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Adopted the 2022 Parks and Recreation Plan, approved unanimously by City Council and Planning Board, to guide decisions and investments for the next five to seven years.
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Provided financial aid to support 100% free access to city recreation centers for those who qualified. In 2022, the program served more than 5,400 participants, who accessed centers nearly 25,000 times, accounting for 14% of all visitations.
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Restored many recreation services that were impacted by COVID-19, with a focus on building community, relationships, and youth engagement. Achieved growth between 2019 and 2022 in the following areas: 28% in gymnastics; 38% in visitation at Flatirons Golf Course; 51% in Gonzo tennis and pickleball programming; and 223% in drop-in and registrations to fitness programs and classes. Logged more than 61,000 visits to the remodeled Scott Carpenter Pool and re-introduced free nature play by Boulder Creek.
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Maintained and scaled-up services for low-income older adults and families in need, providing more than $76,000 to 104 older adults living with lower incomes for basic needs like medical, housing supports, transportation, dental, food insecurity, and other essentials. Partially re-opened the East Age Well Center giving older adults in the community access health and wellness, lifelong learning, fitness and other programs and services at two locations.
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Provided approximately $155,000 in financial assistance and support services for essential needs. including childcare subsidies, housing supports, physical, mental and dental health, transportation, and food, to 84 families living with lower incomes.
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Re-launched the Youth Opportunities Advisory Board (YOAB), a diverse group of teen leaders from across Boulder, supported by a restored Youth Opportunities Project position.
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Helped keep Boulder community members housed, through services to avoid evictions. The Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance System (EPRAS) program served more than 400 clients. Data through spring 2022 indicates that 92% of clients served through EPRAS avoided eviction through prevention services.
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Secured 183 affordable housing units for city residents, including for community members who have experienced homelessness.
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As part of a countywide homelessness strategy, enabled 145 community members (including in but not limited to Boulder) experiencing homelessness to transition to housing. An additional 55 community members were assisted with reunification with family or other social support networks, and two people were connected to other long-term programming such as treatment for substance use disorders.
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Provided roughly $7 million in annual grants through the Health Equity Fund, Human Services Fund and Substance Education and Awareness Fund to community-based projects serving low-income community members. Grants helped to provide healthy food, economic support, health services, childcare, academic support, substance use prevention, and other needs.
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Allocated federal COVID-19 relief funds (American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA) to provide direct cash assistance to low-income community members with reduced work hours due to COVID, who are not eligible for unemployment benefits. Also used ARPA funds to begin designing a Guaranteed Income pilot project, to provide direct cash assistance with no strings attached, to selected low-income community members.
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Resumed library services, programs and events suspended during the pandemic, including the re-opening of the NoBo Corner Library and the George Reynolds Branch Library to full service. Re-launched several popular in-person programs and events, resulting in more than 2 million minutes of community reading time and more than 16,000 learning activities during the Summer of Discovery program. Celebrated the first in-person Jaipur Literature Festival after two years of online-only offerings. Brought art exhibitions back to the Main Library Canyon Gallery and the Meadows Branch Library.
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Conducted a successful Request for Proposal process to re-activate the café on the bridge of the Main Library, resulting in the selection of Cynthia Diaz, owner of Tonantzin Casa de Café, as the new operator.
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Provided intervention for community members experiencing mental and behavioral health crisis, diverting individuals to mental health support and away from the criminal justice system. The Crisis Intervention Response Team's (CIRT) mental health professionals made more than 1300 responses, with police officers, to 620 unduplicated community members experiencing mental health crisis. The number of responses from January - October 2022 is higher than the total number of responses over the first six months CIRT was available in 2021.
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Integrated the Office of Arts + Culture and formally created the Office of Special Events within the Community Vitality Department to allow for greater collaboration and strategic planning in support of cultural vibrancy and economic vitality.
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Awarded 118 cultural grants, distributing $925,000 in the Cultural Grants Program to artists, nonprofits, teachers, and businesses. Funding will sustain 37 arts organizations.
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Launched scoping for a day services center and completed engagement with service providers about the functions and needs such a center would fulfill.