Amercian Recovery & Reinvestment Act Outcome Report Now Available for the Community Services Block Grant Program

DOLA held a CSBG workshop in 2010

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided the Colorado Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Community Action Program (CAP) Network with $8,684,648 in additional funding for FY 2009 and 2010 CSBG programs.  The Colorado CAP Network, the forty (40) entities that administer the CSBG on the local level for all sixty-four (64) counties in Colorado, have worked diligently to ensure that CSBG Recovery Act funds provide critical services to those affected by the severe economic recession.  The State CSBG office and the Colorado CAP Network have committed to providing transparent, efficient, innovative and effective services with CSBG Recovery Act funds.

CSBG workshop participants

The Colorado CAP Network has proven to be a responsible steward of Recovery Act funds.  Despite an unprecedented amount of funding, need and responsibility, CAPs have collectively expended 99.6 percent of CSBG Recovery Act funds as of December 30, 2010.  The State CSBG office worked with local CAPs in creating and executing plans to spend CSBG Recovery Act funds responsibly, so that Coloradans in need could receive the help they deserve.

Read the report.

About DOLA's New Executive Director, Reeves Brown

Prior to his appointment by Governor Hickenlooper to serve as the Department of Local Affairs' Executive Director, Reeves Brown served as Executive Director of CLUB 20, a non-profit political advocacy organization representing the interests of the 22-county Western Colorado region.  Based in Grand Junction, Reeves has led the organization in cultivating dialogue amongst the region’s diverse interests to develop consensus recommendations for state and national public policies on a wide range of issues including public lands management, economic development, transportation funding, energy development, water management, education and health care. 

Reeves grew up on a cattle ranch in eastern Montana and later received a B.S. in Agriculture Business and a minor degree in Economics from Montana State University.  Having spent his formative years working in and around cow manure, Reeves believes that he is uniquely qualified to work in the public policy arena.

After working for the National Cattlemen’s Association for two years, Reeves served as Executive Vice President of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) from 1989-1997.  During his tenure, Reeves established the CCA as a nationally-recognized leader in the natural resource and animal care arenas.  Under Reeves’ leadership, the CCA created the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) in 1993 – the first land conservation trust in the nation fostered by an established agriculture organization.  The CCALT currently holds conservation easements on over 250,000 acres of agriculture land across Colorado, and has served as a catalyst for the creation of similar ag land trusts in other western states which now collectively hold conservation easements on over 1 million acres of agriculture lands.

Reeves and his wife, Penny, have three children – Kyler, Keaton and Abigail – a cat with an attitude and one genetically-challenged dog.

Reminder to local governments: time to submit budgets to DLG

Now that both the budget deadlines and holidays have passed, it is time for local governments to submit their adopted budgets to DLG.

There are resources on budgeting on our website at www.dola.colorado.gov/budgets.  There, you will find a checklist of the statutory requirements of budgeting to ensure that DLG receives all of the necessary documents and data.

Once all of your documents are compiled (either in paper, or hopefully, as PDF documents) there are two ways to get them to us. Our preferred option is by using our electronic filing method where you submit the PDF document of your budget (we have successfully received PDF documents upward of 800 pages) with the district name and Local Government Identification Number (LGID) included both in the name of the document itself, and in the email subject line.  The other option would be to mail a paper copy, however, in the interest of saving costs, time and preserving resources, we encourage using our electronic filing method.

There is a full list of instructions on our e‑filing page at www.dola.colorado.gov/e‑filing You are able to see our guidelines on naming your document, using PDF documents, and look up your LGID number on our budgeting website ‑ www.dola.colorado.gov/e‑filing.

Note: Please send only one government per email [e.g. XYZ Metropolitan District No.1 ‑ 6 need to send an individual email for each individual district ‑ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.], if there is a parent government that includes the budget of another local government [e.g. City of Biggsville includes the budget of the Biggsville Urban Renewal Authority or Local Improvement District, or other...] please note in the email that the budget of the other government/s is included (and include that local government's LGID as well).

Of course if you need of additional help, please contact Jarrod Biggs at 303.866.4493, jarrod.biggs@state.co.us or Cynthia Thayer at 303.866.5601, cynthia.thayer@state.co.us.
Contact information is also on the budgeting page.