I love this time of year when I get a moment to pause and reflect on the positive impact Cottonwood Institute has created in the lives of our students and the communities we serve for the past programming year (August 2024 – July 2025).

In a world that can feel divided, a quick scan of our Cottonwood Blog Headlines rapidly sucks me out of the Cycle of Cynicism to the Cycle of Hope, a concept we share with our students.

We positively impacted the lives of 454 middle and high school students in Aurora, Denver, and Boulder this past year. Many celebrated their firsts: Their first hike, overnight camping trip, night hike, Tim Tam Slam, fishing expedition, climbing trip, rafting adventure, and so many more.

We broke down barriers to make nature more accessible to hundreds of students, but more importantly, we inspired students to lead Action Projects to tackle local environmental issues. We need more of this in the world right now!

But none of this would be possible without the strong ecosystem of supporters who help fund our programs every year. To our long-time donors, we couldn’t do any of this without you, so thank you.

If you are new to Cottonwood, please check out our Sponsors & Partners page and consider becoming a monthly donor to help invest in our students, programs, and long-term sustainability and success!

Here is to a positive, healthy, and hopeful year to come.

Ford Church, Founder and Executive Director
Cottonwood Institute

PS: Please share our Cottonwood Institute Impact Report 2024-25 with 5 other folks in your network or post about it on social media and tag @cottonwoodinstitute and you will receive unlimited high fives and good Karma;)