Colorado’s Statewide Strategic Plan

In 2024, the Early Childhood Leadership Commission endorsed Elevating Early Childhood, Colorado’s new Early Childhood System Strategic Plan. This plan was developed by and for families, providers, and early childhood system leaders and seeks to bring about a system where young children, their families, and the professionals who care for them are valued, healthy, and thriving. Thank you to the Strategic Plan Working Group who guided the creation of the new plan.

Resources for Learning and Sharing

• Full Strategic Plan (en Español)
• Strategies At-a-Glance (en Español)
• One-pager explaining the plan (en Español)
• Newsletter or email content in English and Spanish
• Training materials for sharing the plan
  • Virtual meeting
    • Slides
    • Facilitation Guide
    • Slides
    • Facilitation Guide
    • Slides
    • Facilitation Guide
    • Early Childhood Professionals
    • Families and Community Members

    Why was a new strategic Plan created?

    The new Early Childhood System Strategic Plan was developed to:

    • Respond to needs revealed in the Colorado Birth Through Five 2023 Needs Assessment (en Español)
    • Align with the refreshed Early Childhood Colorado Framework (en Español)
    • Be inclusive of all early childhood professionals, as defined in Pathways to Success: Colorado’s Comprehensive Early Childhood Workforce Plan
    • Deeply integrate equity into the strategies included in the plan

    How will this Strategic Plan Work?

    Colorado’s new Early Childhood Strategic Plan, Elevating Early Childhood, is a plan for collective action that allows for people at all levels of the system to actively contribute and collaborate with partners to bring about the changes Colorado’s children, families, and providers need and desire. Read the plan and check out all of the additional resources to consider how you can contribute to statewide efforts!

    Previous Plans and Resources

    Colorado Shines Brighter

    In 2018, the Colorado Shines Brighter Strategic Plan was endorsed by the Early Childhood Leadership Commission and includes opportunities to maximize the availability of high-quality early care and education options for low-income and underserved families across providers and partners; improve the quality of care; streamline administrative infrastructure; and improve state-level early care and education funding efficiencies.

    In 2022, the final year of the Preschool Development Renewal Grant, Marzano Research once again led the work to update the Colorado Shines Brighter Strategic Plan based on the current early childhood environment, new findings from needs assessment activities, recommendations from program evaluation and continuous quality improvement, stakeholder feedback with an emphasis on families and caregivers of children birth through five, and recommendations from the Colorado Shines Brighter Working Group.

    The Colorado Early Childhood Family Engagement Framework is Available!
    The Colorado Early Childhood Family Engagement Framework (Framework) identifies important family engagement concepts to be applied across early childhood sectors and agencies to support the vision that all Colorado children and families be valued, healthy and thriving. The Framework will help entities engaging with families organize their thinking and to mobilize action. It provides an anchor to which organizations and individuals can align their own strategies and activities. The Framework was developed through a collaborative effort led by the Office of Early Childhood with the support of the Early Childhood Leadership Commission, funded by the state’s Preschool Development Grant Birth-Five.

    Learn more about current Preschool Development Grant opportunities!