Gilpin County hears midyear reports as commissioners confirm $381,323 in community funding

Gilpin County commissioners heard midyear reports from 17 nonprofits on July 22, receiving updates on program openings, outreach and how county grants have been spent.

The presentations ranged from a planned fall opening for a county early-learning center to updates on youth programs, mental-health services and wildfire mitigation. Commissioners and staff noted the county’s altered funding mix for one project and an overall increase in the county’s community funding allocations compared with material circulated earlier in July.

Jamie Barker, director of Gilpin County Human Services and the county’s appointee to the Gilpin Mountain Kids Early Learning Center board, said the center hired a new executive director, Amy Carr, in June and is “hoping to open this fall.” Barker told commissioners the money that will support the center was shifted from the community funding line to the lodging tax, and Barker said that change accounts for a $100,000 dedicated lodging-tax allocation for the center.

Presenters described grant-driven expansions and local programming supported by modest county awards. Always Choose Adventure (ACA) reported it…