In the Community

Transportation Safety Foundation

Each year, the Foundation will award grants in increments of $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000 to nonprofit organizations and tax-exempt government entities supporting transportation safety, public safety, driver education and related educational programs in Colorado.

The E-470 Transportation Safety Foundation was established in June of 2001 in celebration of E-470’s 10th anniversary. As a nonprofit corporation, the foundation fundraises to provide donations and grants as a means of promoting transportation safety. The funds raised for the foundation are designated for transportation safety programs such as child safety seat inspections, seat belt safety, driver’s education classes and related education throughout Colorado. Read on to learn more about our 2024 grant winners.

2024 Transportation Safety Foundation Grant Recipients

Thriving Families serves low-income women and families during pregnancy and just after a baby is born, offering evidence-based group educational programs, case management, mental health counseling, and home delivery of necessities for newborns, including car seats for safe travel from the hospital home and beyond. To learn more, visit the Thriving Families website.

Arapahoe County Early Childhood Council promotes programs and services that support a safe, smart, and healthy start for young children and their families in Arapahoe County. To learn more, visit the ACECC website.

The mission of the Peace of a Dream, A Dream of Peace Foundation is to help young drivers learn to value the responsibility instilled in them when they get behind the wheel. Many teenagers think that the driver’s education class they all take will totally prepare them to drive on Colorado roads. However, over the past several years, our roads have gotten more crowded. This foundation sponsors new, young drivers so they can participate in an additional driver’s education class, focused on access, awareness, and avoidance, and designed to better prepare them for unforeseen circumstances while on the road. To learn more, visit the Makenzie’s Dream website.

WeeCycle is a Colorado nonprofit that collects new and gently used baby gear, diapers, and other infant and toddler essentials and donates them to families in need throughout the state. They also have a car seat recycling program that enables them to recycle recalled, expired, or other unsafe car seats, preventing them from being used. Car seats can be dropped off at WeeCycle (located at 20 S Havana St, Ste 210 in Aurora) on Tuesdays from 9 am-11 am and Thursdays from 12 pm-2 pm. To learn more, visit the WeeCycle website.

The Castle Rock Senior Activity Center provides services and programming including transportation services in Douglas County to help adults aged 50+ to live independent and fulfilled lives and to age in place. To learn more, visit the Castle Rock Senior Center website.

The Brighton Fire Rescue District is a special district founded in 1888 that provides an all-hazard response to the 63,478 residents within the District’s 150 square mile boundaries. Services to all these areas include fire suppression, technician-level Haz-Mat, technician-level Tech-Rescue, advanced life support medical services with transport capability, public education, fire investigation, and fire prevention services. The services are provided by a dedicated staff of 93 sworn personnel and eight civilian employees. To learn more, visit the Brighton Fire website.

Helmet Heads is a Colorado-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that champions helmet safety among youth in Title 1 Schools across Denver, Aurora, and Jefferson County. Each spring, Helmet Heads volunteers make impactful visits to second-grade classrooms to deliver helmet safety education and provide free recreational-use helmets. In 2010, a Helmet Heads survey showed that over 80% of their second-grade students in a Title 1 school did not own a helmet prior to our intervention. Sports-related accidents are the leading cause of brain injuries in American adolescents with bicycling resulting in 52% of deaths and 37% of hospitalizations. Wearing helmets has been shown to effectively reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury and mortality during sports-related activities such as bicycling. The Helmet Heads initiative serves over 16 different schools and distributes up to 1,000 helmets annually. To learn more, visit the Helmet Heads website.

As part of the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, the Child Passenger Safety program works to reduce the number of serious pediatric injuries in traffic crashes and the number of unrestrained child passengers. The Foundation does this by providing convertible car seats, child passenger safety classes and car seat installation. To learn more, visit the Children’s Hospital website.

The Colorado Teen Parent Collaborative (TPC) is a unified community of organizations, driven by the strength of teen parents, to raise public awareness, share resources, and advocate for public policy and program development that benefits teen parents and their children. The TPC is responsible for the creation and implementation of the Colorado Teen Parent Driver’s Education Grant Program. The grant program is funded through the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) and can be accessed through the Colorado Teen Parent Collaborative website. Grant funds are used to provide financial support to Colorado teen parents to enroll in driver’s education courses, permit and license fees, and supportive services, such as childcare, that are needed for teen parents to be able to participate in driver’s education.

Denver Police Museum is a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote social impact by building bridges between citizens and the law enforcement of Denver. The Denver Police Museum’s new youth-focused Traffic Safety Program is designed for Denver Public Schools students in grades 10 and 11 and includes hands-on educational activities with real law enforcement officers from the Denver Police Department. This innovative approach to traffic safety education provides students with access to critical information in an engaging and unique format. To learn more, visit the Denver Police Museum website.

DRIVE SMART Weld County is a nonprofit community coalition made up of members of law enforcement, business, insurance, media, concerned citizens, schools, fire departments and health professionals that meet monthly. DSWC’s mission is to assist residents in reducing the loss of life, injuries, and property damage because of transportation-related crashes. To learn more, visit the DRIVE SMART Weld County website.

South Metro Safety Foundation is an extension of the South Metro Fire & Rescue Authority that provides safety and injury prevention programs in the South Metro Denver areas including the Crash Avoidance driving class for new teen drivers, Seat Belts Save Lives program and License to Survive seminars for parents and teens about to begin the driving process. To learn more, visit the South Metro Foundation website.

Special Olympics Colorado is an independent local 501c3 organization providing free, critical services to the underserved community of children and adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. SOCO creates opportunities for them to thrive in their community through sports conditioning and competition, leadership training and opportunities for career development, preventative health screenings, nutrition counseling, and fitness programming. TSF funding helps support their Law Enforcement Unified Academies. This all-day event to be held four times in 2023 includes a vehicle safety program that educates athletes and their families, friends, and caregivers about safe driving techniques and understanding what will happen when pulled over by a CSP Trooper. To learn more, visit the Special Olympics Colorado website.

The Littleton Public Schools Driver Education Program was created in 1954 and since its inception, this program has serviced well over 20,0000 student drivers with over 3.5 million miles of Behind the Wheel instruction from pre-permit to post-license. The program consists of pre-permit to post-license experiences through parent training workshop events focusing on parents/guardians so that they can be more comfortable in teaching their student-driver within the Graduated Drivers License 50-hour requirement. The focus is to teach parents a comfortable, safety-first progression that uses the gradual release of responsibility method progressing from parking lot skills to easy residential and so on constantly celebrating success while reinforcing the need for growth.

National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) is a national youth-powered organization based in Denver, Colorado leveraging 25+ years of collaborative engagement and expertise to position young people to lead in addressing the most pressing youth health and safety issues affecting them today – with road safety being a key issue. Founded by the U.S Department of Transportation, NOYS has played an integral part in the traffic safety industry by supporting youth (15-29) in developing youth-led programs and campaigns that engage in actions that in corporate community mobilization, education and awareness, and infrastructure improvements. To learn more, visit the NOYS website.

High School After Prom Support

In an effort to provide a safe and fun activity for students to attend on prom night each year, the Transportation Safety Foundation grants $300 to selected high schools in the area to help fund their after-prom events.

2024 After Prom grant recipients are:

Adams City High School

 Arvada West High School

 Byers Booster Club

 Chaparral High School

 Cherokee Trail High School

 Douglas County High School

 Erie High School

 Fort Lupton High School

 Frederick High School

Heritage High School

Jefferson Academy Charter School

Ralston Valley High School

Severance High School

Smoky Hill High School

Stargate High School

Strasburg High School

Vista PEAK Preparatory

Windsor Charter Academy

Fundraising

Without utilizing toll revenue, the E-470 Transportation Safety Foundation hosts a biennial golf tournament to raise money to fund TSF grants. The 2023 tournament raised a record-breaking $90,000 for grant distributions in 2024 and to support future program expenses.

In 2020, the Foundation began hosting a fundraiser at Topgolf to supplement funds for grants in between years of the golf tournament. Thanks to the support of more than 30 organizations and nearly 200 participants, the 2024 Topgolf Tournament raised over $70,000!

E-470 Good Guys

E-470 is dedicated to community stewardship! The E-470 Good Guys is a team of employees who charitably give back, fundraise and volunteer time to serve our neighbors and support local nonprofit organizations. The Good Guys volunteer in person for Food Bank of the Rockies, donate coats to Coats for Colorado, donate candy to the Ronald McDonald House and the Denver Children’s Home and support the Salvation Army Angel Tree and Buckley Adopt-a-Family programs.