Denver, September 25, 2015 – At its meeting on Thursday, September 24, 2015, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) Board of Directors approved distribution of $7,728,787 to two hundred and forty (240) scientific and cultural organizations in seven Denver Metro Counties. Organizations receiving funding will provide a variety of scientific and cultural programming and activities to residents of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson Counties. A breakdown of the distribution by county is as follows: Adams, $1,142,195.32; Arapahoe, $1,568,445.82; Boulder, $736,963.36; Broomfield, $170,651.26; Denver, $2,333,745.02; Douglas, $596,986.34; and Jefferson, $1,179,800.38.These funds will be distributed at public check ceremonies in each of the counties on the following dates: Boulder, October 13; Arapahoe, October 15; Jefferson, October 19; Adams, October 22; Broomfield, October 20; Douglas, October 27; and Denver, October 27. A complete list of funded organizations, awards, and check ceremony information is available online at www.scfd.org.
County Commissioners or City Council members appoint citizen volunteers to their respective County Cultural Councils to review grant requests for SCFD funds. The County Cultural Council Chairs from each county for the 2015 grant cycle were: Joyce Downing, Adams County; Kirk Bateman, Arapahoe County; Travis Laberge, Boulder County; Clint Huber, Broomfield County; Dan Reagan, Denver County; Ann Speer, Douglas County; and John Bunting, Jefferson County. The Councils reviewed a combined total of 538 grant requests and awarded 527 grants. County Commissioners or City Council members reviewed and approved the funding plans prior to submitting them to the SCFD Board of Directors for final approval.
Denver Metro area voters created the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District in 1988 and approved a 1¢ on $10 sales and use tax to provide for the enlightenment, entertainment and education of the public. Scientific and cultural organizations accomplish this through the production, presentation, exhibition, advancement or preservation of art, music, theater, dance, zoology, botany, natural history and cultural history. The SCFD administers the distribution of these voter-approved funds to eligible scientific and cultural organizations. Between 1989 and 2014, SCFD distributed over $856 million to over 300 unique organizations in the seven-county District. Counties comprising the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District include Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas (except for Castle Rock and Larkspur) and Jefferson.