Community Grants

Grant Focus

Montrose County School District (MCSD), is the largest rural school district in Colorado, located on the Western Slope. We intend to use awarded MINDSOURCE funds for travel to Denver to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) BrainSTEPS programming and formation of an MCSD Core Traumatic Brain Injury Team, consisting of educators, school psychologists, district nurse, and special education coordinator, as well as a wider TBI Advisory committee, which will include non-profit family resource center representatives, medical staff from the hospital and Pediatric Associates, Center for Mental Health, and other relevant community partners.

Contact Information
Matt Jenkins
970-249-2405
thomas.jenkins@mcsd.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

County

• Montrose

Grant Focus

Living Well with Brain Injury is a single day education and resource event which includes a community resource fair and educational/discussion groups covering topics related to living well with BI. Interpreter services and discussion groups targeting those who are non-English (Spanish) speaking will be provided; individuals living in rural areas and resources serving those areas will be included.

Contact Information
Lenny Hawley
303-789-8570
lhawley@craighospital.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Statewide

Grant Focus

Provide education of Brain Injury individual / family disability adjustment process; specific examples of treatment/tools/techniques for developing/implementing greatest function; and available resources in NW Colorado – WCAHEC regional area. Provide the education through a series of three six hour workshops offered live in three locations and each streamed online with a compilation of digital resource directory. Along with utilizing education with the brain injury/epilepsy support group to provide a Safety Fair to the public and 2500 children in Mesa County.

Contact Information
WCAHEC
970-434-5474
ghoaglund@wcahec.org

Additional Information
Information regarding workshops can be found at wcahec.org/community-health.html

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Eagle
• Grand
• Gunnison
• Jackson
• Mesa
• Pitkin
• Summit

Grant Focus

Brain Injury and Behavioral Health: Education, Collaboration and Consultation, will consist of a one-day conference for behavioral health providers along with follow-up video-conferenced case reviews, with the aim of improving the capacity of behavioral health services for individuals & families living with brain injury in Colorado.

Contact Information
Lenny Hawley
303-789-8570
lhawley@craighospital.org

Additional Information
Webinar recordings are available at craighospital.org/bibh

Years

• 2020
• 2021

County

• Arapahoe

Grant Focus

To create an original theatrical production with individuals with aphasia.

Contact Information
Holly Kleiber
303-735-8264
holly.kleiber@colorado.edu

Additional Information
Event was held December 7, 2019

Year

• 2019

County

• Boulder

Grant Focus

Helmet Heads is a Colorado-based nonprofit that addresses barriers to helmet use by working with students in Title 1 schools across Denver and Aurora. In order to prevent traumatic brain injuries in this population, Helmet Heads uses an evidence-based curriculum to educate second graders on helmet safety and proper use, as well as provide free fitted helmets to every student.

Contact Information
Kristina Hulen
303-618-4094
Kristina.hulen@helmetheads.org

Additional Information
A list of the schools served can be found at helmetheads.org/copy-of-education

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Arapahoe
• Denver
• Jefferson

Grant Focus

Pueblo Brain Injury LLC’s mission is to connect survivors of brain injuries in the southern region of Colorado with resources and activities in Pueblo County that will strengthen their physical, vocational, educational and recreational abilities as well as spread awareness in the community through partnerships in the Pueblo County area. Events and activities will be posted in a menu style selection on the Pueblo Brain Injury website so survivors can easily pick and choose their options according to their individual needs.

Contact Information
Maria Martinez
719-250-4870
mapahija@gmail.com

Additional Information
A list of the events is available at pueblobraininjuryllc.com/news-events

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Statewide

Grant Focus

Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado will present workshops and experiential opportunities to utilize new and/or unutilized interpersonal resilience skills, in a camp setting. Peer mentorship participants will be able to assess what skills are or aren’t working for them and develop a plan they believe will have greater success moving forward.

Contact Information
Seija Curtin
303-223-0731
seija@biacolorado.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Statewide

Grant Focus

The Survivor Series is composed of grant funded (free to participants) one-session monthly classes in a lunch-and-learn interactive format designed to enhance the well-being and success of brain injury (BI) survivors. The program connects people to resources including a network of others living with the same injury. The sessions provide information, training and resources on life skills, health information (physical and behavioral), financial resources, and community connection ideas in an interactive environment that helps attendees to gain confidence, belonging, hope and belief that they can still achieve success in their lives post injury. The topics are selected based on feedback from participants through the evaluation process. Blogs are posted after each session for those who could not attend and as a reminder for those who attended. The priorities for 2019-2020 sessions are to outreach to underserved populations (LGBTQ, American Indians, African-Americans, and homeless) and addressing educational needs of these populations. BIHF is requesting funding for three sessions in 2020 and 2021.

Contact Information
Gayann Brandenburg
303-349-4058
gbrandenburg@braininjuryhopefoundation.org

Additional Information
Blogs for each session are available at braininjuryhopefoundation.org/blog-2

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Statewide

Grant Focus

This year, the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado (BIAC) would like to coordinate and host a Brain Injury Symposium for survivors of brain injury, their family members, caregivers, and professionals. This would be a one-day event on November 1st with opportunities for education, support, activities, and networking.

Contact Information
Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado
303-355-9969
info@BIAColorado.org

Additional Information
Event was held on November 1, 2019

Year

• 2019

Counties

• Statewide

Grant Focus

The Initiative through the Direct Service and Outreach programs; advocate and empower abuse survivors with disabilities as they overcome barriers to reach safety.

Contact Information
Ashlee Lewis
303-839-5510, ext 101
ashlee@theinitiativeco.org

Additional Information
theinitiativecolorado.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Statewide

Grant Focus

This project will augment Project SHINE at Spring Institute’s Community Health programming offered in the Colfax/ Yosemite Community and two ethnic Adult Day Care Centers.

Contact Information
Brandy Kramer
720-626-6838
bkramer@springinstitute.org

Additional Information
springinstitute.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Arapahoe
• Denver

Grant Focus

The Pueblo District 70 BrainSTEPS team would like to provide professional development related to Traumatic Brain Injury to our general education teachers, exceptional student services department staff including ESS teachers, paras and specialists including OT, PT, Speech Language Pathologist, Nurses, Nurse assistants, and School Psychologists. Our team would like to promote the existence of our team to our school district, to families who may need our services and to community members such as doctors. We want the community to know that our team can be a bridge between home and school (after returning to school with the effects of a concussion/brain injury) We would like to use grant money to print BrainSTEPS brochures, provide them with advertising materials (pens) and we would like to provide refreshments during professional development.

Contact Information
Aaron Crowley
719-369-7394
acrowley@district70.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

County

• Pueblo

Grant Focus

We will purchase an executive function curriculum and host a live professional development training, as well as provide compensation for substitute teachers to allow special education teachers (and if possible, general education teachers) the freedom to attend the training and receive ongoing coaching throughout the two year grant period. We will also purchase copies of a reading program that Children’s Hospital Denver frequently recommends for students who have sustained traumatic brain injuries to increase achievement with reading goals.

Contact Information
Nicole Miller
970-352-7404
nmiller@cboces.org

Additional Information
cboces.org

Years

• 2020
• 2021

Counties

• Morgan
• Weld