Clear Creek Early Childhood Education Center

The Clear Creek Early Childhood Education (CCECE) Center is an effort to create about 60 childcare seats for children ages birth through age 5 in Idaho Springs with sliding-scale tuition starting Fall 2024. 

The Center is supported by employers in the county, including the Clear Creek School District (CCSDRE-1), Clear Creek County Government, Clear Creek Metropolitan Recreation District, and Loveland Ski Area. Clear Creek Schools Foundation is helping seed this project through grant writing. Learn more here!

To apply for child care assistance and learn more about child welfare in Clear Creek County,  click here.

Family Child Care Home Facilities Improvement Grant

The majority of Colorado children are cared for in home environments. According to a 2015 report by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, between 2011 to 2015 the number of licensed family child care homes decreased by 15%. There are many reasons for this decrease, including a stronger economy with better paying jobs available and increasing child care regulations or local regulations that provide challenges the opening of family child care homes (e.g. adoption of the universal building codes by cities and towns).

To address the declining number of licensed slots within family child care homes and to improve quality within home-based learning environments, the Buell Foundation granted funds to the Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance (ECCLA) to provide facility improvement funding to family child care homes. This opportunity is intended to help family child care homes start up, expand, or maintain consistent operations, increase capacity and reduce the number of family child care homes closing their doors due to financial restrictions.

For more information click here

Project Include

We are excited to share an initiative to help Colorado’s licensed child care programs make adaptations to better serve children with delays, disabilities, and differences.

Project Include offers all licensed child care programs in Colorado the opportunity to build more inclusive learning environments through simple modifications and adaptive equipment.

There is no cost or application to participate in Project Include – all Colorado licensed child care programs are eligible. Simply fill out this interest form to get started. 

Interested programs will start by completing the Introduction to Universal Design training on the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System (PDIS).  After the training is complete, Project Include offers Universal Design and Inclusion Kits for programs to borrow and experiment with adaptive equipment. Each kit contains materials that can be used to make simple adaptations in early childhood environments to increase inclusion and participation by young children with delays and disabilities. The kits are focused on one of four developmental areas: Communication & Literacy, Behavior & Cognition, Fine & Gross Motor, Vision & Hearing. The kits can be requested for loan and will be distributed throughout Colorado. As of August 2022, the Communication & Literacy and Behavior & Cognition Kits are available for check-out.

In addition, Project Include offers:

• Video tutorials with explanations of how to use the tools in each kit
• Quick program support for brief questions and resources
• Customized coaching and materials support from our team of experts after completing the course and exploring a Universal Design and Inclusion Kit

Learn more and get started! Contact projectinclude@ucdenver.edu with questions.

The project is a partnership between the Center for Inclusive Design and Engineering (CIDE) and the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.