Early Milestones Colorado welcomes the expertise, insights, and latest research from across the early childhood system. We are thrilled to share guest blogs with our audience to advance critical knowledge and share vital perspectives. If you are interested in contributing a guest…
How Can State Policymakers Foster Integrated Early Learning Environments?
Early Milestones Colorado welcomes the expertise, insights, and latest research from across the early childhood system. We are thrilled to share guest blogs with our audience to advance critical knowledge and share vital perspectives. If you are interested in contributing a guest blog post, please e…
Early Childhood in a Changing Climate: What Colorado Caregivers Need to Know
Early Childhood and Climate Change At Early Milestones we advance practice, research, and policy so that every community can provide an environment where children will flourish. It is vital to recognize that young children are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Caregivers must be aware of …
Trauma-Informed Education in Early Childhood: Building Resilience
Guest blog by Dr. Laura McArthur Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Resilient Futures Resilient Futures aims to help children, families, and educators by using “trauma-informed care” or “trauma-informed practices.” This blog will share why these practices are important f…
Empowering Educators: The Pyramid Model’s Success in Boosting Professionalism and Resilience
Guest blog by Alison Hargarten, Ed.S, Director of Mission Strategies at Healthy Child Care Colorado. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected children, families, and the child care and early learning workforce. Caregivers are facing increased stress and depression[1], declines in childrenâ…
The Importance of 0-3 Respite Care: Protecting the Parent-Child Relationship
Guest blog by Susan Huebner, Executive Director of Nurturing Newborns. From the beginning of life, humans need humans. The parent-child relationship is crucial and affects learning, brain development, social-emotional skills, and mental health. But what happens to these relationships when the chil…
Equity in Grant Making
Guest blog post by Sydney Mock, Research Associate at Marzano Research Empowering Families and Communities In communities across Colorado, numerous families have been strengthened thanks to innovative projects in early childhood education designed to address their needs. From immigrant and refugee f…
Raising Rural Voices to Strengthen Universal Preschool Implementation
In Fall 2023, Colorado officially launched the Universal Preschool (UPK) Program. Every Colorado child is eligible for at least 15 hours of funded preschool the year before entering kindergarten. With the generous support of the Boettcher Foundation, Early Milestones Colorado conducted an intervie…
Childrens’ Right to Playful Learning: A Call for Concern and A Call for Action
Guest blog post authored by Lori Ryan, Ph.D. Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development As an early childhood faculty member at University of Colorado Denver’s School of Education and Human Development, I recently had a wonderfully t…
Feeding Injustice: How Colorado Fails our Youngest Kids by Denying Food Benefits
Guest blog post authored by Miguel In Suk Lovato and Taber Ward from the Donnell-Kay Foundation A hungry child is a hungry child. It doesn’t matter whether this child is being cared for by a licensed childcare center, a forest preschool, a tÃa, or a neighbor. All children deserve to have access t…
Beneath the Surface: Exploring Identity and Building Cultural Self-Awareness
Each year, the child population in the United States grows more diverse. For me, this means it’s important to reflect on the perspectives we bring to our work on an ongoing basis. In January, I jumped at the opportunity to learn more about myself through a professional development cohort led by Va…
Lessons Learned From Leading Pooled Funds
As we prepare to launch the first initiative of Early Milestones Colorado’s (Milestones) Impact on Equity Fund, the Milestones team has been thinking and talking a lot about Pooled Funds. This kind of collaborative funding is really in our DNA. In fact, Milestones was created thanks to six local f…
Case Studies: Building an Equitable Early Care and Learning System in Colorado
To better understand how the new universal preschool program could work for all, Early Milestones Colorado interviewed families in the summer and fall of 2023 about their experiences finding child care and early learning services for their preschool-aged children. We spoke to families who identified…
