Backbone Inks Multi-Year Partnership with Colorado Mountain College

The three-pronged collaboration provides integrated marketing experience for first-generation college students

Carbondale, Colo. (January 10, 2024)—Backbone, an integrated marketing agency hailing from Colorado, takes immense pride in unveiling a robust, long-term partnership with Colorado Mountain College (CMC), a public, dual-mission college with 11 campuses across the central mountains of western Colorado. The crux of this partnership lies in the creation of the Backbone Scholarship for Integrated Media, which financially supports students and opens doors to internship opportunities and potential employment at the agency—for which applications for the 2024-25 academic year are open now.

Founded a quarter-century ago, Backbone emerged from the visionary belief that one could embrace an active Colorado lifestyle while simultaneously producing meaningful work for category-leading outdoor brands. While the agency has experienced explosive growth in recent years—now touting two physical offices, in Carbondale and Denver, and employing “specialists of stoke” in 20 states—Backbone's unwavering allegiance remains firmly rooted in its home state of Colorado. Fusing community pride with a commitment to ensuring diversity and equity within education and employment in the outdoor industry, the Colorado Mountain College and Backbone partnership helps facilitate a career path in the outdoor industry.

“We ardently believe the outdoors makes us better, and consequently, we are passionate about facilitating participation and inspiring a passion for the outdoors through programs like this, which wouldn’t be possible without our friends at Colorado Mountain College,” said Jollene Norton, Director of Human Resources at Backbone. “CMC and Backbone not only share a backyard but are mirror images of one another when it comes to community values. This partnership is a match made in heaven.”

The Backbone Scholarship is being offered to one student each calendar year and is intended for first-generation college students. The comprehensive program includes:
 

1. A scholarship covering one full year of tuition for a third- or fourth-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Integrated Media degree, a new program at Colorado Mountain College.
2. A 12-week marketing internship at Backbone, where the scholarship recipient will:
   1. Receive one-on-one mentorship and exposure to all agency services: public relations, paid media, search marketing, affiliate marketing, social media, influencer marketing, and creative/content.
   2. Network and immerse themselves in the agency culture by attending all-staff events and gatherings.
   3. Complete an independent research project to bolster their resume.
3.  The potential for a full-time position at Backbone upon graduation.

The inaugural recipient of the 2023-24 Backbone Scholarship is Juliana Garcia, a resident of Silt, Colorado, and third-year student at CMC’s Isaacson School for Communication, Art, and Media. Along with being a full-time student, Garcia works three to four days a week at Valley View Hospital, helps care for her three younger siblings, and gets outside to fly fish in her free time. “Given her dedication to learning, commendable commitment to her family, and enthusiasm for the outdoors, Juliana was the perfect fit for the Backbone Scholarship,” said Greg Williams, president at Backbone.

“There are not enough words to describe my gratitude for and the significance of this scholarship and internship,” said Garcia.

Apply for the Backbone Scholarship for Integrated Media here. For more information on Backbone, visit backbone.media. For more information on CMC and the Bachelor of Applied Science in Integrated Media, visit coloradomtn.edu.

About Backbone
Backbone is an integrated marketing agency with capabilities across paid and earned media. At Backbone, we are for people and brands who want to move: we hone, amplify, and stoke brands in the active lifestyle space and beyond. Backbone has consistently been recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s “Best Places to Work” and has been shortlisted in the prestigious PRWeek Awards, illustrating you can cultivate a culture with work/life balance and execute award-winning work. Visit us in person in Denver or Carbondale, Colorado, online at backbone.media, or on Instagram @backbonemedia.

About Colorado Mountain College
Colorado Mountain College, founded in 1965, is a dual-mission, local district college serving approximately 15,000 students per year with multiple bachelor’s and associate degrees, certificate programs plus non-credit community classes. CMC’s 11 campuses located in the mountain resort region of western Colorado across 7,500 square miles, serve the educational needs of a population spread across 7,500 square miles, in addition to a robust distance learning program. Thanks to its unique financing structure and open-access mission, CMC offers programs from sustainability to teacher ed, ski area operations to nursing and dozens more in between. CMC was designated an Hispanic Serving Institution in 2021.