Project Summary
The Colorado Child Abuse Prevention Trust Fund (Trust Fund) provides leadership, collaborative support, and advising and makes recommendations on child maltreatment prevention across Colorado. The work is governed by a 19-member Board of cross-system county and state representatives alongside family leadership. The Board is a Type II Advisory Board within the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC). CDEC partnered with the Colorado Lab to develop a multi-year Prevention Investment Strategy.
Policy and practice recommendations focus on:
- Strategy for spending resources that flow to the Trust Fund;
- Opportunities to build Trust Fund resources, as part of sustaining investments; and
- Priorities for cross-system prevention investment overtime.
A mixed methods approach is used to develop the strategy and includes:
- Board-identified gaps and opportunities through qualitative interviews;
- Landscape analysis of existing data on the major needs of Colorado families and evidence-informed strategies matched to those needs; and
- Sourcing of existing recommendations on child maltreatment prevention.
A strategy report and executive summary of recommendations will be available by June 2024. The plan will be used by CDEC to unlock spending authority for the Trust Fund and guide Board priorities.
Steps to Building Evidence
The Colorado Lab is providing strategic consultation to the Board to ensure prevention investments and recommendations made by the Trust Fund reflect their statutory scope and unique sphere of influence (Step 1 on the Steps to Building Evidence) and are data-informed and matched to the needs of Colorado families (Step 2).
Actionability
The Prevention Investment Strategy will improve alignment of child maltreatment prevention investments across Colorado and accelerate progress in the most critical areas of need for families. This includes informing budget requests and needed legislation by CDEC to unlock spending authority. By having clear recommendations backed by data, the Trust Fund will further maximize its influence in collaborative support and advising of cross-system partners, including alignment with Family First implementation by the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Get Involved
For more information about working with the Colorado Lab, see Government and Community Partnerships or Research Partnerships.rnrnu0026nbsp;