Saying it would help Colorado families living in poverty, legislators are proposing to allocate $1 million to organizations that support impoverished communities.

Senate Bill 080 — sponsored by Senate President James Coleman, D-Denver, Minority Leader Cleave Simpson, R-Alamosa, and Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs — would create the “Cradle to Career Grant Program” within the Department of Human Services that is modeled on the Harlem Children’s Zone.

The latter was established in 1990 to provide educational, social, and health services to children and families in Harlem.

According to Coleman, it will cost about $1.4 million to jump-start the grant program, which he said will be funded by gifts, grants, and donations. The state is facing an $850 million budget deficit, and legislators sometimes set up gift mechanisms to pay for a new program.

Similar to a “racial equity” commission established by a 2024 bill, the program will not begin until sufficient funds are raised.

“This is a bill that tackles poverty reduction,” Coleman said. “It recognizes that generational poverty is not accidental. It is systemic.”

Under the proposal, grants will be awarded to local organizations that provide economic mobility services to families, including housing, workforce development, and educational programs.

While the Harlem Children’s Zone focuses on a roughly 100-block section of New York City, poverty is not just a city problem, Simpson said.

Simpson’s western Colorado district includes some of the poorest areas of both Colorado and the United States.

While similar programs already exist in some of his areas, they are usually geared toward more affluent communities, according to bill sponsors.

“This bill and this policy is a chance to expand that and create those same opportunities in some of my more economically-distressed communities in my district and really across the state,” Simpson said.

Dr. Megan Stidd, who will manage the program within the state’s department of health, assuming it is adopted, said she found the idea “incredibly exciting and energizing.”

“I love the idea of creating a grant program focused on coordinated community-based supports and services that open opportunities for economic mobility,” she said. “I strongly believe in the concept of this bill.”

Stidd already oversees the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program established through legislation last year, which she said operates under a similar structure.

“The Cradle to Career grant program will provide much-needed resources to community-based organizations and improve outcomes for children and youth across the state,” she said.

Christian Rhodes, the chief national impact officer for the Harlem Children’s Zone, said 55 other cities across the country have adopted similar programs.

“There’s a movement happening in this country, and I believe Colorado is primed to take advantage of those opportunities,” he said.

According to the Harlem Children’s Zone, the program has a 97% college acceptance rate and has successfully closed the racial achievement gap in both math and English at its charter schools.

Rhodes said he and his staff will help provide technical support to Colorado’s programs, if the bill passes.

“I believe that there is a unique opportunity to take states’ interest, match it to locally-led solutions, and provide a real pathway for young people in this state,” he said.

The bill passed through the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee on a 6-1 vote, with Sen. Mark Baisley, R-Woodland Park, voting no.

“The purpose of government is to secure our lives, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness, not to raise our kids,” Baisley said, adding that, once parents allow the government to raise their kids, “bad things happen.”

Committee Chair Tony Exum, D-Colorado Springs, agreed that government shouldn’t be the answer to all problems, but when there is one, such as what he described as “systemic” and “generational” poverty, “the government should be the first one to step in.”

The bill will next be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee.