The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) received over $465 million in American Rescue Plan Act and Child Care Development Fund funds to strengthen and expand the early childhood sector in Colorado and ensure all children have access to high-quality child care. CDEC is partnering with the Colorado Lab to build data collection and evaluation strategies for these stimulus-funded activities to ensure CDEC can track progress and assess the influence of funds on providers, families, and the workforce supporting young children. CDEC committed $281 million (over 60 percent of the child care stimulus funding) to child care stabilization and sustainability grants to help programs remain open and operating for families and to improve the conditions of their workforce. The Colorado Lab and CDEC have released the first in a series of data briefs on the progress of these grants. Future briefs will cover program enrollment and workforce in programs receiving grant funding. 

Please reach out to Dr. Whitney LeBoeuf with questions or to learn more.