{"id":385,"date":"2026-06-01T12:33:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385"},"modified":"2026-06-01T12:33:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:33:38","slug":"colorado-outdoor-recreation-office-wraps-up-3-6-million-in-federal-grants-to-50-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385","title":{"rendered":"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Colorado outdoor recreation office last week wrapped a four-year effort to award more than $3.6 million in federal grant money to 50 projects in 27 counties, marking a highlight achievement for the four-person office.<\/p>\n

Read more Where Colorado secretary of state candidates Amanda Gonzalez and Jessie Danielson stand on the top issues in the Democratic primary<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s had such a big impact,\u201d said Seth Ehrlich, the longtime head of the SOS Outreach, which received $45,000 in 2022 to help launch its career development program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the 32-year-old SOS Outreach navigated the pandemic, with limits on its youth mentorship programs that bring underserved kids to Colorado ski slopes, the Colorado State Outdoor Recreation Grant helped the nonprofit scale up its nascent program that trains kids on interviewing and places them in five-week work programs with companies like Vail Resorts and retailer Evo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today the SOS Outreach program has grown from its first location in Denver to seven locations in Eagle and Summit counties, north and south Lake Tahoe in California, Park City, Utah, and Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat grant enabled us to scale from the pilot program into a seven-week program in those seven sites. Some of the coolest things are our students seeing graduates of the program working in the industry and managing retail locations,\u201d Ehrlich said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really powerful to see that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Economic Development Administration grants are part of the $183 billion in state funding in the American Rescue Plan Act. Colorado received $3.8 billion and the outdoor recreation office got a sliver of that and whittled down millions of dollars in requests from 178 groups and governments in 39 counties to 50 projects in 27 counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grants, allocated over four years, included $250,000 to help open the nonprofit, county-owned Cuchara Mountain Park, which spun a chairlift for the first time in 25 years in January. The 50 projects that received grants created 927 jobs and supported programs that hosted 11,446 young people at 96 camps and training programs. The grants supported 23 events that drew 99,926 attendees, according to a report on the outdoor grant program released this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nonprofit Ouray Ice Park used one of the first grants delivered by the state outdoor recreation office to help it expand the park and secure water rights \u201cfor the next generation of climbers,\u201d said Peter O\u2019Neil, the ice park\u2019s six-year director who recently retired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The outdoor recreation office pledged $200,000 to the Ouray Ice Park, but reporting requirements by the federal government whittled that down a bit. (That\u2019s a common refrain from grantees: It\u2019s one thing to land a state grant, but when the feds are involved, it can become an arduous journey to meet dense federal reporting guidelines. Especially when the grants were authorized by the Biden administration but largely distributed under the Trump administration.)<\/p>\n

Read more Colorado\u2019s war over oil and gas is a never-ending story. New political players have upended a fragile peace.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t get the full $200,000 but that\u2019s OK,\u201d O\u2019Neil said. \u201cWhat that grant really gave us was incredible momentum and the gravitas of the state stepping up and saying: \u2018This is an important project.\u2019 With that backing I was able to go out and solicit another $1 million from donors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grants also helped groups and governments hire more staff to help drive growth in programming around outdoor education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout additional staffing, even if grant funding is received to cover the costs of developing and launching a new program, it may not progress as desired,\u201d reads the 37-page grant report. \u201cInternal capacity is a significant issue for outdoor recreation industry organizations, especially those in rural areas and those that rely heavily on volunteer labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Routt County Economic Development Partnership got a $65,470 grant to support partnership jobs dedicated to retaining outdoor recreation businesses in the county. That funding helped local businesses better find and secure additional grants, like the state\u2019s Rural Jump Start initiative. Earlier this month that program helped bring fly-fishing apparel company Colter Backcountry to Steamboat Springs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, there are more than three dozen outdoor brands in Routt County, making it an industry hub and beacon of the rural outdoor recreation economy.<\/p>\n

Robin Hall was also a recipient of a Rural Jump Start grant, enabling her to stay in Steamboat Springs and launch a new business when her former employer, Smartwool, pulled up stakes and moved to Denver. Her Town Hall company develops sustainable, high-quality clothing for kids, filling a critical need in her mountain town.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for the Routt County Economic Development Partnership and the state\u2019s OREC team we could not be doing this,\u201d Hall said. \u201cWe are here because of their work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Where John Hickenlooper, Julie Gonzales stand on the issues in Colorado\u2019s Democratic U.S. Senate primary<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The state’s outdoor recreation office spent four years distributing grants to projects in 27 counties that created close to 1,000 new jobs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoors"],"yoast_head":"\nColorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects - Colorado Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects - Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The state's outdoor recreation office spent four years distributing grants to projects in 27 counties that created close to 1,000 new jobs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colorado Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T12:33:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\"},\"headline\":\"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T12:33:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385\"},\"wordCount\":802,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Outdoors\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385\",\"name\":\"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects - Colorado Relocation Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T12:33:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1085},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=385#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colorado Relocation Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/coloradorelocationreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects - Colorado Relocation Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects - Colorado Relocation Report","og_description":"The state's outdoor recreation office spent four years distributing grants to projects in 27 counties that created close to 1,000 new jobs","og_url":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385","og_site_name":"Colorado Relocation Report","article_published_time":"2026-06-01T12:33:38+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482"},"headline":"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects","datePublished":"2026-06-01T12:33:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385"},"wordCount":802,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp","articleSection":["Outdoors"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385","url":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385","name":"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects - Colorado Relocation Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-01T12:33:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/244d244217a38e221bfd4751f6f886ba.webp","width":2000,"height":1085},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?p=385#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Colorado outdoor recreation office wraps up $3.6 million in federal grants to 50 projects"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/","name":"Colorado Relocation Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/144e01590ba7a61cfe6fd08a0fa7a482","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradorelocationreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}