If you are anything like us, you assumed that the Mesa County Health Department spent the COVID years consumed with everything COVID-related.

So perhaps you had to pick yourself off the floor, as we did, upon learning that our health department had built out an entire early childhood education support system when COVID seemed to have the rest of the world shut down.

The county first started working on child care five to six years ago after a needs assessment showed the county about 4,000 slots short. Since then, Public Health has worked through an initiative called Child Care 8,000 to close the gap.

One of the first areas they took on was child care licensing and helping private providers get their businesses off the ground, according to reporting in The Sunday Sentinel. One way the county has done that is by helping out on the back end with paperwork. The county has developed a “spoke and wheel” model in which Public Health can run things for multiple child care centers on the back end, leaving the centers to focus on providing care to the children.

Lowering the barrier to entry for someone looking to get into the child care business is a smart place to start. It’s low cost to the county, but is a hugely valuable service for the new providers.

It was through the Mesa County Partnership for Children and Families (MCPCF) that Danielle Bowen was able to launch her business and effectively provide childhood education services.

“It’s actually been my foundation,” Bowen said. “I didn’t even know where to start or how to get this process going or anything. I reached out to the county first, and they got me in line with (MCPCF Early Childhood Council Quality Improvement Navigator) Daisy Thomson and she got me started on all the PDIS (Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System) trainings that I needed to do, she got me connected with my licensing agency, and they’ve really just been my go-to for all of my questions and everything…”

Someone starting out in early childhood education or child care is likely more interested in the work itself, caring for children, than doing a bunch of paperwork. For those that haven’t run a business before, having one place to get their questions answered and to help them navigate those back end issues is a big advantage.

It’s clear this program has helped bring more child care online at a time it is desperately needed. Having available child care helps parents that are balancing work against raising a young child. It’s also incredibly important for the kids.

Studies have shown that early childhood education in the first five years has positive life-long impacts on future prospects from education to career to social life. It results in less risky behavior and lowers rates of disease.

We often note that it helps to get as far upstream of a problem as possible to find solutions. It’s hard to get further upstream from problems like crime, addiction and poverty than providing a good start in life with a quality early childhood education system. The entire country is struggling to solve this problem. Despite working through the most difficult public health situation we’ve faced, Mesa County is leading the way on this issue. We have the vision of Public Health Executive Director Jeff Kuhr to thank for this gift.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Editorial Board

Read the original article here.