The Indispensable Role and Impact of One of Colorado’s Early Childhood Councils

About the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County

As a pivotal partner in Colorado’s early childhood sector—and part of the northern Front Range region—the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County (ECCLC) is one of the state’s 35 Early Childhood Councils that each play a unique role within their local communities to serve as a hub for partners, providers, caregivers, policymakers, and business leaders.

ECCLC is an independent nonprofit organization that rallies support, resources, and awareness to ensure every young child in their community has quality early childhood experiences so they thrive from day one. They work tirelessly and strategically together with everyone important in a young child’s life: from parents to teachers, and from physicians to psychologists, to equitably modernize and prioritize early childhood experiences. ECCLC provides expert coaching and consultation, builds leadership capacity, incubates innovative ideas, spearheads community collaboration, advocates for policies and funding, as well as designs and pilots innovative programs.

Reflecting on the past couple years, ECCLC’s 2023-2024 Impact Report captures the important work they’ve been doing in Larimer County. And in looking ahead, the Council’s recent 2025-2030 Strategic Framework includes four goals for the next five years:

1. All children in Larimer County have access to high-quality, inclusive early childhood environments and relationships.
2. The early childhood workforce is well-supported to provide high-quality services in our community.
3. The early childhood system in Larimer County is community-driven, well-funded, and sustainable.
4. Early childhood Council of Larimer County is a center of excellence in early childhood locally and at the state level.

Buell and its Impact: ECCLC’s Viewpoint

ECCLC was founded in 1997, and the Buell Foundation has been funding us for more than 20 years. The Foundation’s ongoing support has been invaluable to the sustainable growth and development of our innovative programs, especially as they have filled the gaps left behind by un- or under-funded mandates from the state and other funders. We currently hold two funding streams with Buell, our general Council grant and our Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation grant.

Between these two grants, most of our staff is at least partially funded by the Buell Foundation. This has allowed us to attract and retain qualified and talented staff to lead our programs and services. Beyond general staff and operational support for the Council, funding from the Buell Foundation has supported immense workforce development initiatives, including scholarships for higher education and professional development opportunities for early care and education (ECE) providers and other early childhood professionals. Other workforce supports are provided through our early childhood coaches and mental health consultants who work directly with teachers to empower them to provide safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments for the children in their care.

The Buell Foundation also provides funding to support our Child Care Recruitment and Retention (CCR&R) activities, which include recruitment events, marketing, and outreach to attract new ECE providers to the field, recognition and appreciation for current providers and more. Recently, this has also included our annual Early Childhood Provider Appreciation event, which honors approximately 200 early childhood professionals with dinner, goodie bags, raffle prizes, and an awards ceremony.

Flexible funding from the Buell Foundation also supports various pilot projects, including our Community Supporters Group, a monthly hybrid meeting that brings together professionals working in accessibility and belonging from across the community to learn, network, and support each other, as well as our Cultural Classroom Kits, which include a variety of inclusive books, toys, and other educational materials that are available to ECE providers in our community.

The Buell Foundation has been a true partner and champion of Council work from the very beginning. The flexibility of Buell’s funding streams has really enabled us to responsively and proactively fill gaps to do the work that is needed in our community when, where, and how it is needed, as opposed to trying to fit into Buell’s priorities and timelines. Not all funders take this approach, and we are very grateful for their forward-thinking practices around philanthropy. Buell has also been a valuable thought partner, advocate, and community connector. We often call on our Program Officers to discuss emerging issues, put our heads together on next steps, and utilize each other’s expertise for community events, and reports. Buell is doing it right when it comes to philanthropy, and ECCLC’s success as a leader in the state is proof.