Learn how COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Recovery funds have helped our community

A little over a year ago, Boulder County residents, businesses, schools, and local governments responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic by staying at home, shifting to remote learning, conducting more online and curbside business transactions, and strictly limiting in-person gatherings.

Also just over a year ago, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to address the resulting impacts on families, small businesses, industries, and state/local governments.

This communication details how CARES Act money was obtained and dispersed by Boulder County over the past year.

How Boulder County obtained and dispersed CARES $$

Boulder County – in collaboration with its municipal partners – administered and distributed nearly $28 million* in program and grant funding awarded from the federal CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund in 2020. The funds, in addition to county-funded measures, have been used to respond to COVID-19 impacts on local residents and businesses.

Advocating for the County's share

The Boulder County Commissioners successfully advocated for county government funding for counties with less than 500,000 in population that did not receive a direct federal allocation of CARES Act funding.

The work to bring this money to Boulder County and share it with local municipalities and non-profits would not have happened without the assistance of Speaker KC Becker, House Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, and Governor Jared Polis. The county then worked with municipalities within Boulder County to effectively and equitably mobilize these resources to save lives and mitigate the disparate economic and health impacts of the pandemic in Boulder County.

Total allocation and spending

Through this work, Boulder County was awarded $27,983,411 in federal funds from the State of Colorado.

• Boulder County allocated 45% of the funds directly to the towns and cities in the county, based on population. Each municipality, in turn, distributed its allocated portion of the money according to its own needs.
• Boulder County retained $16,135.618 to distribute through its own programs and through the efforts of its non-profit partners for pandemic relief. A few example stories are shared below.

At the one-year anniversary marking the lockdown due to the pandemic, Boulder County has rolled out a new financial transparency website to allow the public to drill down and see in detail how the $16.1 million was spent in 2020.