Longmont City Council approved the allocation of $21,000 to gather youth opinions on how to spend the Denver Broncos money.
Distributed by the Metropolitan Football Stadium District as part of the profits shared with cities and counties when the Denver Broncos sold for $4.65 billion, Longmont received $980,481 to spend on youth activity programs.
In February, council directed that money to the Children, Youth and Families department to create a community involvement plan using input from young people.
In a memo to city council, staff said the department wants to engage an experienced opinion research firm to manage a demographically representative survey of Longmont residents ages 10-18.
Children, Youth and Families staff are planning a youth summit on May 13 and rolling out a grant application to award funds to organizations providing youth activities soon after. The survey and associated data will help better inform the Longmont Youth Council on the focus areas for funding of youth activities, staff said.
The expanded survey will consist of at least 15 questions with open-ended responses and a Spanish version.
There are an estimated 16,625 kids ages 5-18 in Longmont of which staff said, on the high end, includes about 12,000 kids ages 10-17. This means a survey needs a sample size of about 2,000 individuals and — with a typical 20% response rate on surveys — Longmont will need to ask 10,005 children to participate in the survey.
On Tuesday, council unanimously approved the allocation of $21,000 of council contingency funds to this work as part of the consent agenda.
Mayor Joan Peck is also undertaking a media campaign to reach youth of all backgrounds and the Youth Summit, which will be in person and online 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 13 in the Longmont Council Chambers at 350 Kimbark. Lunch and t-shirts will be provided for on-site participants, who are asked to register online.
Longmont residents 10-18 are able to submit ideas for how to use the nearly $1 million online through May 31.
