What is the BECLP?
The Buell Early Childhood Leadership Program (BECLP) is a transformative leadership fellowship designed to empower leaders across Colorado who are passionate about shaping not only their own future, but the future of children, families, and communities. This program brings together influential voices from education, business, public service, health, and community organizations to strengthen leadership capacity and drive meaningful systems change.
Fellows join a dynamic peer-learning community where they collaborate with experts and colleagues from across the state. Together, they explore cutting-edge leadership practices, tackle complex and persistent challenges, and co-design innovative strategies for impact.
Through the program, fellows engage in a deeply personalized growth experience that includes leadership coaching, strengths-based development, and systems change thinking. Graduates become part of the Buell Early Childhood Leaders Network—a powerful community of alumni who continue to learn, collaborate, and lead initiatives that improve outcomes for children and families across Colorado.
What Are the Goals of the BECLP?
The Buell Early Childhood Leadership Program is build around three core goals that strengthen both individual and collective leadership:
- Cultivate a statewide fellowship of impact-driven leaders.
Engage in a 9-month leadership journey that unites professionals from diverse sectors to strengthen their skills, advance equity, and spark innovation—personally, within their organizations, and across early childhood systems. - Collaborate to solve real, systemic challenges.
Provide a cross-sector forum where fellow work together to identify local, regional, and statewide challenges and co-create solutions that drive sustainable systems change. - Build leadership capacity for influence and action.
Strengthen fellows’ ability to lead confidently within their spheres of influence through strategic collaboration, adaptive leadership, and systems thinking.
Specific Learning Objectives
Personal Leadership
- Understand professional strengths and areas for growth
- Identify preferred leadership style
- Explore values and motivations for engaging in the early childhood ecosystem
- Identify identities, implicit biases, relative privileges, and actions that contribute to (in)equities
Collaborative Leadership
- Flex leadership styles to work across difference—including alongside those who have been historically excluded
- Develop authentic relationships that enable others to contribute to a shared vision
- Understand, navigate, and build power and political will to effect change
- Use change management principles and practices to achieve desired outcomes
Systemic Leadership
- Understand the history and current state of the early childhood ecosystem—nationally and in Colorado including policies, program models, key players, and available resources
- Explore root causes of key structural challenges facing the early childhood ecosystem such as workforce, accessibility, quality, affordability, and funding
- Develop advocacy and systems change strategies to address structural challenges and understand when to deploy various strategies to be most effective
- Employ an equity lens to policies and practices to dismantle those that perpetuate inequity and develop those that advance equity
Who Should Apply?
Inclusivity and diversity are core values of the program. The cohort of 20 individuals will be established to represent diversity of organization type, industry focus, as well as individual race, ethnicity, and gender. Individuals should apply if they are:
- Working in, advocating for, or passionate about creating positive change for young children, families, and communities across Colorado—whether in education, business, government, philanthropy, health, or the nonprofit sector.
- In a leadership or decision-making role—formal or informal—with the ability to influence people, policies, or practices within your organization, community, or region.
- Interested in designing and implementing strategies that drive meaningful, sustainable impact, both within your own context and across broader systems.
- Committed to advancing equity and inclusion through your leadership and the work of your organization or community.
- Eager to collaborate with a diverse network of peers across the state, reflect on your leadership practice, and strengthen your ability to lead with purpose, empathy, and influence.
What Does the Program Entail?
Over the course of the 9-month program, each fellow is expected to engage in both in-person and virtual sessions, as well as a final capstone project.
- 2.5-day in-person opening retreat
- 2.5-day in-person mid-point retreat
- 2-day in-person closing retreat
- Nine 3-hour virtual sessions
- Monthly virtual coaching sessions
- Leadership assessment(s)
Application Process and Deadlines
Journal Entries(?)
We will hold informational webinars on:
- Thursday, November 20, 2025 from 12:00-12:30 MST
- Tuesday, December 9, 2025 from 12:00-12:30 MST
We will review the program requirements and answer questions. An audio recording of this session will be made available.
The application deadline is Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee comprising Buell Fellowship alumni, Buell staff, and other keky early childhood leaders. Interviews will be held on January 7 and 8, 2026 with a subset of the selection committee. Final decisions will be made and communicated to selected fellows by January 23, 2026.
To apply, please include:
- A completed online application form
- Your resume (two pages maximum)
- Uploaded letter of reference from either an individual who has direct responsibility for overseeing your work or from an external partner with whom you work directly. The letter should include the referee’s relationship to you, a description of your strengths and achievements, and comments on how you might benefit from and contribute to the Buell Fellowship Program
- Commitment to Participate form signed by both you and your supervisor