Early Childhood Council of Larimer County

Between 2009 and 2016 Larimer County lost almost one-third of our family child-care homes (FCCH), resulting in a decrease in capacity to serve 0-5-year-olds in licensed care. Through our FCCH program, we recruit new child-care providers and support them through pre-licensing.

The goal of the Early Childhood Mental Health Program is to build an integrated system of early childhood mental health care services in Larimer County, by creating specialized career pathways, increasing expertise in the field, supporting social-emotional programming, promoting caregiver wellness, and increasing access to professional consultation and wraparound services.

ECCLC works to strengthen the system of services available to young children in our community, including early child care and education, support for families, and physical and mental health services. The main focus is continuing our advocacy efforts around equitable and affordable access to child care. Additional systems building efforts involve ongoing backbone support for multiple community initiatives, including Be Ready (school readiness campaign), KIDS (optimizing healthy development), and the Advisory Council (community-wide stakeholders), along with any new initiatives identified through Council.

ECCLC works with licensed child-care programs in Larimer County to support and improve quality care for children 0-8 years of age. ECCLC's services include early childhood coaches who work with classroom teachers to strengthen practices, support for engaging in Colorado's Quality Rating Improvement System (Colorado Shines), and funds to purchase needed program resources to support quality goals, such as playground equipment, books, toys, and classroom materials.

ECCLC supports Early Care and Education Professionals through providing education and training opportunities. Our support includes scholarships for early childhood classes, and multiple training opportunities on a wide variety of relevant topics. The trainings range from a 48-hour college level class on Expanding Quality for Infants and Toddlers, to extended trainings on social emotional development and working with families, to many short topical workshops.