Investing in Nutrition, Equity, and Future Success

The Opportunity: Nourishing Longmont's Most Vulnerable Youth

The Longmont Youth Center, located at 1050 Lashley Street, serves as a critical hub for the community, offering essential programming to young people. While Longmont, a 30-square-mile city spanning Boulder and Weld Counties, is a vibrant intersection of urban and rural life, it is marked by significant socioeconomic disparities. Our initiative seeks investment to directly address the challenge of food insecurity among the city's most vulnerable youth.

The Need: Data-Driven Focus on Concentrated Vulnerability

Our project is intentionally focused on the census tracts facing the greatest inequities in East Longmont, serving the entire city while prioritizing areas of high need.

The community directly surrounding the Youth Center exemplifies this acute vulnerability:

• Census Tract 9.06, located directly across from the Youth Center, houses 4,000 residents in just 0.6 square miles.

  • Poverty Rate: The poverty rate is nearly double the state average (18% vs. 9%).

  • Housing Insecurity: Over half of households are rent-burdened.

  • Health Coverage: The uninsured rate is significantly higher (12% vs. 7% state average).

  • Linguistic Diversity: A large portion of the community, 35%, is Spanish-speaking.

• Wider Impact Area: Neighboring tracts 9.04 and 9.05 reflect similar inequities, collectively housing nearly 15% of Longmont's population within less than two square miles.

Furthermore, the Youth Center is centered in a designated food desert, underscoring the vital need for high-quality, readily available nutrition. Longmont is a racially and ethnically diverse city, with 55%–60% of residents identifying as White non-Hispanic, and nearly 30% identifying as Hispanic/Latino. This initiative is a direct investment in the health and academic outcomes of this diverse youth population, whose median household income is below the Boulder County average.

The Solution: Elevating After-School Nutrition

Thanks to the generous support of previous funders, the Youth Center has successfully renovated its kitchen, allowing for the safe rewarming and serving of prepared meals, and enabling us to provide more after-school meals to more children.

This funding request represents the crucial next step in ensuring nutritional equity and impact.

We are requesting funds to increase the per-meal budget from $3 to $7. This increase will allow us to outsource meal preparation to local, high-quality catering partners. This shift is critical because it will enable us to provide:

• Healthy, Well-Balanced Meals: Moving beyond basic sustenance to nutrient-rich options.

• Diverse and Complete Meals: Offering culturally relevant food choices that promote full, healthy development.

• Increased Capacity: Freeing staff from time-intensive preparation to focus on core programming.

The Ask: Our Request

We are seeking $12,000 to fund the enhanced after-school meal program for one year. This investment will directly translate into improved focus, better attendance, and greater academic success for the youth attending programming at the Longmont Youth Center.

By investing in this essential nutrition program, you are investing in the health, equity, and future potential of Longmont's next generation.