Thanks to the outpour of community support–and despite the sudden loss of our federal funding–we have continued to deliver free public humanities programming to Colorado. We have succeeded in the following endeavors: 

1. Helped K-12 students bring history to life through research, creativity, and storytelling with our Young Chautauqua program in three school districts
2. Brought children and families together to read, engage with authors, and promote literacy through El Día de los Niños at the Denver Botanic Garden
3. Celebrated literary achievement and spotlighted community voices with the Colorado Book Awards 
4. Put Colorado authors on the map through representation at the Library of Congress's National Book Festival
5. Partnered with local communities on three Chautauqua living history festivals to stimulate lifelong learning and community connection across generations.
6. Shared the stories of Colorado Latino history for the employees of a major corporation, stimulating appreciation and learning across cultures.
7. Opened nominations for the next Colorado Poet Laureate to promote poetry, literacy, and literature through community engagement 
8. Provided university students with tools and skills for facilitating courageous conversations amongst their communities. 
9. Ignited collaborations for the America 250-Colorado 150 commemoration

As these programs illustrate, the humanities sustain the cultural and civic life that holds communities together. The humanities remind us who we are, connect us through shared stories, and help us imagine a better future together. Through history, literature, and dialogue, they nurture empathy, civic participation, and a sense of belonging that no other field can replace. When we invest in the humanities, we strengthen the foundations of democracy itself—understanding, reflection, and respect across differences.

The elimination of federal operating grants for the state humanities councils was intended to dismantle the public humanities. We are still standing because Colorado communities recognize that the humanities are not a luxury, but a lifeline.

We've built a strong plan for what comes next—and with your continued support and a little more time, we can bring this vision to life and secure the future of the humanities in Colorado. We have a nationwide partnership network of 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils, and we are collaborating to build new paths into the future. Despite the attempt to bring us down, all humanities councils are still standing, united in the belief that the humanities are our best hope for a future where we have the freedom to write and read the stories that help us to understand the past, to celebrate who we are, to connect across differences, and to imagine who we want to become.

Help us write this next chapter together to protect access to books, histories, cultural traditions, freedom of thought, literacy, and artistic expression—things we can never take for granted. These are the stories and ideas that define us, and they are worth defending.