The Work of Colorado’s Early Childhood Councils
Colorado’s 31 Early Childhood Councils work hard in local communities to make sure that comprehensive early childhood services are available, accessible, of high quality, and sufficient to meet the community’s needs in the four major areas defined on the Colorado EC Framework. So what does that work look like? Although we’ll use MECC for our examples, this work is done at by all 31 Early Childhood Councils.
MECC creates capacity by getting together local partners from each of the four areas of the Framework to collaboratively develop the infrastructure of the system. This process is ongoing. Together these partners make decisions, do community assessments, develop strategic plans, evaluate the system, and many other things. What does this really mean? It means lots of meetings, planning sessions, discussions, and work groups where ideas are shared and solutions developed. Things really do happen at meetings!
Simultaneously, MECC builds the local foundation for the early childhood system, a process of continuous quality improvement. If you look across the bottom of the Framework you’ll see the bricks of the foundation. MECC takes a leadership role in these tasks as it works to build partnerships; engage community members and stakeholders; improve policies affecting children and families; and cultivate leaders. You’ll see MECC’s work in strengthening the foundation of our early childhood system incorporated in our strategic plan.
By creating greater capacity and building a stronger foundation, MECC impacts services for children, families, professionals, and the community. Using the Framework as a guide, MECC identifies gaps in access, quality, and equity across the four areas, and implements strategies to fill those gaps. Again, this is reflected in our strategic plan goals, outcomes, strategies, and activities.
Most importantly, MECC’s work is guided by our shared values and principles.
To read more about the benefits of Colorado’s Early Childhood Councils, click here.