Only one more week to get your Field Work applications in! Field Work is LOR’s search for innovative answers to persistent problems that plague rural communities. Our goal with each #FieldWork research initiative is to get money into the hands of the people on the ground who have innovative ideas. This year, LOR is focusing on ideas that improve mental health in rural places. Learn more and apply at lorfoundation.org/FieldWork2025 (fb)

In southwest Colorado, the Cortez Skatepark is an important community asset, but it's inaccessible for a large portion of the year due to weather. So a group of Cortez locals came up with the idea of a pop-up indoor skate park. Good Samaritan offered its warehouse as the first location, and all that was needed a little help purchasing the equipment needed to launch the Beech Street Skatepark. For LOR, providing funding for locally led projects like this, means helping build the connections that sustain rural communities. "The things that are really cool to see for me is the intergenerational stuff—different people teaching each other," Asa Seder, who helped start the project, told Rocky Mountain PBS. "It's been so important to all of us to make sure that skating feels exciting and positive and accessible and it's something that anyone who wants to can step into." Watch Rocky Mountain PBS's story at (fb)