C.R.S. § 26-25-105: Cradle to career grant program - application - awards.

(1) To receive a grant, an eligible entity must submit an application to the state department in accordance with rules adopted by the executive director. At a minimum, the application must include the following information:

(a) A community economic mobility needs assessment that:

(I) Identifies the applicant's designated service area;

(II) Analyzes existing conditions and economic mobility opportunities for children and youth and their families in the designated service area; and

(III) Includes quantitative and qualitative data measuring poverty, demographic disparities, and needs within the designated service area in connection with each of the permissible uses of grant money identified in section 26-25-103 (2), and specifies at least one policy area as the focal point for intervention;

(b) A proposal for the formation of a formal partnership with other eligible entities with established ties to the community that can provide complementary community resources in the applicant's designated service area. If an applicant is a local education provider, the application must be completed in collaboration with at least one other eligible entity that the local education provider designates as a formal partner pursuant to this subsection (1)(b). The proposal for the formation of a formal partnership must identify all prospective subcontracted entities and describe how money received through a grant awarded pursuant to this article 25 will be allocated.

(c) A comprehensive proposal:

(I) To develop or expand coordinated community-based supports and services that open opportunities for economic mobility from poverty in the designated service area;

(II) That leverages a partnership proposed pursuant to subsection (1)(b) of this section to provide a coordinated continuum of supports and services that open opportunities for economic mobility from poverty; and

(III) That prioritizes connecting children and youth with high-quality educational, extracurricular, or workforce programming or families with key health and social services in accordance with the areas of greatest need identified in the economic mobility needs assessment submitted pursuant to subsection (1)(a) of this section.

(2) Two or more eligible entities may jointly apply for a grant award to deliver services on a regional basis and may receive a joint grant award that is the aggregate of the amounts each individual eligible entity would have received had each eligible entity applied independently.

(3) The state department shall review all applications received pursuant to this section and select the grant recipients and the amount of each grant. The state department shall not award a grant without the prior approval of the council, as described in subsection (4) of this section.

(4) The state department, in accordance with the timelines adopted pursuant to section 26-25-103 (5)(c), shall submit to the council a list of the applicants chosen to receive grants. The council shall either approve or disapprove the entire list of entities by responding to the state department within twenty days after submission. If the council does not respond to the state department within twenty days after receipt of the list, the list is approved. If the council disapproves the list, the state department may submit a replacement list within thirty days after the disapproval.

(5) The state department shall award each grant approved by the council. Each grant is for a period of four years. An eligible entity that receives a grant pursuant to this article 25 may apply for a one- or two-year extension of the grant period.

(6) The state department shall begin awarding grants pursuant to this article 25 only after the balance of the fund reaches or exceeds nine hundred thousand dollars. Subject to available appropriations, on or before July 1, 2027, the state department shall award at least three grants as provided in this article 25. The state department shall not award more than forty-nine percent of available grant program money pursuant to a single application, whether completed jointly, collaboratively, or by a single eligible entity. Subject to available appropriations, on or before July 1 in each subsequent year of the grant program, the state department shall award additional grants as provided in this article 25.

(7) With the state department's approval, an eligible entity may enter a formal partnership, as described in subsection (1) of this section, and subcontract with and pay money received pursuant to this article 25 to subcontracted entities to provide a coordinated continuum of services, supports, and opportunities in accordance with the terms of the formal partnership. A formal partnership must include a local government, a local education provider, and a nonprofit or not-for-profit community-based organization.

(8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article 25 to the contrary, the state department is not required to implement the provisions of this article 25 until the balance of the fund reaches or exceeds nine hundred thousand dollars.