Congressman Crow gets $21.3 million for community projects in the 2023 budget bill

BY FREDA MIKLIN GOVERNMENTAL

Reporter

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow recently announced that 15 community projects he submitted, totaling $21,294,509, were all approved by the House Appropriations Committee and will be funded.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022, was comprised of $858 billion in spending for defense and $800 billion for all other categories combined. In a process change that went into effect last year, Members of Congress were allowed to request direct funding of community projects for their districts that had the support of local leaders and community-based organizations.

One of the projects that Crow submitted was for $2,000,000 for construction of a new acute care facility for Aurora Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center, which treats acute mental health and substance use disorders. It will serve as the first phase of a health campus that will eventually include a physical and oral health clinic and affordable housing units so that clients will be able to access service for primary care, mental health, oral health, addiction, and crisis needs at a single location, “eliminating barriers to access for both clients and community partners.”

Letters of support for the project were submitted by Crow from the president and CEO of Stride Community Health Center, the executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Aurora, the Chairs of the Board of County Commissioners of both Arapahoe County and Adams County, the Mayor of the City of Aurora, the managing director of Falck (the exclusive emergency ambulance provider for the City of Aurora), and the director of Arapahoe County Department of Human Services.

All the projects for which Congressman Crow received funding included similar detailed explanations and multiple letters of support from community leaders. Those now-approved projects are:

• $1,500,000 for the de- sign and site plan for a facility to be known as the Colorado Freedom Memorial Center (CFM) to honor Coloradans killed in military action. It will contain a theater for presentations by authors, historians, and veterans, and a classroom with computers linked to CFM partners across the country.

• $1,212,062 for the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver, CO for after-school programs, including one-on-one homework support, STEM-based learning, cultural arts, sports leagues, leadership programs, outdoor education, and nutrition.

• $1,500,000 for the Cherry Creek School District for the construction of a Mental Health Day Treatment Facility to provide therapeutic mental health care to students in crisis while continuing to provide them with an education.

• $4,000,000 for The Roots- A Community Hub for Newcomers in Colorado to renovate a building to provide a place for the 60,000+ refugees in metro Denver to gather, receive support and health care, and build a community for themselves.

• $2,800,000 for the City of Aurora to put toward replacement and upgrading of aging drink- ing water transmission pipelines to prevent contamination, leaks, and breaks in the pipe, and to improve service to the north Aurora and Delmar Parkway neighborhoods.

• $668,313 for Children’s Hospital Colorado to expand and develop two critical programs in conjunction with University of Colorado School of Medicine that together will enhance access to mental health care and improve linguistic responsiveness in mental health services for children and youth in Aurora and across metro Denver.

• $629,970 for Douglas County to ensure youth and families utilizing crisis services in the County relating to ongoing mental and behavioral health treatment, including community-based intensive in-home and outpatient services, youth resiliency development, parent support, and other services.

• $2,500,000 to renovate the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Aurora, including creating a safe place for vulnerable youth.

• $1,500,000 for the City of Littleton to collaborate with the cities of Englewood and Sheridan on a regional solution to homelessness by standing up the new fmiklin.villager@gmail. com

Bridge House Ready-toWork facility .

• $650,000 for Food Bank of the Rockies to purchase several trucks and vehicles.

• $750,000 to put toward the $3,000,000 construction cost for an amphitheater located at the Veterans Memorial, which will provide a gathering place for veterans and their families and space for programming focused on veterans.

• $783,580 to develop and implement certification in rural public health for medical students at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Colorado School of Public Health.

• $460,584 to establish an Injury and Violence Prevention Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center that will support students from underrepresented backgrounds in pursuing an education in injury and violence prevention.

• $340,000 for Second Chance Center to support service at Providence in the Heights, a permanent supportive housing program serving more than 60 residents, including 11 children, exiting homelessness.