To find child care options in your community, contact our partners at Mile High United Way’s Child Care Options at 877-338-CARE (2273), by email at childcarereferrals@unitedwaydenver.org or by live chat Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bilingual specialists are available to match you with the best resources near you.

To search for child care providers online or to get more information about how to identify quality child care please visit Colorado Shines.

CCAP: Contact Denver Human Services at 720-944-KIDS (5437), or go to the Denver Human Services Child Care Assistance Program page for eligibility information, applications and other resources.

Denver Preschool Program: All City and County of Denver residents with a child in their final year of preschool before Kindergarten quality for tuition support through the Denver Preschool Program. Find out how to enroll your child at dpp.org.

E-mail or call the Provider Payment Services Team (PPST) at Denver Human Services.

E-mail: providerpayments@denvergov.org

Phone: 720-944-4044

Check out this licensing exemption guide to determine if the child care you provide in your home requires a Colorado child care license.

Go to the Colorado Office of Early Childhood Licensing and Administration page for information on how to obtain your license.

Find out how to begin the application process at the Colorado Office of Early Childhood licensing and administration page.

We offer the pre-licensing training that is required for new family child care home providers. Contact us at helpdesk@denverearlychildhood.org for information about upcoming trainings.

Find out how at the Colorado Office of Early Childhood. You will notice that one path to becoming qualified is to achieve a certain level in the new Early Childhood Credential (see chart here). You can apply for the Early Childhood Credential in the Professional Development Information System.

Register in ecConnect. If classes are full, you can still sign up, but you will be placed on the waitlist. The waitlist can get long. If you do not get a spot in the current round of trainings, you will automatically be added to the mailing list for the next round of EQIT or PPA classes. We usually offer three EQIT classes in the fall and three in the spring, as well as one PPA class in the fall and one in the spring. Sometimes additional EQIT or PPA classes will be available.

Alternatively, for EQIT you can contact another Early Childhood Council near you to see if they have any openings.

For PPA trainings, you can find other offerings around the state at the Colorado Center for Social Emotional Competence and Inclusion website.

The EQIT training meets the same state licensing requirements as ECE111 (Infant and Toddler Theory). The PPA training meets the same state licensing requirements as ECE103 (Guidance Strategies) as laid out by the Colorado Department of Human Services. To view the full licensing requirements for Early Childhood Teacher and/or Director qualifications, visit the Colorado Office of Early Childhood child care providers page.

EQIT and PPA do not count for college credit, so these classes will not help you earn your college degree in early childhood. If you have taken EQIT recently and would like to convert it to college credit, contact Red Rocks Community College to see when the next cohort is available. If you have taken PPA recently and would like to convert it to college credit, contact the Pyramid Plus Center at pyramidplus@ucdenver.edu to see if an option is currently available.

There are several financial resources available to you if you would like help paying for your college coursework in Early Childhood Education (ECE).

If you work at a child care center or school, ask your director if they have any quality improvement funds that can help pay for your coursework. Even if you don’t currently work in early childhood, you can find scholarship information here: TEACH Scholarship or 25 Scholarships for Early Childhood Education Students.