Chaffee County Early Childhood Council

Background Statement

CCECC has a long history of successfully supporting childcare centers and homes to remain open, as well as to recruit new centers and homes while guiding them through licensing, and to support providers' ability to offer quality care. We are known and trusted in the community to offer effective support to those providing childcare. When it comes to quality, we identify proven programs, access funds to implement the programs, and provide site-based support needed to integrate the programs into the ongoing work of centers and homes. We are seeking funds to expand our efforts.

The Chaffee County Early Childhood Council has four Strategic Priorities:

1. Acess to High-Quality Childcare

2. Children will begin school ready to learn

3. Support Early Childhood Workforce

4. Connect families with resources

Established in 2007, the Chaffee County Early Childhood Council (CCECC) addresses early childhood needs that are too large or too complex for any one agency or area of expertise to manage. CCECC’s approach is to listen to local needs, work collaboratively with families and agencies to identify evidence-based, sustainable solutions, and access the resources and support needed to integrate solutions into the ongoing work of community agencies.

CCECC has 16 active parent and organizational members, as well as community partners that represent the diversity of our community. CCECC’s focus on the whole child, our work is guided by the Early Childhood Colorado Framework, Colorado Systems Building Inventory, the Strengthening Families Framework, and Colorado Shines Brighter.

Initially, CCECC focused on licensed provider quality by supporting coaching, training, and the first-ever quality ratings of home providers. In 2009, adequate access to licensed care and access to developmental screening and referral were added. Since 2011, we identified community needs leading to 3 strategic plan goals: Adequate access to high-quality licensed childcare especially for infants and toddlers; support for prioritized school readiness skills; and ensuring Chaffee children are in safe and nurturing environments.

In 2013, Chaffee, Teller/Park, and Fremont Early Childhood Councils partnered to support cross-domain efforts to promote Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) from prenatal to age 5, including screening and referral, local capacity building, and ECMH consultation in early childhood programs. In 2016, Chaffee and Fremont’s councils received the highly competitive LAUNCH Together grant to strengthen 5 areas: integration of behavioral health into primary care; mental health consultation; enhanced home visitation; family strengthening; and parent skills training. CCECC engaged 20 agencies in receiving LAUNCH training and integrating new programs and services.

Through LAUNCH, we now have 4 highly trained ECMH specialists, as endorsed ECMH specialists who have provided reflective supervision to early childhood professionals, and local trainers conducting training to meet local professional development needs including; Trauma Informed Care, Trauma Responsive Practices, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Screening and Referral, Diagnostic Classification 0-5, and Foundations of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. We also have 11 agencies that have integrated one or more of the 5 new parenting curricula into their ongoing work with families.

COVID was a challenge for our community and CCECC was asked to respond and serve as the early childhood hub for timely information and access to resources needed by families and service providers early on. CCECC was also able to write grants to get needed supplies for childcare homes and families including PPE, cleaning products, formula, and diapers.

CCECC continues to focus on mental health support for parents and providers, but we have begun shifting more of our focus to workforce development as we are seeing the impact of the lack of early childhood workforce in Chaffee County and how it affects the ability of childcare centers to expand childcare slots. CCECC was also selected as the Local Coordinating Organization for the state’s Universal Preschool Program in 2022, to assist in implementing the program locally. The Universal Preschool Program provides funding for all qualifying 4-year-olds in the state for 15 hours per week and ensures families can send their children to preschool the year before kindergarten.