

Colorado Gives Foundation’s next grant opportunity opens in May to support improving access to quality child care and education for Jeffco residents with children eight years old and younger.

---

Reporter Resources

Photos, reports, infographics and a list of grantees are available in Colorado Gives Foundation’s Newsroom.

About Colorado Gives Foundation

Colorado Gives Foundation connects people, ideas and Colorado nonprofits to make good happen. Colorado Gives Foundation is a Jefferson County grant maker, investing over $10 million annually to Jeffco-serving nonprofits committed to ensuring that all of Jeffco is thriving. We also work statewide to build the capacity of nonprofits and donors via ColoradoGives.org, nonprofit endowments and donor services. Through ColoradoGives.org, we make it easy for people to donate to the causes they care about, enabling meaningful change to help our neighbors thrive. Colorado Gives Foundation is where donors find and discover the community impact that matters most to them, which is good for everyone.

Contact Our Team

Media Contact
Cindy Matthews
Director of Communications + Community Outreach
Connect with Cindy