Bohemian Foundation’s Community Programs supports efforts to build a stronger Larimer County.

Community Programs goals are:

• Ensuring all youth thrive.
• Promoting economic stability and mobility.
• Cultivating a vibrant, engaged, and connected community.

Ensure All Youth Thrive

Ensuring all youth thrive means they have access to opportunities to explore, learn, and grow. Our community shares responsibility to provide all youth with what they need and want. We also have a shared responsibility to fulfill the promise of a future shaped by their energy, creativity, imagination, and passion. This responsibility includes examining and eliminating barriers to youth thriving. A community where all youth thrive honors youth voice, creativity, culture, and experience.

We believe all youth will thrive when:

• Youth voice is central and influential.
• Youth have strong, positive relationships they can count on.
• Youth experience educational and life success in inspiring, supportive, and creative ways.
• Barriers to youth thriving are identified and overcome.
• Youth access enriching experiences that amplify their sense of curiosity and creativity. Youth lead change efforts in their community.

We define youth as ages prenatal through age 24, or until youth are formally enrolled in a post-secondary experience.

Promote Economic Stability and Mobility

Economic stability and mobility means having the opportunity to advance economically. It is the dignity that comes from being able to care for ourselves and loved ones. Eliminating the dehumanizing and isolating realities of poverty requires creating conditions that allow everyone to thrive. Ensuring prosperity for all means drawing on the strength and resiliency of community members most impacted by economic inequality.

Economic stability and mobility can be achieved when:

• Everyone can access what they need to live a healthy, safe life, including food and shelter.
• Everyone has access to opportunities that bolster economic mobility and stability.
• Educational and training experiences bolster career pathways and advance economic mobility.
• Community honors the voice and experience of individuals navigating challenges of economic barriers.
• Individuals and families can care for themselves and their loved ones and are treated with respect and appreciation.

Cultivate a Vibrant, Engaged, and Connected Community

Awareness, engagement, connection, and inspiration are keys to a vibrant community. Awareness about our community requires critical thinking, learning, honest reflection, and a commitment to listen to all voices in the community. Engagement is our collective work to solve problems and build upon community strengths. Having safe spaces fosters a vibrant community—connected people live in connected spaces. Our community is vibrant when the voices, stories, cultures, creative expressions, and interests of all community members are a source of inspiration, learning, and celebration.

We believe our community will be vibrant, engaged, and connected when all members:

• Are informed and engaged around issues in our community.
• Honor all voices in the community.
• Practice critical thinking and explore new information, especially when it challenges long-standing beliefs.
• Work together to solve problems and build upon community strengths.
• Nurture strong connections, especially when people are disconnected and polarized.
• Cultivate spaces that foster a sense of belonging.
• Inspire, celebrate, and learn from each other through stories, experiences, creative expressions, and interests.