The Montelores Early Childhood Council began as a grassroots organization initially formed for provider networking in 1984 as the Montezuma County Family Child Care Association. The Association changed its name and expanded it’s mission to include quality professional development training opportunities in 1998 to become the current Montelores Early Childhood Council, expanding its membership to include additional early childhood professionals at that time. A third transformation occurred in 2005 when MECC and The Pinon Project Family Resource Center were awarded one of four Smart Start Demonstration Projects by OMNI Institute and MECC was offered the opportunity to be part of a pilot community assessment of our local early care and education system. In 2007, the MECC Steering Committee applied for and received a grant from the Colorado Department of Education and Colorado Department of Human Services to expand the work of the council. This funding came from authorizing legislation (HB07-1062), which states that it is the role of Early Childhood Councils to “improve and sustain the availability, accessibility, capacity and quality of early childhood services for children and families throughout the state.” Early childhood services are defined by the legislation as including the following four domains:
□ Early Care and Education
□ Family Support
□ Mental Health
□ Health
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