EPIC’s 2023 Advocacy & Policy Priorities 

As the business community’s nonpartisan voice for early childhood, EPIC leads efforts to build infrastructure and advance policies that support the workforce of today while developing the workforce of tomorrow. Our vision is powered by the business community’s leadership and commitment to early care and education, that all children entering kindergarten will have the skills they need to reach their full potential. We have outlined our 2023 priorities below: 

Priority #1: Support children’s development and the needs of working families 

Child care enables families to work, and families need access to a variety of affordable, high-quality early childhood supports and choices for their children. Colorado must strive for funding and program administration that is an aligned, user-friendly, transparent, and effective system of resources centered on serving the needs of families and young children while ensuring that children have high-quality care and early education experiences. 

• Support a mixed delivery system of early childhood care and education services 
• Provide input on Universal Preschool implementation and program design 
• Inform rulemaking for Department of Early Childhood programs and funding 
• Access to services that meet the needs of the whole child and their families 

Priority #2: Invest in child care infrastructure to support and grow our economy 

Childcare is a critical service for economic development and growth in Colorado. We need to invest in the physical infrastructure necessary to support child care services. Communities and employers should be incentivized and supported to innovatively design, create, and sustain early child care and education services. 

• Incentives for employers, developers, land/building owners, government, and other community partners to invest in child care infrastructure and programs 
• Expanded real estate solutions and financial resources to support the creation of child care facilities 
• Address regulatory barriers to the creation of new child care capacity and businesses 

 Priority #3: Recognize and stabilize early childhood small businesses 

It is critical to elevate the voices of those providing critical early childhood services and ensure that we design our systems to support and stabilize the early childhood sector through the development, design, and ongoing implementation of early childhood funds and programs. The business of early childhood is incredibly challenging in many ways, and in order to ensure a
sufficient supply of early childhood services, we need policies that value and create financial stability for these small businesses. 

•  Create business supports, technical assistance resources, and incentives to ensure early childhood business owners can enter and remain in the sector 
• Development and investment in innovative career pathway/workforce support 
• Support and advance opportunities for early childhood business owners to participate in and inform policy 
• Address regulatory and legal barriers to entry for the industry 

 We appreciate and rely on your leadership and commitment to early care and education, and we welcome you to get involved so that our vision of that all children entering kindergarten will receive the skills they need to reach their full potential.