Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust Invests $3.2 Million In Mental Health & Substance Use Services In Multiple Vail Resorts Mountain Communities

The Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust announced that Rob Katz—Co-Founder of the Trust and the Katz Amsterdam Foundation, and Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Vail Resorts—has pledged more than $3 million in new grant funding to improve mental health and substance use services in 11 mountain communities, including several where Vail Resorts operates.

Over the past decade, Katz and his late wife, Elana Amsterdam, have contributed nearly $30 million through the Katz Amsterdam Foundation and Trust to support community-driven initiatives that strengthen mountain communities—more than $22 million of which has expanded access to mental and behavioral health care and reinforced local systems of support.

“Mental health and substance use challenges are significant nationwide, but mountain communities often face unique barriers like geography and provider shortages,” said Katz. “These grants reflect our belief that everyone—regardless of race, background, or location—deserves access to mental and behavioral health care.”

These grants complement annual commitments made through Vail Resorts’ EpicPromise, which supports more than 400 nonprofits across the mountain communities where the company operates.

Awarded to 12 grantees and 33 subgrantees, this funding will enhance efforts to:

• Expand behavioral health services, including bilingual and bicultural therapy, peer support, and care navigation tailored to Spanish-speaking communities.
• Support substance use treatment and recovery, such as scholarships for care, expanded sober living options, and evidence-based practices like medication-assisted treatment and contingency management.
• Invest in community-based prevention and engagement, including youth life-skills training and alcohol awareness campaigns.
• Strengthen data systems through the Foundation’s Shared Measurement Framework, which enables community-led solutions by gathering insights directly from residents and aligning services with local needs.

Funding has been awarded to the following organizations:

California

• Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation $345,000. 2025 – To support bilingual bicultural screening and assessment, crisis intervention, therapy, peer support, domestic violence and sexual violence counseling, and mental health education for Spanish speakers in the North Tahoe area. To ensure free and reduced cost access to a holistic, intensive outpatient program for communities of color. And to administer community and provider surveys in North Tahoe, CA in 2026 in collaboration with community partners, integrating data into strategic decision making with the community's mental behavioral health roadmap. Sub-grantees include: Sierra Community House, Tahoe Family Solutions, Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee, Crow's Nest Ranch, and What’s Up Wellness.

Colorado

• Aspen Community Foundation $325,000. 2025 – To provide scholarships for substance use treatment and sober living, to increase access to peer and mental behavioral health navigation and supports for Spanish speaking community members, and to collect community and provider mental behavioral health data via the KAF Shared Measurement Framework Survey Project in the Roaring Fork Valley. Sub-grantees include: Valley Settlement, A Way Out, and HeadQuarters.
• Building Hope $500,000 (Summit County). 2025 – To provide mental health treatment scholarships for communities of color, bilingual bicultural therapy in outpatient, school, and integrated care settings for youth and adult clients, and Spanish language “Alma” peer programming for Spanish speakers. To support medication assisted substance use disorder treatment, contingency management treatment for alcohol use disorders, and the “Booze Less Summit” alcohol awareness campaign. And to administer community and provider mental behavioral health surveys in Summit County in 2026 in collaboration with community partners. Sub-grantees include: Porchlight Health, Elevated Community Health, and the Family and Intercultural Resource Center.
• Crested Butte State of Mind $100,000. 2025 – To expand equitable access to substance use and mental behavioral health support for communities of color through community connection events and therapy scholarships. And to administer the KAF Shared Measurement Survey Project to inform strategic decision making about the community’s mental behavioral health efforts.
• Eagle Valley Behavioral Health $560,000. 2025 – To expand bilingual support for individual and group peer support substance use disorder services for Spanish speakers and to provide intensive outpatient group therapy, substance use disorder treatment, and wraparound support for the Eagle County community. And to administer community and provider mental behavioral health surveys in Eagle County, CO in 2026 in collaboration with community partners. Sub-grantees include: My Future Pathways and Reconnected.
• Gunnison Valley Health ($100,000). 2025 – To support bilingual patient navigation and inperson interpretation at the behavioral health department and Emergency Room at Gunnison Valley Health.
• Tri County Health Network $160,000 (Telluride). 2025 – To increase staffing support for substance use disorder screening and treatment and mental health and wellness support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in San Miguel County. To provide bilingual bicultural mental health navigation, treatment, and support for the Latine community. And to administer community and provider mental behavioral health surveys in Telluride, CO in 2026 in collaboration with community partners. Sub-grantees include: Telluride Regional Medical Center and San Miguel Resource Center.
• Yampa Valley Community Foundation $75,000 (Steamboat).2025 – To further the community's collective mental behavioral health efforts using survey data gathered from an inaugural administration of the KAF Shared Measurement Framework Survey Project.

Idaho

• Blaine County Mental Well-Being Initiative of St. Luke's Wood River Foundation- $200,000 (Sun Valley). 2025 – To expand mental health community engagement, case management and counseling for children, youth, and families recovering from traumatic use, NAMI support groups for Spanish speakers, and the creation of the Well-Being Ambassador program. To provide substance use disorder individual and group treatment and recovery support and Mental Health First Aid trainings in Spanish. And to administer community and provider mental behavioral health surveys in the Sun Valley, Idaho community in 2026 in collaboration with community partners. Sub-grantees include: Carbonate Recovery Center, The Hunger Coalition, Men's Second Chance Living, and The Advocates.

Montana

• Big Sky Health & Wellness Coalition (sponsored by Yellowstone Club Community Foundation) $75,000. 2025 – To work with consultants to create the community’s first strategic mental behavioral health plan using survey data gathered from an inaugural administration of the KAF Shared Measurement Framework Survey Project.

Utah

• Park City Community Foundation $500,000. 2025 – To expand equitable access to mental behavioral health services for communities of color via treatment scholarships, peer support, and domestic violence and sexual assault services, and to provide support for substance use disorder intervention, treatment, and recovery. Also to ensure bilingual bicultural therapeutic support for youth, adults, and families and to administer the evidence-based, well-being, prevention, teen life-skills, and ongoing support behavioral health programs “Thrive” and “Thrive 2.0” for 6th - 12th grade BIPOC students. And to administer a community mental behavioral health survey in Park City, UT in 2026 in collaboration with community partners. Sub-grantees include: Christian Center of Park City, Holy Cross Ministries, Jewish Family Services, Jacky's Recovery Support Services, Live Like Sam, Peace House, The People's Health Clinic, and the Summit County Recovery Foundation.

Wyoming

• Community Foundation of Jackson Hole $260,000. 2025 – To provide free or low cost culturally and linguistically responsive mental health and substance use treatment for Spanish-speaking clients, bilingual facilitation of Latina Empowerment Circles, and mental behavioral health counseling support for single mothers who are engaged in job training. And to administer the community and provider mental behavioral health surveys in the Teton County, WY community in 2026 in collaboration with community partners. Sub-grantees include: Mental Health & Recovery Services of Jackson Hole, Community Safety Network, Climb Wyoming, and The Mental Wellness Collaborative.

The Katz Amsterdam Foundation strives to be a catalyst for eliminating barriers to health, increasing access to opportunity, and improving outcomes for all. The Foundation believes that everyone benefits from living in healthy and cohesive communities, but access to these benefits is unequal. KAF works in partnership with communities to advance just and equitable approaches to accessing mental, behavioral and reproductive health care and protect civil rights by increasing civic engagement and participation in a multiracial democracy. The Foundation does this work by addressing systemic injustice, racial and social disparities in mental health, reproductive health and civic engagement. KAF's priority is to support community-driven work that meaningfully improves the lives of individuals and the social well-being of our communities. For more information, visit www.katzamsterdam.org.