LOR Foundation

09/14/2026

If you were hosting a gathering in Cortez (or nearby) for 300+ people, where would you hold it? We are planning our LOR celebration event for next spring, and I want to make sure I'm not missing a great venue. Thanks for your help!

09/08/2026

Thank you to all of you who have taken the Cortez Resident Survey so far! If you haven't already, please take 10 minutes to share your thoughts about life in Cortez and the local issues that matter to you. The survey will close next Monday, Sept. 14, so visit www.cortezresidentsurvey.com to share your feedback today. It takes just a few minutes to make sure your voice is heard!

Cortez Resident Survey

09/02/2026

Looking to support Montezuma-Cortez Middle School and their new pursuits classes? Visit their farmstand Thursdays in September from 4 PM-5 PM for some great locally grown veggies! For questions, reach out directly to the middle school.

08/26/2026

SMALL TOWN, BIG IDEA: To address increasing food insecurity and a growing need for more protein, Cortez ranchers and volunteers came up with an innovative solution: Raise a bison herd to provide local food pantries with protein.

Thanks to Jennifer Brown at The Colorado Sun for highlighting this novel, locally led project, which LOR was happy to support.

As drought shrinks the food supply and federal budget cuts shrink benefits, the Cortez community comes up with a local solution

08/04/2026

After six years, 500 community projects, and more than $3.5 million of investment, the LOR Foundation ended grantmaking in Lander, Wyoming, in June and moved on to Buffalo. We learned a lot in those six years. Some of the learning confirmed our hunches. For example, if you make funding easy to access—no formal applications, no deadlines, and quick turn-around times so folks have the money they need in a couple of weeks—regular people will make things happen for their community. Lander did; close to 300 locals stepped forward to lead projects that made Lander even better than it already was. And that’s to say nothing of the hundreds of friends, relatives, and volunteers who helped each project become a reality. Meet some of them in this short film, which celebrates the incredible work we got to do with the Lander community.

https://lorfoundation.org/stories/lander-and-lor-six-years-of-community-work/

📹 Kyle Duba

After six years, nearly 500 community projects, and roughly $3.5 million of investment, the LOR Foundation is leaving the incredible community of Lander in June 2026. We’ve learned a lot in those six years. Some of the learning confirmed our hunches. For example, if you make funding easy to access...

07/29/2026

Backpack giveaway is this Saturday, August 1, from 10 AM to 1 PM at Evangel Church. If you didn't pre-register, backpacks will be given out on a first come first served basis. Thanks to Osprey Packs for their generosity in providing so many backpacks for this amazing community event. Thank you to all our many other partners and donors: Salvation Army, Evangel Church, Onward A Legacy Foundation, Montelores Early Childhood Council, and Wolf Creek Energy Storage.

07/23/2026

Over the last three decades, rural counties across the U.S. have lost on average 10% to 20% of 15- to 29-year-olds due to migration. Libby, Montana, struggled to retain its young people, too, but investment in a series of local career and technical education (CTE) efforts has started to turn that tide. Over the last four years, Libby residents have launched more than a dozen CTE projects with funding from LOR Foundation. Now homegrown talent is staying local and businesses are tapping into a skilled workforce. Read about what the innovative residents of Libby are doing to change the trend at https://lorfoundation.org/stories/career-pathways-create-opportunity-for-libby-youth-and-businesses/.

07/21/2026

2026 Backpack and School Supply Giveaway is coming soon! Join us Saturday, August 1 from 10 am - 1 pm at Evangel Assembly of God (208 W. 5th Street, Cortez) to get a backpack for your Pre-K to 12th grade students. Preregister by July 28th to guarantee a backpack filled with supplies. Osprey Packs are available while supplies last. Preregister at https://bit.ly/MOCOBackpack. For questions, contact the Salvation Army at 303-860-5486.

07/13/2026

SMALL TOWN, BIG IDEA: Wheelchair ramps are essential pieces of equipment for Weiser, Idaho, residents who use mobility devices to access their homes or other buildings. But they also cost as much as $20,000 each and are rarely covered by insurance, limiting access and freedom of movement for those with mobility challenges.

Fortunately, a Weiser nonprofit had a plan: Secure several temporary ramps and lend them out as needed. Recently, The Daily Yonder explored how Love INC of Washington County is providing this critical resource, a project the LOR Foundation was proud to support.

When Melinda Nelson moved to Weiser, Idaho, in 2019, she bought a house with her mother and sister that has three steps leading to the entrance. Nelson

07/10/2026

Join me! I’m so excited to finally participate in Leadership Montezuma Only two weeks left to submit your application for this year's Leadership Montezuma Cohort!
For more information visit our website: www.leadershipmontezuma.org.
Have questions before you submit your application? Email: [email protected].

07/01/2026

Love seeing Lander, Wyoming's innovative local farming community celebrated in WyoFile and the The Daily Yonder. LOR has been proud to support several of the groups and initiatives mentioned in Katie Klingsporn's insightful piece. Keep on growin', Lander!

This story is co-published with Wyofile. A meadowlark fills the air with its melody, singing above the rumble of the nearby Popo Agie River, in central

06/27/2026

Come visit the LOR tent at the Cortez Celtic Festival today (June 27) at Parque de Vida from 9-6. Great music, delicious food, and awesome LOR swag!! Come see me!

06/22/2026

The LOR Foundation is excited to support a new grant opportunity with the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable for rural communities across the Mountain West.

The Mountain West Rural Outdoor Health and Recreation Grants support locally led outdoor recreation projects that improve community health, quality of life, and access to the outdoors, from building and improving trails and recreation assets to launching outdoor wellness programs and forging partnerships with local clinics, schools, parks, public health organizations, outdoor businesses, and more.

Applications are open now and close July 10, with selected communities announced in early August.

Learn more and apply on ORR's grant application page:

06/15/2026

So excited for this new free offering for some of our young residents! Follow ZU Arts Initiative for updated information.

The instruments for Mini Music Makers just landed.

Thanks to a grant from the LOR Foundation and 81321 Launch, ZU Arts Initiative just purchased a full instrument library for our free music workshop program for kids ages 4 to 10. Here is exactly what is coming:

5 Sonor Orff xylophones
6 Sonor Orff glockenspiels
48 Yamaha soprano recorders with cleaning rods
8 Kala ukuleles
2 Boomwhacker diatonic sets
3 rhythm and percussion sets

These instruments belong to this community. They will live here and be used for Mini Music Makers workshops and future youth programming for years to come.

We already have Young Emerging Artists reaching out to assist sessions and we are so excited about the response. Now we need adult musicians to lead them.

If you play music and want a paid, out of the ordinary gig, this is it. Each engagement covers two one-hour workshops, one for younger kids ages 4 to 6 and one for older kids ages 7 to 10. Adult session leaders are paid $250 per engagement.

Learn more and apply at cortezarts.org/mini-music-makers

Know a musician who should see this? Tag them.

05/27/2026

The Daily Yonder 's Ilana Newman provides a fascinating look at how rye is having something of a renaissance in the San Luis Valley, thanks to its remarkable drought-tolerance, and two women behind the Rye Resurgence Project: https://dailyyonder.com/rye-resurgence-colorado/2026/05/12/

LOR is happy to support the Yonder's expanded coverage of coverage of rural communities in the Mountain West.

Rye uses less water than barley, potatoes, or alfalfa, other common crops in the San Luis Valley. A local group is helping farmers sell rye.

05/20/2026

SMALL TOWN, BIG IDEA: For years, Weiser, Idaho, locals have been clamoring for a central place to gather outside of their homes and work—a “third space.” With support from LOR, Weiser Public Library director Timbra Long has delivered that space. The library now hosts a variety of classes and workshops for the entire community—digital literacy, adult bookclub, teen takeover nights, among them—and has seen thousands more visitors each year.

“We hear a lot that libraries are just places that have books," Long said. "But they’re really community hubs."

Learn more about this unique rural Idaho project at

Over the last five years, the Weiser Public Library has added computer classes, teen nights, a book club, and other programs, bringing residents together to talk, laugh, and learn. (Photo by Sarah Miller)

05/12/2026

“As an organization dedicated to helping local people improve quality of life across all kinds of issues, LOR regularly sees the critical role local news outlets play in rural communities. Supporting them means ensuring the people who live in rural places… have access to the essential information they need and deserve.” —Gary Wilmot, LOR executive director

We appreciate Martha Ramirez's thorough reporting on the need for rural media funding in Inside Philanthropy. Thank you for including us!

Support for nonprofit local news is on the rise, but there's still vast need in underserved rural areas. Here's how several funding efforts are shaping up.

05/02/2026

How can people in rural towns overcome barriers and transform their communities? LOR spoke with Wyoming mom and volunteer Amber Peckham-Jones about how she launched several projects supporting individuals with disabilities and their families in Lander.

Amber Peckham-Jones, a Lander mom and advocate, has made it her mission to make life better for those with disabilities in Lander. With LOR's support, she has led three community projects, becoming a dedicated champion and leader. (Photo by Kristy Cardinal)

02/18/2026

There are many small ways to help in Cortez. Do you have a great idea? I’d love to hear about it!

Congrats to the SWOS student, City of Cortez, and League of Women Voters on this great recycling project.

01/14/2026

HELP OUT THE CITY OF CORTEZ IN THEIR RESEARCH:

Do you remember the Civilian Conservation Corps Camp that was in Cortez from 1939 – 1941?

If you know someone who served in the Civilian Conservation Corps SCS-14-C in Cortez, Colorado, we want to hear your stories!

If you or a family member has stories, information, images, or artifacts from the Cortez CCC Camp SCS-14-C or its side camps, please contact Ryan Spittler, Project Archeologist for Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants Inc:
📞 Office: 970-564-9640
📱 Cell: 201-739-3635
📧 [email protected]

This project is led by the City of Cortez Historic Preservation Board. In 2025, the City of Cortez was awarded a $22,736 grant by History Colorado to continue research on the CCC Camp and analysis of the sites found in Carpenter and Geer Natural Areas. As part of the continued research on SCS-14-C, the City of Cortez is hoping to gather personal accounts and potential images from former members or their family members of the Cortez CCC Camp, and its associated side camps.

📷: Montezuma Heritage Museum Archives and courtesy of Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants