Cloud City Conservation Center (C4)

💫2025 IMPACT🌎

Cloud City Conservation Center (C4) fosters pathways to a healthier planet and community through initiatives that inspire the conservation of our natural environment in Leadville & Lake County, Colorado. In 2025, C4 engaged over 4,000 local community members - more than 50% of Lake County residents! 

💡ENERGY EFFICIENCY

C4's Energy Efficiency Program makes Lake County homes safer and warmer, improves our aging and weatherworn local housing stock, and helps community members reduce energy and housing costs. In 2025 we supported 244 Lake County households address energy, health and safety needs in their homes, including providing free energy audits for 57 households - a 6x increase in the past year. Despite significant cuts in state and federal funding, we were still able to provide $200,700 in financial assistance so that 100% of households we supported took steps towards reducing their energy usage. 

🌱ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

We grow future stewards of our planet by teaming up with  field lessons, farm visits, classroom extensions, and career exploration. In 2025, we shared the joy and benefits of outdoor environmental education with over 1,000 youth, including over 85% of local PK-12 students. We also offered 6 paid internships where young people spent more than 2,500 hours exploring sustainable career pathways. 

🧑‍🌾SUSTAINABLE FOOD

In 2025, Cloud City Farm and Community Garden engaged more than 1 in 4 Lake County residents in building a stronger local food system. We distributed over 6,000 pounds of fresh local food - the equivalent of 4 weeks worth of produce for every food-insecure Lake County resident. We also provided community members with nearly $25,000 in resources like raised beds, soil, compost, and plant starts - supplies that are critical in our contaminated soils and unique climate.

♻️WASTE DIVERSION

In 2025, C4's waste diversion team consisted of by 368 people who put in an astonishing 2,850 hours (or 119 days straight!) of work. Through event support and composting at Cloud City Farm, this team collected more than 28 tons of waste, including diverting more than 37,000 pounds of recycling and compost away from the Lake County landfill. In partnership with the Leadville Race Series, we collected TWICE as much recycling and compost as last year en route to diverting an impressive 77% of race waste! 

☀️CLOUD CITY SOLAR

Not only did C4 save Lake County's only community solar garden (CSG) and make critical repairs to bring it back online in April 2025, we also acquired another 9 CSGs! Together, these ten CSGs will produce nearly 7,000,000 kWH of clean, renewable energy annually - enough to power nearly 1,000 households! And since C4 took ownership and made key improvements, these ten solar arrays' production is up 46% - providing an additional $422,133 in benefits and sequestering the same amount of carbon as 20,000 trees grown for 10 years. 

Read more at https://www.c4leadville.org/impact-report 

💪 HOW WE DID IT 🫶

This work was powered by an incredible community of supporters, including

• 585 volunteers who contributed a whopping 2,660 hours of their time - a value of over $100,000!
• 56 seasonal staff and youth interns who strengthened Cloud City Farm and Zero Waste efforts during Leadville’s short but intense summer season.
• 27 grantors ranging from private foundations to public agencies funded more than half of our annual budget and helped sustain critical services during a year of unexpected funding cuts.
• 63 local businesses who stepped up and contributed everything from auction items to sponsorship funds to in-kind services
• 224 individual donors who have given a total of over $50,000 to C4. From $5 recurring gifts to the $100 median donation to the generous $2,500 surprises, each and every one of your contributions mattered to C4 and our community.  

Together, this collective support made every bit of our 2025 impact possible.

💚 WHAT IMPACT YOUR GIFT CAN HAVE IN 2026 🙏

💡$25: Provides a local household more efficient LED lighting, cutting their annual energy bill by up to $100 and making home more comfortable.

♻️$50: Covers a year of composting for one household, keeping hundreds of pounds of waste out of the landfill and protecting the place we call home.

🏠$100: Provides a free home energy audit that can reduce a household’s energy use by 30%, opening the door to lasting savings & long term stability.

💧$200: Keeps Cloud City Farm & Community Garden watered for one month, supporting 30+ gardeners as they grow food and build community.

🚌$250: Sends a grade level outside for a full day of hands-on learning, giving 60+ students the chance to build confidence and belonging outdoors.

🌱$500: Supplies the seeds that grow more than 6,000 pounds of produce, feeding hundreds of families fresh, healthy food all season long.