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3/26/26 ECEA Child Care Update

Mar 26, 2026
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Dear Child Care Business Owner,

Let’s be honest for a moment—no fluff, no sugar-coating.

Trust is the hardest thing.

You’ve poured your heart, your savings, and your sleepless nights into this center. Every child who walks through your doors, every parent who hands you their most precious gift, every staff member who shows up day after day… they’re all built on trust. But when it comes to trusting something new with your business? That’s where most of us hit the wall.

You know the feeling. The enrollment numbers are flat. Staff turnover is creeping up. The bills keep coming, but the profit margin keeps shrinking.

And your brain whispers the same lie it’s been telling you for months (or years): “Stick with what you know. It’s safe here. Don’t rock the boat.”

Here’s the brutal truth: staying in what you know feels safe… even while it’s slowly killing your business.

You tighten the purse strings. You cut the marketing budget. You delay that staff training. You stop investing in anything that feels “risky.” You stop your membership to save a penny, without ever reaching out for help to turn things around.  And just like that, the chokehold gets tighter.

Every month you stay in survival mode, the gap between where you are and where you could be grows wider. Your competitors who dared to try something different? They’re filling classrooms while you’re still wondering how to make payroll. The families who once trusted you are quietly looking elsewhere. The dream that once lit you up now feels heavy.

If you don’t break out—if you don’t take proactive, intentional action steps—you are only contributing to your own demise.

But here’s the other truth, the one that keeps me showing up every single day for owners just like you:

You don’t have to figure this out alone.

ECEA exists for this exact moment.

We don’t sell you a magic program and disappear. We walk with you—step by step—through the action plan that actually works for child care businesses. We’ve done it with hundreds of owners over the years who once felt exactly like you do right now: scared, stuck, and skeptical.

When you join ECEA, you get:

  • Clear, proven action steps tailored to your center’s size and situation
  • Real-time guidance so you’re never guessing
  • A community of owners who get it (no corporate jargon, just real talk)
  • The confidence that comes from finally moving forward instead of just holding on

The road to recovery isn’t easy. But it is possible. And it starts the moment you decide to trust again—this time with the right guide beside you.

Your business doesn’t have to stay in this chokehold. Your team doesn’t have to stay burned out. Your future doesn’t have to look like your past.

The only question left is: Are you ready to break out?

If the answer is even a quiet “yes,” click the link below and join us today. We’re already walking. We’d love to walk with you.

To your thriving center, The ECEA Team

Join ECEA Today – Start Your Business Recovery Journey

P.S. The owners who reach out and start working with us proactively already seeing enrollment lifts and staff retention improvements within the first 60 days. The only difference between them and where you are right now? They decided to trust the process and take the first step. Your center is worth it.  Take an action step today.....

And if you are already a member and haven't taken these actions steps?  Schedule with Dawn to start taking action!

Find out how much we can help you save/earn (fill out the 1st form there)

Join ECEA

Schedule with Dawn


Another State Fee Impacting Your Business

"On June 3rd, 2022, the Producer Responsibility Program for Statewide Recycling Act, House Bill 22-1355 was signed into law. 

HB 22-1355 sets up a Producer Responsibility program that requires companies that sell products in packaging, paper products to fund a statewide recycling system to recycle those materials. These companies will form an independent non-profit organization, called a Producer Responsibility Organization, to coordinate, fund, and manage this statewide recycling system.

By July 1, 2025, a producer cannot sell or distribute products that use covered materials in Colorado unless they participate in the Producer Responsibility Program.  Producers must pay the producer responsibility dues on “covered materials” annually to the program in January 2026, and each year thereafter. Producers are also required to keep records and report data to document compliance with the Act and rules.

Unfortunately, this is out of the hands of the distributor and is applied to all companies across the board." CDPHE

That's just another way that the legislature has opted to impose new fees on your business.   After all, they need money, and you can afford to pay, right!?!


ECEA Members Minute (click here)

Member's ONLY content this week.  If you click on the title and can't access the content below reach out to Dawn for support.

  • Legislative Summary
  • Solved!  
  • Federal Government funds an increase of $85M in CCDBG funding.
  • ECEA is throwing a Party for YOU and YOUR FAMILIES!
  • Radon Mitigation Sunset Input Request
  • Advocacy in Action
  • NEWS --A link to some stories about CO media in child care that you need to read.

               Join ECEA Now and Make a Difference! 

Centers:  For $25 a month ($35 for Plus, $55 for Pro)

Homes/SACCs:  For $8 a month unless you choose to join at a higher tier.

 

NEW Partnership now available to members for their staff AND the families they serve!  

 

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5/7/26 ECEA Child Care Update
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4/30/26 ECEA Child Care Update
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4/17/26 ECEA Child Care Update
  Colorado Is Losing Families. Private Child Care Is Losing Ground. That Is Not a Coincidence. The population is shrinking. Businesses are leaving. Regulation keeps climbing. And while the private sector contracts, public school districts are expanding into early childhood on a playing field that has never been level. This week, the numbers. The numbers are telling a story. Colorado needs to l...

ECEA Child Care Update

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