Brave Leaders And Big Bets

Creating An Early Childhood System Where Kids And Families Thrive

By Steff Clothier, Director of School Readiness, Philanthropy

This piece is part of our 50th anniversary perspective series, in which Gary staff will share some of our biggest priorities for the next nine years. Read the first piece in this series, a message from our co-founder Nancy Gary.

Every parent in Colorado wants the same thing for their kids: an opportunity to grow and thrive. Right now, too many families are navigating an early childhood system that makes that harder than it should be. Families and communities want – and deserve – better. 

At Gary Community Ventures, we believe Colorado can be the best place in the country to raise a family. That belief can feel out of reach right now, with political headwinds and rising costs squeezing families every day. But, we’ve seen what’s possible when partners commit to solving hard problems together and that history is why we’re confident in what we can build next.

Gary’s approach to early childhood has never been about a single program or policy. It’s been about building the foundation: the leaders, the changemakers and the new ideas that make lasting system change possible. 

Our founders, Sam and Nancy Gary, helped to establish the Colorado Children’s Campaign to give kids a nonpartisan, data-driven voice at the Capitol. Sam and Nancy provided initial funding to make the Denver Preschool Program (DPP), a voter-approved investment in preschool for all, a reality. And, we backed the coalitions and champions who pushed for Proposition EE, which launched Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program (UPK) and a new early childhood department. 

And when we needed new ideas, we didn’t just wait for them — we went looking, including through a $1 million Early Childhood Innovation Prize that drew hundreds of submissions from innovators in more than 100 countries.

This instinct to back brave leaders and bet on big ideas will shape our work in early care and education in Gary’s final decade.

The Work Ahead

The next chapter is about turning good starts – like DPP and UPK – into a unified system that improves every family’s experience. 

Right now, a Denver family with a 6-month-old, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old has to navigate separate applications, separate eligibility rules and separate timelines just to get their kids the care and learning they need. Family, friend and neighbor caregivers — who serve so many of our youngest children, often in communities with the least access — sit almost entirely outside the traditional system, designed to accept government support. 

We can’t expect families to be experts in public policy and funding in order to get their kids what they need. And, we can’t expect families to change the care arrangements that work for them in order to conform with a system designed to work for others. 

A family-centered unified system can solve both of these challenges.

Creating a unified system will take deep partnership and every tool in our toolbox: smart policy, advocacy, better delivery models, improved technology, public will, and real investment at both the state and local level. We will also need to ensure there is revenue to make child care affordable, and that’s no small task. 

But, we have done difficult things before and we will do so again. Together, we can simplify the system, address affordability, and create a true pathway for family, friend and neighbor providers to be recognized as part of the system, not left outside it. Every Colorado family will have a solid foundation to build on from the very start, so every child has joyful, foundational learning experiences that last a lifetime.

None of this happens without the people who make it possible: the advocates, the child care providers on the ground, the entrepreneurs building what doesn’t exist yet, the legislators who’ve carried this work for a decade and longer, new gubernatorial leadership and state agency leaders ready to implement. 

We can’t do this alone, and we never have. If you’re an advocate, a provider, a policymaker, a funder or a parent who believes Colorado can be the children’s state in practice and not just in name — we want to build this with you. 

Gary sends a regular email update – called the Workbench – about our work in progress. Join the email list to stay close to this work and to find opportunities to partner with us. We want and need your questions, ideas and feedback.