Buell Sponsors and Presents at the Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference 2025

The Buell Foundation is proud to have been a Visionary Sponsor for this year’s Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference (RMECC) hosted by the Denver Early Childhood Council. The conference welcomed more than 1,500 early childhood attendees to the two-day event that was held March 6-7.

In addition to our sponsorship, two from our Program Team, Stacy Howard, Program Officer and the Manager of Behavioral Health Strategy, and Jason Callegari, Senior Program Officer, Initiatives, each facilitated panel discussions covering their respective topics:

Stacy: Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Roles, Impact and Strategies 

Jason: Stacking the Deck in Your Favor: Helpful Tools for Building Local Investments in ECE

The Foundation’s President & CEO, Steve ErkenBrack, shared remarks at the Friday morning plenary session and presented the Advancement of Early Childhood Education award to winner Larkin Odell. The award highlights an outstanding leader who has made significant contributions to advancing early childhood education through advocacy, mentorship, or program development.

Another Buell programmatic addition to the schedule was a lunchtime roundtable on Thursday facilitated and led by Laura Carlson, Vice President of Programs, to discuss recent changes to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Discussion included changes where an increasing number of counties in Colorado have frozen local programs in order to ensure adequate funding for families already being served. The goal was to hear perspectives from the field about the impact that these changes are having on local communities.

Lastly, Buell staff attended a new session and model this year: Policy Pathways: Conversations with Early Childhood Professionals and Colorado Legislators that included a discussion of the state of ECE in Colorado followed by roundtable discussions and then refreshments and conversations to wrap up the afternoon on Friday.