Childcare quality & licensing

The Garfield County Childcare Program is a unique, proactive program whose focus is to meet the needs of early education professionals in Garfield County. We promote recruitment, retention and quality in early education.

We offer to licensed homes and centers:

• Family childcare home licensing for Garfield and Pitkin Counties
• Consultants to advise and assist providers; bilingual support
• Resource van, a lending library of equipment and supplies
• Educational opportunities through workshops and on-site training for providers
• Childcare program strategies and assessments to help evaluate programs and set goals for improvement
• Other resources

If you are a parent looking for childcare or preschool, please contact Early Childhood Network at 970-928-7111 for a list of licensed providers.

Program

Child Care Licensing for Garfield and Pitkin counties: pre-licensing consultation, ongoing technical licensing assistance and support for licensed programs.

Grants

Through partnership with the Aspen Community Foundation, Family Child Care Start-up Grants are available. Call 970-945-9191, ext. 3064. Other grant opportunities for licensed and qualified exempt child care programs and early childhood professionals can be found here: https://www.coecstimulus.com/.

Responsive coaching (Child Care Consultant)

Whether you have a child development question; want help tweaking the daily schedule; need support with activity ideas for setting up an environment conducive to different types of play and learning; or help addressing challenging behaviors, our consultant is available to help meet needs as they arise. A childcare consultant is available to work with any licensed home or center in Garfield County, please call 945-9191, ext. 3065.

Resource van

The resource van is a lending library on wheels. A variety of books and children’s materials are available for licensed childcare homes and centers in Garfield County. If you’d like a childcare consultant to visit you with the resource van, please call 945-9191, ext. 3065.

Training

Educational opportunities through workshops and on-site training for providers – training opportunities are offered throughout the year and often in collaboration with community partners. Not seeing what you are looking for? Just ask. We can help find, coordinate or design a training.

Child care costs

Child care financial assistance navigation is available to any family needing assistance with what options are available when child care costs seem out of reach. Our bilingual outreach consultant is happy to help navigate choices and necessary paperwork.

To file a complaint about a licensed childcare program or to report unlicensed childcare call the Division of Early Learning Licensing & Administration (DELLA) 303-866-5958.