Initial grants of $770,000 help communities prevent firearm-related injuries and save lives statewide
DENVER, CO – (February 4, 2026) The Colorado Safe Futures Fund (CSFF) announced $770,000 in inaugural grants to 18 Colorado organizations working to prevent firearm-related injuries and deaths – a leading cause of preventable harm statewide.
Firearms are the third leading cause of injury-related death among Colorado adults and the leading cause of death for youth ages 1-17, making firearm harm one of Colorado’s most urgent public health challenges. Data shows:
- Firearms are the leading cause of death associated with suicide, community violence, domestic violence and targeted and mass shootings. (Trailhead Institute)
- In 2024, Colorado recorded 958 firearm deaths statewide across all ages; 710 (74 percent) were suicides. (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Firearm Data Dashboard)
- Suicide remains a leading cause of death among young people statewide, with one in five teens reporting access to a loaded firearm; firearm access is a major cause of suicide risk due to their lethality. (Colorado School of Public Health)
- In 2024, there were 72 domestic violence fatalities in Colorado; 75 percent involved firearms. (Colorado Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board)
In response to these alarming trends, in 2023 Rose Community Foundation and Colorado Health Foundation launched the Colorado Safe Futures Fund, a statewide philanthropic partnership dedicated to powering community-led initiatives to prevent firearm harm. Formally launched in November 2024 with investment from 11 foundations and broad partner support, the partnership centered its grantmaking goals around strengthening community safety statewide and providing actionable data, resources and capacity to drive meaningful change.
“The Colorado Safe Futures Fund supports public health approaches to preventing firearm injuries and deaths,” says Rose Community Foundation President and CEO Lindy Eichenbaum Lent. “Investing in trusted local nonprofit organizations that deeply understand and reflect their communities can help prevent tragedies and strengthen well-being while simultaneously respecting the rights of those who choose to responsibly own firearms.”
The 18 grantees span Colorado and represent rural, urban and suburban communities leading locally- driven approaches to prevent suicide, partner violence, mass shootings, community violence and accidental firearm injuries and deaths. Initial grants support practical, evidence-based public health strategies that aim to make Colorado communities safer and more resilient.
Colorado Ceasefire, a grantee of the Fund, equips students and teachers with tools to lead prevention efforts, engage in firearm-violence-prevention dialogues and build resilience in their own communities.
“Support from Colorado Safe Futures Fund has enabled us to expand our school-based internship and classroom program, partnering with schools around the state with high exposure to gun violence,” says Colorado Ceasefire Executive Director Laney Sheffel. “Also, thanks to the Fund, we are now able to offer modest stipends to high-risk students who intern with us, giving young people a professional development opportunity, engaging them in a topic that’s relevant to them and helping to build the next generation of gun-violence-prevention leaders.”
Another grantee, SpeakUp ReachOut, works to prevent suicide in Eagle County through training, educational programs, peer groups and community support. With funding from CSFF, they are helping advance the Colorado Gun Shop Project, an education and awareness initiative of the Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention that promotes firearm safety and suicide prevention, along with a regional safe storage media campaign and related safety-education efforts.
“We frequently get requests from community members for locking devices for firearms, especially related to mental health crises within families,” says Executive Director Erin Ivie. “This grant will allow us to purchase a variety of locking devices that fit the needs of our community members and provide them free of charge. It will also allow our local clinicians to have a resource for locking devices to include in their safety planning with clients.”
Together, the 18 inaugural grantees showcase the depth and diversity of Colorado’s firearm-injury prevention efforts – centering community voices while advancing the priority areas of suicide prevention, community violence prevention, intimate partner violence prevention, mass violence prevention and accidental injury or death.
“We are thrilled to get dollars out into the communities doing the work on the ground,” says Michaelle Smith, executive director of the Grand Junction-based Rocky Mountain Health Foundation, a CSFF partner. “By coming together as a collaborative, we’re able to support creative, community-led solutions that reflect what residents believe will make their communities safer.”
A Collaborative Approach
Colorado Safe Futures Fund partners include The Colorado Health Foundation, Caring for Colorado Foundation, Colorado Access Foundation, The Colorado Trust, The Denver Foundation, Johnson Family Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Rocky Mountain Health Foundation, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, Rose Community Foundation, and the Craig Scheckman Family Foundation.
Firearm harm touches every community, regardless of race, gender, geography, age or socioeconomics. A collaborative approach to this complex and widespread issue allows for community-centered, locally informed strategies to promote safer futures for all Coloradans.
CSFF 2025 grantees and initiatives include:
Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County | (Larimer County) To expand safe storage to prevent firearm suicide through free lockboxes, suicide prevention training and grief support.
American Academy of Pediatrics Colorado | (statewide) To support the AAPC’s Secure Their Future program, a pediatrician-led campaign promoting secure firearm storage among patients and families.
Colorado Ceasefire Outreach | (Metro Denver) To expand education and advocacy to reduce gun violence by strengthening communities and shaping interventions statewide.
Denver Youth Program | (Metro Denver) To support hospital bedside response and post-discharge case management for individuals injured by firearms.
Full Circle Restorative Justice | (Chaffee, Custer, Fremont and Park Counties) To support the Full Circle Restorative Justice Schools prevention program, which builds systems of support for youth.
Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families | (El Paso and Teller Counties) To support the organization’s Pathways program to mitigate trauma impact by diverting youth from delinquency and violence.
Legacy for Family and Community Development | (Metro Denver) To support LFFCD’s strength-based, trauma-informed prevention initiative focused on youth suicide and gun violence.
Make A Chess Move | (Metro Denver) To support the Make A Compassion Move initiative, a community-based violence and suicide prevention program for BIPOC youth in Denver and Aurora.
Pueblo Child Advocacy Center | (Pueblo County) To support suicide early risk identification and firearm safety education for trauma-exposed youth in Southern Colorado – expanding screening, providing therapy and addressing rural disparities in mental health access.
Juniper Southern Colorado (Southeastern Colorado) | To support the expansion of prevention education by addressing the intersection of sexual violence, intimate partner violence and firearm harm through community engagement, youth education and identifying gaps in services.
Rise Above Violence | (Archuleta County) To support Rise Above Violence’s Firearms Relinquishment Program through system coordination and policy improvement, ultimately improving victim safety and offender accountability.
San Miguel Resource Center | (San Miguel and Montrose Counties) To reduce gun violence risk by supporting domestic and sexual violence victims through advocacy, crisis intervention, safety planning, financial assistance, outreach and education, while preventing future violence through a youth prevention program.
Spark the Change Colorado | (Southwest Colorado) To expand suicide prevention, postvention and firearm safety initiatives through existing programs to reduce the rate of firearm violence of all types.
SpeakUp ReachOut | (Eagle and surrounding counties) To support evidence-based firearm suicide prevention initiative including the Colorado Gun Shop Project, an education and awareness initiative of the Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention that promotes firearm safety and suicide prevention, regional safe storage media campaign and safety education.
Struggle of Love Foundation | (Metro Denver) To support their holistic approach to community violence and suicide prevention, their Violence Interruption team and efforts to address root causes of firearm harm.
Thriving Families | (Metro Denver) To integrate firearm injury prevention into perinatal, parenting and mental health programs, providing bilingual, culturally tailored safety materials and distributing gun locks and safes to high-risk families.
Tri-County Health Network | (Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties) To support their Lethal Means Safety efforts where firearms are the leading means of suicide and expanding the We Are The Ones campaign to partner with gun owners as trusted voices, deliver trainings and promote safe storage.
YouthZone | (Garfield, Pitkin, Eagle and Rio Blanco counties) To support the Safe Pathways program, a restorative justice-based juvenile diversion initiative that addresses firearm-related harm.
To learn more about Colorado Safe Futures Fund or donate, visit www.cosafefuturesfund.org.
Media contact:
Kristy Bassuener, Rose Community Foundation
kbassuener@rcfdenver.org