Littleton plans to spend $1.2 million on youth programming

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In 2022, the Walton-Penner ownership group bought the Denver Broncos Football Club for $4.65 billion. e Metropolitan Football Stadium District distributed proceeds from this sale to the counties and municipalities that are members of the district, including Littleton.

As a result, Littleton received an unexpected, one-time payment of $1.2 million to be used for “youth activity programs,” according to a letter from the stadium district.

On May 23, council members and sta discussed how to use these funds.

East Community Center e largest request for the stadium district funds so far has come from Littleton Public Schools, which asked for $750,000 to support the East Community Center.

In 2021, the Littleton Public Schools Board of Education decided to merge East Elementary and Moody Elementary schools due to declining enrollment and committed to turning East Elementary’s building into a community center. e school district, which conducted a community engagement process to determine the goals of the center, hopes to use the repurposed space to o er recreational, educational, and community support services. for information to interested parties in the community. Forty- ve organizations have already expressed interest in using the space.

Any funding provided by the city would be a one-time grant, with the school district hoping rent income from community partners would nancially sustain the center in the future.

Lions, Fire, and Kings – Oh My! Step back in time and see God give Daniel and friends courage!

Free Vacation Bible School

Monday, June 5, 2023 – Thursday, June 8, 2023

9:00am to Noon | First Presbyterian Church of Littleton 1609 W. Littleton Blvd., Littleton 80120

Ages: Any child going into Kindergarten – 5th grade in the fall of 2023 Register online at FPCL.org/vbs2023 or call 303-798-1389

Contact: Melissa/Blake Winslow at VBSCOORDINATOR@FPCL.ORG e district has put out a request

“We were so pleased to see how many people were really invested in sharing their voice and advocacy related to what would happen not only to the building but how we could use this concept of a community center to further the services for the youth and families in the community,” said Assistant Superintendent Melissa Cooper at the study session. rough the engagement process, stakeholders decided on nine areas of focus for the new community center: sports and recreation, childcare, wellness, after-school and youth groups, educational classes, small business support, community market, community space, and garden and resource navigation.

“ is then drives what we are looking for in the partners from the community, to then be able to negotiate an agreement with the school district for space in the community center, to then be able to provide these types of services,” Cooper said.

In addition to money to support the community center, Cooper said the school district could use extra stadium district funds, if granted, to support summer school and summer camps at the EPIC campus, early childhood education programming, and middle school STEM. e community center, however, is the district’s rst priority for use of stadium district funds.

Discussion and other uses of funds

District 4 Councilmember Kelly Milliman said she liked the idea of nancially supporting the East Community Center.

“I’m gonna be supportive of because I look at it as this was — not free money, but essentially kind of free money — to use to help jumpstart this community center,” she said. “It just seems like there’s enough people and enough focus and enough energy and enough

SEE COUNCIL, P22