Funding and Schedule Update
Many Colorado ManREACH community members know already that – for the first time in 10 years – we did not qualify for funding through the state’s HIV Prevention grant process. The primary reason was a shift in funding priorities to urban areas, specifically the Denver metropolitan area.
Our recent loss of state funding combined with our loss of federal funding in 2012 (for the same reason) has impacted significantly how Colorado ManREACH (MR) can serve the needs of our statewide, non-Denver, GBQT community in the future. As a direct result of these losses in funding, MR is not able to host the same number of gatherings in 2014 that it has in the past. Last year, MR hosted eight unique, one-day and three-day events across Colorado. Gatherings were hosted in Dolores (two), Grand Junction, Jamestown, Fort Collins (two), Colorado Springs and Black Forest and engaged 205 participants.
The number of gatherings Colorado ManREACH can afford to host this year is two. One was the recent 10th Anniversary Celebration at the Cal-Wood Retreat Center in Jamestown in June. The second will be the 10th Anniversary Celebration at La Foret Retreat in Black Forest over Labor Day Weekend, August 28-31. Register here.
With that said, please know that our hands and hearts go out to our GBQT brothers on the Western Slope and in the Four Corners. The Colorado ManREACH community has not forgotten you! There are plans in the works to host at least one, one-day event in each of your spectacular regions of the state in 2015. As for now, the Colorado ManREACH Steering Community extend a special invitation for you to join us for Labor Day at La Foret. Your truth is welcome here!
Going forward, the number of gatherings Colorado ManREACH will host will depend on how successfully it raises the money it needs to cover the food, lodging and other expenses it incurs at each event. Each three-day gathering costs approximately $10,000. With that in mind, the Steering Committee asks you to please consider making a one-time or reoccurring financial contribution to help MR continue serving the needs of GBQT men throughout this vast and beautiful land.
The good news is that this month, Colorado ManREACH received a donation from the Colorado Health Foundation and a grant from the Gamma Mu Foundation. Both foundations support the creation of a healthy, statewide community of GBQT men and recognize how we have worked together to achieve this goal for many years.
Colorado ManREACH is grateful for the generous financial support of the Colorado Health Foundation and the Gamma Mu Foundation! Their investment in MR’s future will help us expand our ability to include the one-day events on the Western Slope and in the Four Corners next year. Still, the long-term sustainability of MR and its statewide gatherings is in the hands of its community members – all of us! – and each of us can help. Please make your one-time or reoccurring financial contribution by clicking on the DONATE button at the bottom of this page. Thank you for your support!
See you at La Foret!