The Daniels Fund awarded a $50,000 grant to a Denver-area nonprofit that brings vocational opportunities to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The money will allow nonprofit Tall Tales Ranch to expand its coffee trailer and catering programs and hire additional employees and I/DD ambassadors.

“Their model is really innovative, very inclusive, and so in some ways it’s both caring and cutting edge,” said Luke Ragland, the senior vice president of grants at the Daniels Fund. “I’m really excited about both what they’re trying to do, their mission, but also the people behind it.”

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Tall Tales Ranch received 501c3 status in 2014 after founders Susan and Pat Mooney’s son, Ross, was diagnosed with an aggressive genetic disease that deteriorated the white matter in his brain.

The Mooneys weren’t sure what sorts of opportunities were available to a person with Ross’ needs. The answers concerned them.

“We were just not satisfied with what we saw. We thought, ‘You know what? People are good with putting a roof over someone’s head and making sure that they’re fed, but we want so much more for our son,'” Susan Mooney said. “But we also realized it’s not just Ross that is going to be lacking. It’s the whole community.”

The Mooneys wanted their son to feel a part of a greater community and to be involved in something bigger. The idea inspired by Ross has since extended a far broader reach.

“It does take a special kind of crazy to take on something like this, to create a nonprofit and to have real dreams about not only enhancing and improving our son’s life, but kind of expanding that to the whole community. We have big dreams,” Mooney said. “But we definitely think we can do that and have that certain kind of crazy.”

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Daniels Fund namesake Bill Daniels was a cable television pioneer who owned hundreds of cable systems and helped to shape the industry in its early days, according to the foundation website. After growing up poor during the Great Depression, he committed himself to a life of giving back to those in need and left $1.1 billion to establish the Daniels Fund upon his death in 2000.

The Daniels Fund distributed more than $63.8 million through nonprofit grants and student scholarships in 2022, according to the foundation. Colorado nonprofits received $33 million across eight areas: aging, amateur sports, disabilities, drug and alcohol addiction, early childhood education, homeless and disadvantaged, K-12 education reform and youth development.

Daniels had a special place in his heart for those with developmental disabilities, having grown up with his sister, Dorothy, and watching the ways his parents cared for her.

“This has always been a key part in what we do, and frankly it will always be something that we do,” Ragland said.

Tall Tales Ranch is currently operating out of a coffee trailer in Lone Tree, where ambassadors with I/DD are employed and develop vocational skills while exposing the greater community to the value of diversity and inclusion.

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Mooney said the trailer is considered a “bridge program” as they work to acquire funding to create a larger mixed-use residential community, including a brick and mortar coffee shop, housing where 32 neurodiverse tenants can live next to and learn from each other and a community barn that will host small events and business retreats.

The nonprofit expects to break ground on its vision next summer.

“We are trying to demonstrate to the greater community the litany of capabilities that our ambassadors have. I think when people see, ‘Oh I just got served a cup of coffee, and everybody on that trailer has some sort of cognitive disability, and that was such a great experience,’ other employers will also be encouraged to do the same thing,” Mooney said.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities “are the best employees you will ever find” due to their dedication, hard work and want to be there, Mooney said. Yet, they often experience much higher unemployment rates, research shows. Typical work environments might not be equipped to employ people who need supports. She hopes that will change and one day there won’t be a need for places like Tall Tales Ranch.

“Everything we do is about community, it’s about creating opportunities, it’s about advocating for our friends with I/DD, and really just breaking that paradigm of isolation and separation. And finally giving us a seat at the table,” Mooney said. “The Daniels funding allows us to shine a spotlight on what we’re trying to do. It puts this issue in peoples’ minds.”