SPUR Fund Directs $40,000 to Family Violence Prevention
The SPUR Fund (Special Projects Uniquely Responsive) is a new fund at the Community Foundation. Started in 2025, SPUR was created to provide timely, flexible support to nonprofits addressing the needs of our communities across all five counties and two sovereign nations of Southwest Colorado.
These grants are unsolicited, and organizations are chosen based on a particular focus each quarter. Focus areas are decided throughout the year and are based on the Foundation’s knowledge of community needs across the region.
This quarter’s SPUR funding will go to organizations that work to prevent family violence and support survivors. A total of $40,000 will be shared among the eight organizations below.
Alternative Horizons
La Plata and San Juan counties
Alternative Horizons is the only organization serving San Juan County survivors in this capacity. Colorado State Patrol and the county’s human services department refer survivors there, and the organization advertises its services in Silverton. Outreach in a community that small is a challenge, because protecting a survivor’s privacy is harder when everyone knows one another.
Learn More about Alternative Horizons
Four Corners Child Advocacy Center
Montezuma County
A child advocacy center brings law enforcement, child protective services, prosecutors, victim advocates, and medical and mental health professionals together in one place to respond to allegations of child abuse. Working as one team, they keep the child’s welfare at the center of the investigation, the healing, and the legal process.
That coordination means faster responses, simpler medical referrals, and fewer interviews for a child to sit through. It has also been shown to improve prosecution outcomes while giving child survivors and their non-offending family members consistent, compassionate support throughout.
Learn More about Four Corners Child Advocacy Center
Four Doves Foundation
Dolores County
Four Doves serves Dolores and Montezuma counties. Because the area is so isolated, it also receives requests from Monticello, Utah, 28 miles from Dove Creek. Dolores County and San Juan County, Utah, routinely assist one another across the state line, though this grant-funded assistance is limited to Dolores County residents.
Four Doves works through four pillars: Substance Abuse and Recovery; Behavioral Health and Family Restoration; Resources and Safe Living; and Child Care and Academic Advocacy. It is not a clinical provider. It is the trusted phone call for people who are ready for help but don’t know what to do next, and it connects them to qualified providers for treatment, crisis care, housing, education, and employment.
Requests involving unsafe living situations come through that same door, and the Resources and Safe Living pillar answers them. In a county with no shelter and no victim advocate, this is the pillar Four Doves is least able to support without funding. This grant addresses that gap.
Learn More about Four Doves Foundation
The Piñon Project
Montezuma County
Strengthening Families Parenting Program. This weekly course runs 12 to 13 weeks and gives caregivers and their 7- to 17-year-olds a chance to build a more positive relationship. Families practice positive ways of interacting, learn how to support teens in social situations, and share knowledge and resources with other families. Dinner is provided, along with free childcare for children under 7.
Successful Families (SuFam) Program. SuFam is for expectant parents and parents of children from birth to age 5. Participants meet Monday through Thursday, with lunch provided. The program uses “Survive, Strive, Thrive: Keys to Healthy Family Living,” a 15-unit curriculum that teaches basic life skills and healthy parenting to help teens and adults move from day-to-day surviving to thriving at home, school, work, and in their communities.
Learn More about Pinion Project
Renew
Montezuma and Dolores counties
Based in Cortez and serving all of Southwest Colorado, Renew is available 24/7 for immediate help. It operates a safehouse for people who need a temporary safe place to live. Trained advocates offer support, information, and referrals to clinics and other resources. All services are free and confidential.
Rise Above Violence
Archuleta County
Federal funding cutbacks forced Rise to scale back its Youth Violence Prevention program. SPUR funding will help fill that gap. The program works with students from third grade through high school using age-appropriate content. Two school-based advocates meet one-on-one with students and lead classes on bullying and internet safety. Last year, the program served 600 students through 160 sessions.
Learn More about Rise Above Violence
Sexual Assault Services Organization (SASO)
La Plata County
SASO is the only community-based organization in Colorado’s 6th Judicial District dedicated primarily to serving victims of sexual violence, and it is expanding into the 22nd Judicial District. Its hotline is staffed by 15 trained volunteers who complete more than 30 hours of state-mandated training to provide confidential, trauma-informed support.
Services include crisis intervention, law enforcement and medical advocacy, court accompaniment, referrals, and ongoing case management. Advocacy can range from a few hours to more than 200 hours per case, depending on the client’s needs and legal involvement. SASO also prioritizes prevention and community education.
Ute Mountain Ute Social Services
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Ute Mountain Ute Social Services serves Tribal Members. Its domestic violence program offers support and information to victims, survivors, and their children, with immediate intervention alongside Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement. Domestic violence advocates are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
