FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Hope Shuler | hope.shuler@state.co.us
DENVER — 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.
“We are excited to collaborate with the implementation sites to improve early developmental health and well-being,” said Debbie Cheatham, Director of the ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center. “Our work will center ECD systems-building strategies around families and equity to improve outcomes and reduce disparities in health and family well-being.”
Assuring Better Child Health & Development (ABCD) will serve as the lead organization for this work alongside an implementation team from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, Colorado Department of Public Health, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Healthier Colorado, Early Milestones, Ability Connections Colorado, and Valley-Wide Health Systems.
The implementation sites will receive technical assistance to identify strengths and opportunities for ECD systems building, connect with other states and subject matter experts, and have access to curated resources. The sites will define and contribute to short-, mid-, and long-term outcomes in their state that build upon previous efforts to reach system changes and improve health for young children and families.
“We are looking forward to building on the foundation of the transformative work that Colorado has built to support the prenatal to three population,” said Eileen Auer Bennett, ABCD Executive Director. “Our work will focus on the San Luis Valley (SLV) and Huerfano and Las Animas (HULA) Counties.”
The ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center is led by ZERO TO THREE in partnership with several of the nation’s top early childhood and health system organizations – the American Academy of Pediatrics, Help Me Grow National Center, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Family Voices, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, and Institute for Child Success. The Center seeks to increase the implementation and evaluation of evidence-informed, equity-driven, systems-level strategies among states and to strengthen the evidence base in support of ECD state systems building. Learn more about the Center and Implementation Sites project.
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The Colorado Department of Early Childhood ensures the delivery of a comprehensive, community-informed, data-driven, high-quality and equitable early childhood system that supports the care, education and well-being of all Colorado’s young children, their families and early childhood professionals in all settings.