💰 What’s next for Marshall Fire funds?

Plans for the remaining cash in the Boulder County Wildfire Fund are coming into view. What will it mean for survivors?

Four months after the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Superior and Louisville, Community Foundation Boulder County on May 2, 2022, held its second public meeting on the dispersal of the remaining $28.5 million in earmarked disaster relief raised through its Boulder County Wildfire Fund.

During the first public meeting at the Superior Business Center on March 28, Community Foundation CEO Tatiana Hernandez outlined the nonprofit’s plan to dedicate the vast majority of the funds — approximately $20 million — to help affected homeowners rebuild in southern Boulder County. 

On Monday night at the Louisville Recreation and Senior Center, she provided details for the first time about how that money would get divvied up among households. 

Hernandez presented an estimated formula that would determine who gets what. She laid out details for a Recovery Navigators Program, a one-on-one resource counseling service expected to be up and running as soon as mid-June, administered as a public-private partnership between Boulder County and a yet-to-be-named nonprofit. The presentation also included plans for the $2.5 million pot of money for “unmet needs.” This money would be given to renters and the uninsured to help with everyday expenses. Unlike the rest of the funding, it is not restricted to those staying in the county.

The sheer amount of money raised and distributed by the Community Foundation – by comparison, $2.2 million was processed by the foundation after the 2013 floods – has added complexity to the task of dispersing aid. Hernandez called the amount “unprecedented” during the March 28 meeting. 

The decisions made for the wildfire fund, Hernandez said, were driven above all by the need to create an “incredibly easy” process for fire survivors. “Every decision goes through that lens: ‘Is this easy for people?’ If the answer is no, we don’t necessarily go down that route,” she said. 

Hernandez suggested that using philanthropic disaster dollars for rebuilding post-disaster was uncharted territory for community foundations. And she criticized what she called the national model for disaster recovery.

“When we looked at the national model, it was all services, no financial support. [Ask] anyone who’s a fire survivor in California, or fire survivors across Colorado,” she told attendees. “We said, ‘That’s not going to work for us. That’s not what our need is.’” 

In a possible first for Colorado, City of Boulder may expand its affordable housing program countywide to jointly address the regional crisis

The City of Boulder is considering expanding its affordable housing program to communities across the county. The goal would be to shore up more housing for low-income families and provide services aimed at preventing evictions and foreclosures, in a first-of-its-kind regional partnership. 

The idea is being floated as part of a plan for how to spend $63.4 million allocated to Boulder County from the U.S Treasury Department under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which Congress passed in March 2021 to help address the economic and health disparities exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The plan comes after three working groups — made up of residents, city and county officials, and leaders of local advocacy groups — were appointed earlier this year to take feedback from the public and come up with spending recommendations. 

The members pitched their $44 million spending plan on May 3, 2022, to the Board of County Commissioners.

It includes major investments in childcare, grants for small businesses and a wide range of mental health services. 

But the largest portion of the spending plan – $14.7 million – would go toward addressing the county’s housing crisis, creating a regional housing program that would be the first in Colorado, according to working group members.