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Who is Gary Community Ventures?

For more than 50 years, Gary Community Ventures has been focused on increasing access to opportunity for Colorado kids and families

We are a sunsetting organization, which means by 2035, all the assets of Gary Community Ventures will have been transitions from our balance sheet to our Colorado community

Our primary goals for the next 10 years will be to 1) help transform systems to work better for kids and families, and 2) help more Colorado families build wealth

We primarily use four tools in services of this mission: 1) Grantmaking and philanthropy, 2) policy making and advocacy, 3) impact investing, and 4) the creation of new social ventures

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The Wildcatter Spirit

A push from our co-founder

Sam Gary co-founded Gary Community Ventures with his wife Nancy Gary, and he made his fortune in oil & gas exploration after famously drilling 33 dry wells
He frequently explained there is no way he could have been successful without the trust of many and that his most successful ventures since occurred when his teams were able to return that trust to community experts willing to take smart risks

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Our Track Record of Trust

A few of Gary’s enduring & independent ventures

Denver Preschool Program - It now runs as a standalone, government-adjacent entity after being established, expanded and re-approved by Denver voters. And it's helped 78,000 Denverites attend preschool.
Urban Land Conservancy - This first-of-its-kind urban land bank continues to preserve Metro Denver spaces for community use. It's invested in 50+ properties across 20+ neighborhoods to create affordable housing and stable workspaces for local, mission-minded organizations.
MyFriendBen - Now operating in 3 states just a year after launching, MFB transforms the process of applying for public benefits into a six-minute screening survey, and has helped 40,000+ Coloradans access an average of $1,500 in monthly savings.

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Our Emerging 5th Tool: Storytelling

Born from our communications & storytelling team’s background in journalism & creative storytelling
We’ve long for a shot to fund a holistic approach to narrative work

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Edelman Trust Barometer

Losing Trust

Government
Scientists
Journalists

Gaining Trust

Business leaders
Peers & neighbors
Search engines & AI tools

Who we trust & where we go for news & information is rapidly changing

(Source: 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer)

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80%

The Importance of Effective Storytelling in Building Trust & Understanding

Recall narrative-based storytelling content 30 days after seeing it in a video

Recall the same content 30 days after reading it as a written, fact-based message

(Source: HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing Report)

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The State of Colorado’s Child Care System

Child care providers struggle to break even

Lacking understanding & consensus on how we fix this system

Some, but not all Coloradans know child care is expensive
They don’t agree on who should pay to fix that

An existing but shifting narrative

Existing: “Parents had the kid; parents should pay for the kid”
Shifting: Bipartisan openness to changing how we provide child care

Stabilizing child care will likely require public investment

Multiple nonpartisan studies confirm: This is a broken market
Broken markets almost always require public investment to fix

Child care is really expensive for families

On average, Coloradans with an infant and 4-year-old spend 37.9% of their income on child care

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Audiences Who’ve Been Missed by Discussions on Child Care

Coloradans Without Children
Family-Focused Conservatives
Coloradans Age 50+
Business Leaders
Fathers & Male Caretakers
Western Slope Audiences
Larimer County Audiences
El Paso County Audiences

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RFP Narrative Categories

Everyone Relies on Someone who Relies on Child Care
Made Possible by Child Care
Child Care Champions

The focus areas were the result of an intensive RFP design session that included statewide early childhood experts, award-winning journalists, filmmakers, and creatives as well as qualitative researchers and members of communities who have not been frequent recipients of messages and stories about the issues facing our child care system but are still deeply impacted by them.

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RFP Funding Categories

Journalism & Traditional Media
Creative Content & Storytelling
Story & Data Collection
Story Measurement, Research & Analysis

Organizations, individuals & collectives applying for funding should submit proposals based on their ability to contribute to the above categories.

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Potential Storylines

Coloradans Without Children: Often disconnected from the child care issue, this audience may respond to narratives that emphasize how child care impacts services and employees they rely on and enjoy — and we know these impacts are actively being felt in mountain and rural communities, which face nursing and first responder crunches due in part to child care shortages
Family-Focused Conservatives: Tend to value stories and approaches that effectively reflect their community values and illustrate local impacts, including the active closure of child care centers in places like Cañon City
Coloradans Age 50+: Often connect with narratives about protecting the things they love, such as local businesses and community institutions, and enjoying retirement — not, as the New York Times has reported, bearing the responsibilities of becoming parents for a second time
Business Leaders: Are receptive to narratives that position child care as a critical infrastructure to a thriving economy, and some, including the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort, have been moved to take recent, tangible action
Fathers & Male Caretakers: Are often active participants in conversations on the economics surrounding child care and how these conditions impact the choices their families are forced to make
Western Slope Audiences: Often respond to narratives that honor local pride, economic opportunity and solving tough issues — La Plata County has, in fact, begun to attempt just that with a recent ballot measure focused on child care
Larimer County Audiences: In a community that has a blend of rural and urban values, we often see Larimer’s rural communities placing high values on essential services and its urban communities being receptive to narratives that lift up arts and cultural resources — and those communities seem to have an overlap in the ways they mutually value teachers
El Paso County Audiences: In a community where many celebrate their family and faith traditions, compelling narratives often center around veterans, businesses and religious communities — and there’s growing concerns about child care deserts around the county’s military bases, which poses a readiness issue to our armed forces

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Connections We Could Facilitate

Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance (EECLA): Membership hub and collective voice for 35 early childhood councils across Colorado with connection points to the vast majority of Colorado’s early childhood service providers
Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC): A network of business leaders committed to supporting the early childhood sector as a pathway to business success and economic growth
Tamra Ryan & Common Sense Institute Study Authors: This is the group who authored the study that illuminated much of the current data on the state of Colorado’s child care system
Family Friendly Initiative: A group of business, education, faith-based, government, health and human services, media, military, nonprofit and child care sector leaders advocating for child care solutions in El Paso County
La Plata Food Equity Coalition: A diverse group of stakeholders with great storytelling instincts who is currently working to implement a recently passed ballot measure to support an increase in early childhood funding in Southwest Colorado
Early Childhood Council of Larimer County: Another local group currently working to source stories focused on child care through their “Thrive By Five” initiative and other work

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Story & Data Collection Application

Please tell us how you will engage key communities and surface compelling child care narratives and stories, including:

How you will work in tandem with Gary Community Ventures’ network as well as other early childhood leaders and members of our 8 priority audiences on stakeholder engagement, story collection and elevation strategies and how might this process evolve across the grant period
A clearly defined scope of work with activities, timelines, deliverables and measurable milestones
A plan to create a pipeline capable of sharing stories, sources of information and insights regularly with members of the grantee cohort as well as other storytellers, partners and key stakeholders
A strategy for helping to elevate published and distributed stories through appropriate and trusted promotion and amplification channels available to the child care and stakeholder community
Your funding request, including:

Whether you would prefer a grant or a contract
How much funding you are requesting (the maximum funding request is $45K)
A brief overview of how the funds will be used

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