What Partnership
Makes Possible
Our founders, Sam and Nancy Gary, created Gary Community Ventures in 1976 with a bold vision that all children in Colorado have the opportunity to grow up healthy and reach their full potential.
They didn’t believe we should exist forever in pursuit of that goal. Instead, they asked us to thoughtfully transfer all of our resources to the community by 2035 and ensure those resources make a lasting, transformative impact on Colorado kids and families.
Sam and Nancy believed lasting impact requires business, policy and philanthropy to work together, each bringing its strengths, resources and perspectives to the table. Fifty years later, the impact made possible through the partnerships in those sectors gives us confidence in what we can achieve together in Gary’s final chapter.
Together, we can make Colorado the best place to raise kids, build a future and thrive for generations to come.
What Does A Thriving Colorado Mean To You?
This vision doesn’t belong to Gary alone — it belongs to everyone in Colorado. Tell us what a thriving Colorado means to you, and stay close to the work to help us carry to forward.
Celebrating The Past.
Shaping The Future.
Follow our anniversary series to explore 50 years of impact, learn about the work ahead, and partner with us to transform the future for Colorado kids and families.
What does it really take for a family to get ahead?
We talk a lot about what families need to make ends meet. We talk far less about what they need to actually get ahead.
Universal Childcare Is Possible
Together, everyone at the table listens with humility, acts with courage and responds honestly about the barriers that remain.
Program gives teens investment accounts & financial education
What becomes possible when young people enter adulthood with the assets that allow them to build personal and generational wealth.
Reflections on a Decade of Purpose-Driven Investing
A joint reflection from Gary Community Ventures and Caprock
Stories
Creating A Colorado
For Kids And Families
Partner organizations and community members share their hopes for the future and what it will take to get there.
Colorado Voter Guide: Preschool is on Your Ballot
Proposition ii and Denver Question 2P will help improve UPK and extend the Denver Preschool Program
Standing with Center
Center once had Colorado’s lowest graduation rate. Now it’s among the highest. What fueled the turnaround?
Colorado Pay It Forward Fund
Creating an education and workforce training system funded not based on enrollment, but on results.
Collaborative Healing Initiative Within Communities (CHIC)
The impacts of racism on Black Coloradans aren’t abstract. A new study aims to provide tangible solutions.
Ednium: The Alumni Collective
Financial literacy is now a DPS graduation requirement. A group of recent K-12 grads are a big reason why.
How New Tech is Changing Childcare & Preschool in Colorado
After months of searching, have The Byrds found a childcare solution? Could a new tech platform help?
Meet Kathe Traore
“I didn’t find my people until my mid-20s. I want to speed that process up for our next generation.”
The Creation Of Home: The Johnson Family
Dearfield sees the potential in Black women like Nicole, the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S.
“Our goal is that by 2035, all of Our Assets will have been transitioned from our balance sheets to the community.”
Founder Sam Gary’s Enduring Priorities Memo
Explore our sunset strategy