Committee recommends $180,000 in Community Partners Grants; council gives consensus to include in 2027 budget

Corey Koller and committee member Aspen Jacoby presented the Community Partners Grant Program committee's recommendations for 2027. The committee reviewed 37 applications (19 small-tier and 18 large-tier requests), recommended funding 32 organizations and used new evaluation criteria that require large requests to align with at least one of the council's strategic priorities. Jacoby said the committee focused on measurable impact to Wheat Ridge residents and used a block grant approach to allocate 20% of CPGP funding to Wheat Ridge High School; the pool available to the committee was $180,000 after that set-aside.