About the SBHC Program

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s School-Based Health Center (SBHC) Program began in 1987 with Maternal and Child Health federal funding. From 1994–2001, the program was part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Making the Grade national program, receiving $2.3 million. The program also received $1 million from The Colorado Trust from 2008-2011. The program was established in state statute (C.R.S. 25-20.5-501-503) in 2006 and received an initial state general fund appropriation of $500,000 (Fiscal Year 2007). The following year, state funding increased approximately $1 million annually until Fiscal Year 2014 when it increased to roughly $5.2 million annually. 

Most of the program funds are granted to local school-based health centers (SBHCs) as the SBHC Program prioritizes grants to SBHCs that serve a disproportionate number of uninsured children, a low-income population, or both. The statute directs the SBHC Program to award grants to: 

1. Establish new SBHCs.
2. Expand primary health, behavioral health services, including education, intervention, and prevention services for opioid, alcohol, and marijuana, and other substance use disorders, or oral health services offered by existing SBHCs. 
3. Provide support for ongoing operations of SBHCs.

The SBHC Program also partners with other state agencies and grant programs to expand the services available in SBHCs.

• The SBHC Program receives funding through a partnership with the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration to implement adolescent substance use and mental health screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT). The Colorado Behavioral Health Administration funding for the SBIRT-SBHC Project comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) federal substance use treatment block grant.
• The SBHC Program partners with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Oral Health Unit to implement the School-Based Oral Health Project. This project strengthens the capacity of participating SBHCs to develop and/or expand the practice of implementing school-based oral health as a standard of care. 
• The SBHC Program partners with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Tobacco Unit to implement the School-Based Tobacco Treatment Integration Project. This project strengthens the capacity of participating SBHCs to identify tobacco use, implement tobacco cessation strategies, and ultimately institutionalize tobacco treatment as a standard of care in SBHCs.

Fiscal Year 2023-2024 SBHC Program grantees

The SBHC Program currently funds 56 operating SBHCs and 5 planning sites throughout Colorado. The linked spreadsheet has a tab for each funding source or program strategy. Navigate through the tabs to explore the grantee organizations for each program strategy, the total funding awarded, which SBHC sites are supported by each grantee organization, the host schools, and the grades served by those schools.

• Tab 1 lists the operating SBHCs receiving state funding from the General Fund. 
• Tab 2 lists operating SBHCs receiving federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). 
• Tab 3 lists planning-to-operate SBHC sites receiving ARPA federal funds. 
• Tab 4 lists operating SBHCs receiving federal funding to support the Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment and Other Services (SBIRT) Project. 
• Tab 5 lists operating SBHCs receiving General Fund support for the School-Based Oral Health (SBOH) Project. 
• Tab 6 lists operating SBHCs receiving Amendment 35 funds to support the School-Based Tobacco Treatment and Integration (SBTTI) Project. Fiscal Year 2021-2022 SBHC Program annual brief.

Read details about the program and see current data regarding Colorado SBHCs.