Grace Church of the Roaring Fork Valley welcomes the public to its new church home in Emma with opening events today and Sunday.

On Saturday, there will be an open house from 1-3 p.m., beginning with a building dedication and ribbon-cutting service from 1-1:15 p.m. On Sunday, the first Sunday worship service at the church begins at 10:30 a.m., with Sunday school for all ages preceding at 9:30 a.m.

As of today, the Colorado River District is accepting grant applications for projects that protect, enhance or develop water resources within its 15-county region. The district includes all watersheds of the Colorado River within the western part of the state, except those that drain into the San Juan River or to the Dolores River upstream of the Mesa County line.

Projects eligible for the grant program must achieve one or more of the following objectives:

• Develop a new water supply

• Improve an existing system

• Improve instream water quality

• Increase water use efficiency

• Reduce sediment loading

• Implement a watershed management action

• Control tamarisk

• Protect pre-1922 Colorado River Compact water rights.

Previous successfully grant-funded projects have included the construction of new water storage; the enlargement of existing water storage or diversion facilities; rehabilitation of non-functioning or restricted water storage/delivery/diversion structures; implementation of water efficiency improvements; and watershed enhancements.

Such projects that utilize water rights that are senior to 1922 will be given additional ranking priority over similar projects that do not. Each project will be ranked based upon its own merits in accordance with published ranking criteria.

Successful grantees can receive up to a maximum of $150,000 (or approximately 25 percent of the total project cost; in the case of smaller projects, this percentage may be slightly higher) for their project. The total amount available for the 2013 competitive grant program is $250,000. The application deadline is Jan. 31.

To access the Water Resources Grant Program application, guidelines and policies, visit www.ColoradoRiverDistrict.org/page_193 [1]. For additional information, contact Dave Kanzer, or Alesha Frederick; Colorado River District, PO Box 1120, Glenwood Springs, CO., 80601; 945-8522; or grantinfo@crwcd.org [2].

The Early Learning Center Board of Directors has chosen new administrative leadership for the preschool and day care center.

Kelly Beal has accepted the position of director of curriculum for the school and Katie Seward will serve as executive director, starting immediately.

Seward has been part of early childhood education in the Roaring Fork Valley for the past 18 years. She has worked in the Yellow Brick School for many of those years, including with Roaring Fork Kids beginning in 2001, and then joining the Early Learning Center when the two schools merged in 2010.

Beal has been a teacher at the school since May, and comes to the table with both a practical knowledge of how the school operates, and enthusiasm to inspire teachers and families to participate in a thriving school environment, according to center officials. During Thanksgiving week, Beal was the impetus behind the Early Learning Center’s first-ever Thanksgiving play and potluck dinner.

Aspen’s Early Learning Center comprises eight classrooms of children, from 10-week-old infants to 5-year-olds in the Yellow Brick School Building, in Aspen’s West End neighborhood. As a nonprofit, the school receives financial aid through the city of Aspen’s Kids First program. The center is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Enrollment is open year-round for all classes. Financial aid is available for families in need through Kids First. For more information, call the Early Learning Center at 920-9201 or visit www.myearlylearningcenter.net [3].

Bart Miller, water program director at Western Resource Advocates, will discuss on Monday the multiple water demands that are forcing Colorado to assess its future water supplies.

The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Hallam Lake, 100 Puppy Smith St. in Aspen.

The event is sponsored by Roaring Fork Conservancy, Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER), Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), Aspen Global Change Institute, Western Rivers Initiative, The Thompson Divide Coalition and the Wilderness Workshop.