Xcel Energy Awards Grant to Colorado Mountain Club’s Conservation and Youth Education Efforts
OutdoorHub 08.02.12
On July 20, the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) received a $15,000 grant from Xcel Energy.
The grant was made through the Environmental focus area for Xcel Energy’s corporate giving, part of the company’s effort to support nonprofit agencies providing services in towns and cities served by Xcel Energy.
“The success of our company is directly related to the health of our communities,” said Monique Lovato, Xcel Energy’s director of Corporate Giving. “While Xcel Energy’s employees invest in our local communities with charitable contributions and volunteer time, these grants are another way Xcel Energy shows our commitment to improving the quality of life in the towns and cities we serve.”
Through its focus area grants, Xcel Energy supports nonprofit 501c(3) organizations that improve science, technology, engineering, economics, and math education; improve and enhance the natural environment; help individuals achieve economic self-sufficiency; and that provide access to arts and culture. In 2011, the company contributed $3.9 million in focus area grants to organizations across its eight-state service territory, which includes Colorado.
Funds will be used to support environmental and academic education through the CMC’s Youth Education Program, as well as our slate of land stewardship projects in 2012.
“Xcel Energy is one of our most important corporate partners for getting kids outside and getting boots-on-the-ground stewardship accomplished, said CMC Development Director Sarah Gorecki. “Last year, our grant from Xcel Energy helped us to begin combining the two programs, by incorporating youth into our stewardship projects. We developed specific curricula to teach youth about giving back to the places they recreate in. We’re excited to continue to offer family-friendly and youth stewardship projects again this year. The grant also provides critical funding for our Youth Education Program and statewide stewardship projects.”
The CMC’s Youth Education Program provides opportunities for youth to learn about and explore the outdoors through hands-on activities in the classroom, at the American Mountaineering Center, or in local open space parks while CMC Conservation focuses on working with land management agencies, partner organizations, elected officials, and coalitions to permanently protect our last remaining roadless areas and the ecological integrity of our region.
