Licensed Centers
SPECIALIZED SUPPORT TO MEET CENTERS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
Licensed Child Care Centers provide a vital service supporting society by nourishing the next generation’s minds. The resources below are tailored to the unique needs of large centers.
Licensing
Learn a bit more about the distinctions between different types of non-home licensure below. For specific questions about licensing, please contact your local licensing specialist or visit the Colorado Office of Early Childhood website for additional guidance.
Staffing
Substitute Pool
Early Childhood Hourly Teachers, LLC (ECHT) provides staff coverage when there is a planned or unplanned staff absence at licensed centers and homes. Their goal is to provide high quality early childhood professionals to support early childhood centers for flexible periods of time at an affordable rate. Providers can request substitutes weeks or months in advance if they anticipate the need and can request the same substitute if they found a good fit. Their substitutes are:
- ECT qualified and, in many cases, Director qualified as stated by Rules and Regulation from the State of Colorado
- Deeply caring towards the well-being of the children
- Extremely professional
Have you signed up to utilize the Mesa County Substitute Pool? Getting “on board” to use this service is free for programs and takes about 10 minutes! Visit their website for more information or reach out to maru.ecthourly@gmail.com if you have any questions!
Background Checks
New background check rule requirements were implemented to better align with the federal Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) regulations. Effective September 30, 2020, prospective staff who have lived outside of Colorado in the past five years are required to provide the following three background checks for each state they have lived in prior to employment or being allowed to work unsupervised:
- State Criminal History Check (SCH)
- State Sex Offender Registry Check (SSOR)
- State Child Abuse and Neglect Registry Check (SCAN)
Colorado’s Office of Early Childhood’s website contains comprehensive guidance to ensure compliance with rule and regulations.
Work Experience Internships
The Work Experience Internship is a collaborative, short term, paid work activity which provides an individual with the opportunity to acquire the skill and knowledge necessary to perform a job. It includes:
- Instruction in workplace skills, using goals, and structure
- Exposure to various aspects of an industry
- Internship and job shadowing
- Integration of basic academic skills into work activities
Approved funding is provided through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act grant provides funding and wages are paid directly to the individual intern through the Mesa County Workforce Center.
Learn more by visiting their website.
Utilizing Restitution Labor for Projects
Partners’ Restitution Program allows youth, who are court-ordered, the opportunity to perform community service hours and/or earn restitution to pay their victims. The program helps youth satisfy court-ordered obligations, provides educational and prevention classes, instills work ethic, accountability and responsibility for actions. The program works with other youth agencies, non-profits, government agencies, schools and churches in the community.
Partners Restitution crews must abide by child labor laws and can be hired for:
- Yard work
- Assembly work
- Event cleanup
- Deconstruction
- Irrigation ditch digging and cleanup
- Graffiti cleanup
- General cleanup
- Trash pick up
Learn more by visiting their website. Please call the Job Site Coordinator at 970-245-5555 ext. 103 or directly at 970-730-2025 to schedule a work crew.

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Support
CHILD AND ADULT CARE FOOD PROGRAM
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides reimbursement for healthy meals and snacks served to Colorado’s children and adults in child care centers and homes, afterschool programs, emergency and homeless shelters, Head Start, Early Head Start, and outside-school-hours programs and adult day care centers. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds the CACFP and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment administers the program.
- When School’s Out: A comparison of child nutrition options (Afterschool Snack Program, CACFP’s afterschool program and the Summer Food Service Program).
- Use this cost-benefit tool to see how your program can benefit from CACFP participation.
Visit this website for more information. For additional support in Mesa County, please contact morgan.haynie@mesacounty.us