The Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative has awarded the Arapahoe Community College Foundation more than $850,000 to fund scholarships for students in Arapahoe County and Douglas County.
A grant of $741,633 was awarded on behalf of Arapahoe County, and the ACC Foundation is partnering with the Community College of Aurora (CCA) Foundation for part of this campaign. The CCA Foundation has committed to raising $350,000 in matching dollars for students in Arapahoe County. In addition, a $112,491 grant was awarded to the ACC Foundation on behalf of Douglas County.

COSI was developed in an effort to address college affordability and help close the “attainment gap” – the disparity between Coloradans who traditionally go to college and those who are historically less likely to do so. COSI addresses this challenge in two ways: accessibility and affordability. To increase accessibility, COSI funds will be designated to benefit programs that will help prepare students to pursue – and complete – their postsecondary education. To increase affordability, COSI’s 1:1 matching program will provide even greater support for community scholarships.
“The COSI initiative provides a platform upon which our community partners can work in partnership with the State to send more students to college,” said Courtney Loehfelm, Director of the ACC Foundation. “These local scholarship programs were designed so that local philanthropists’ generosity would be matched dollar for dollar. Our donors will have the opportunity to see the value of their gifts doubled in support of ACC students from Arapahoe and Douglas Counties.”

The ACC Foundation is a charitable, non-profit corporation dedicated to developing friends, raising funds and providing broad-based community support for ACC’s students and programs. For more information, or to make a gift to the ACC Foundation, please contact foundation@arapahoe.edu or 303.797.5881.