Press Release

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) reached a settlement agreement with Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je. As a result, the religious-based summer camp has agreed to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit as the regulations cited in its Complaint do not apply to the camp.

Responding to extensive community and provider feedback, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) submitted recommendations to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) aimed at ensuring the long-term sustainability of the state’s vital Early Intervention (EI) program. The plan prioritizes protecting direct services for children and families while meeting the JBC’s request for recommendations that total $1 million in cost savings.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) has won the prestigious 2025 APEX Project of the Year award by the Colorado Technology Association. This recognition honors CDEC’s innovative use of technology to simplify access to early childhood services for families and providers statewide.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious 2025 Project of the Year award by the Colorado Technology Association. This recognition honors CDEC’s innovative use of technology to simplify access to early childhood services for families and providers statewide.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) has launched a new website today, hosted on its main site. The site, titled “Investing in a Stronger Early Childhood Ecosystem,” details goals, funding streams, and data for the more than 40 stimulus-funded strategies CDEC implemented to address pandemic recovery needs and strengthen Colorado’s early childhood sector. The website is designed to demonstrate the impact of more than $700 million in strategically invested federal and state stimulus funds, and present key learnings that help the industry build upon this essential work.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) published the state’s Universal Preschool Program Quality Standards today, in partnership with early childhood stakeholders throughout the state. With input from nearly 700 Colorado families, providers, school districts, early childhood councils, members of the workforce, the Rules Advisory Committee and more, the benchmarks balance 26 national and Colorado-based best-practices with the priorities of the state’s early childhood community.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) is offering a one-time financial opportunity to registered Universal Preschool providers this spring. Any registered 2024-25 Universal Preschool provider who enters into a new Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) fiscal agreement with a county between January 1, 2024 and June 15, 2024 will be eligible to receive a one-time $2,000 bonus. Applications for the bonus will be sent directly to all eligible providers in March.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood recently awarded 1,141 Universal Preschool (UPK) Colorado providers more than $15.3 million in the first round of Capacity Building Grants using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that were requested in the Governor’s Budget and approved by the legislature. The Capacity Building Grants fund education materials and supplies, health care materials and supplies, technology, furniture, and site infrastructure.

Colorado is one of three implementation sites selected for a multi-year effort to advance statewide systems of comprehensive early childhood developmental (ECD) promotion, prevention, screening, and intervention. The project is awarded by the Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems (ECDHS): Evidence to Impact Center (the Center), a technical assistance partnership led by ZERO TO THREE and funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

With the first two rounds of Universal Preschool (UPK) Colorado complete, 27,457 families have accepted their provider matches and their children will attend the state-funded high-quality, voluntary mixed delivery preschool program this fall. Between the first two rounds, 90.7 percent of children were matched to any of their chosen providers and 78.6 percent of families were matched to their first choice.