As a long-standing institution in the Denver metropolitan area, DU prides itself on not only being a high-ranking university but also as a community partner. In the past two weeks, DU partnered up with the Colorado Health Foundation to donate approximately $5 million dollars towards the development of health resources in the rural districts in Colorado.
It all stems from DU’s Center for Rural School Health and Education (CRSHE). This organization within DU helps launch programs and partners with rural school districts to provide education by allocating resources to fit the needs that are unique to the rural areas within Colorado. With the help of the Colorado Health Foundation, CRSHE was able to make the grant a reality.
According to a segment by the Colorado Public Radio (CPR), the money granted by the partnership will be awarded to approximately 27 districts, and the money will help provide necessities that promote health, such as “fresh fruit and standing desks,” as well as “equipment for PE classes and afterschool programs.”
Considering that many rural schools and districts do not have the funding, nor access that their urban and suburban counterparts do, the collective grant provided by the joint forces of DU and the Colorado Health Foundation will positively impact students, faculty and families that live in the 27 districts.
“It’s not like they [students] have Boys and Girls clubs to go to,” says Elaine Belansky, the CRSHE representative here at DU. According to CPR, some of the grant’s money will be allocated to the development and implementation of mental health programs in at least some of the districts.
Considering that the idea of raising awareness around mental illness in rural communities is relatively recent, it goes without saying that the grant’s contribution towards the development of mental health resources in these rural areas is a huge step forward not only from a societal standpoint but from a health-related one.
DU seeks to help Coloradans in Denver and, with this $5 million dollar grant, they hope to help rural Coloradans as well.
