Recent school board decisions reflect the conflicting pressures that APS, and schools across the country, face as K-12 schools in large urban areas begin to wrestle with the fallout from declining enrollment. Those pressures are particularly intense in Colorado, where public education receives some of the lowest state funding in the country.

"Communities of color, Latinos have only had access to housing that have been red-lined and that are in areas that are more polluted," Galofre Garcia said. "But it's also that we don't want places like that to exist."

Council members voted to fund the $2.5 million program through the federal American Rescue Plan Act last January. Proposals included a variety of assistance for small businesses, older adults, health care programs, Aurora students and others.