2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 26.5 - EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND SERVICES (§§ 26.5-1-101 — 26.5-6-103) › Article 3 - FAMILY AND CHILD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING (§§ 26.5-3-101 — 26.5-3-904) › Part 8 - EMERGENCY RELIEF GRANT PROGRAMS (§§ 26.5-3-801 — 26.5-3-808) › Section 26.5-3-808 - Family, friend, and neighbor support programs - advisory group - training and support program - funding - definitions - repeal

(1)
As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a)
"Advisory group" means the family, friend, and neighbor advisory group created in subsection (2) of this section.
(b)
"Eligible entity" means a family, friend, and neighbor provider that is actively providing informal, license-exempt child care.
(c)
"Family, friend, and neighbor" or "FFN" means license-exempt, informal child care provided by family, friends, or neighbors in an in-home setting on a regular basis pursuant to the requirements of section
26.5-5-304 (1)(f)
.
(d)
"Training and support program" means the family, friend, and neighbor training and support program created in subsection (3) of this section.
(2)
(a)
The family, friend, and neighbor advisory group is created in the department. The purpose of the advisory group is to advise the department on the needs of FFN providers and to make recommendations to the department on changes to regulations, policies, funding, and procedures that would benefit the FFN community. At least twenty-five percent of the members of the advisory group must reside in counties with a population below forty thousand people.
(b)
The department shall convene the advisory group, which must include, at a minimum:
(I)
Members of the FFN early childhood workforce and representatives of geographically and linguistically diverse FFN providers. To the extent practicable, the department shall ensure that the persons described in this subsection (2)(b)(I) constitute a majority of the members of the advisory group; and
(II)
Parents of children who receive care through FFN providers, representatives of county departments of human or social services, special education program directors, early childhood councils, the business community, private nonprofit organizations, early childhood advocacy organizations, and persons with expertise in early childhood and business practices.
(c)
Members of the advisory group may receive per diem compensation for attendance at meetings of the advisory group in the same amount paid to legislators pursuant to section
2-2-307 (3)(a)
. Members of the advisory group are also entitled to reimbursement for all actual and necessary travel and sustenance expenses directly related to their service on the advisory group.
(3)
(a)
The family, friend, and neighbor training and support program is created in the department. The purpose of the training and support program is to support community-based organizations and nonprofit organizations that have expertise working with FFN providers to provide FFN providers with information, training, and materials, and to support FFN providers with skills and knowledge on child development, social and emotional development, and best practices and technical assistance to access existing state programs. Training programs available to eligible entities may include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(I)
Improving the quality of child care and child development;
(II)
Ensuring the health and safety of child care environments;
(III)
Fostering the social and emotional health of the child;
(IV)
Supporting children with developmental, emotional, physical, or cognitive disabilities or delays;
(V)
Offering culturally competent and equitable child care;
(VI)
Strengthening the business practices of child care;
(VII)
Promoting workforce development; and
(VIII)
Providing a high-quality early learning environment through coaching, guidance, and materials in an amount not to exceed nine hundred fifty dollars per eligible entity.
(b)
Technical assistance and resources for FFN providers may include, but need not be limited to, the following:
(I)
Navigating the state licensing and qualified exempt processes;
(II)
Accessing existing state funding and services;
(III)
Connecting to after-school programs; and
(IV)
Providing career navigation assistance.
(c)
The department may support FFN communities across the state to implement training programs that foster peer learning and provide locally specific support.
(d)
The department shall create and publish a public website for the FFN community to access training, technical assistance, and resources.
(e)
The department shall ensure that the training and support program is culturally competent and linguistically appropriate to meet the needs of the FFN community and utilizes a research- and community-informed curriculum.
(4)
Subject to available appropriations, the department shall make existing state programs available to the FFN community, including, but not limited to, home visitation, early intervention, early childhood mental health consultants, workforce recruitment and retention, and family resource center services.
(5)
(a)
For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the general assembly shall appropriate seven million five hundred thousand dollars from the economic recovery and relief cash fund created in section
24-75-228
to the department for the purposes of implementing this section.
(b)
The use of money appropriated pursuant to this subsection (5) and money that originates from the ARPA refinance state money cash fund, created in section 24-75-226.5, appropriated for the same purpose, must conform with the allowable purposes set forth in the federal "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021", Pub.L. 117-2, as amended. The department shall spend or obligate such appropriation In accordance with section 24-75-226 (4)(d).
(c)
The department shall comply with the compliance, reporting, record-keeping, and program evaluation requirements established by the office of state planning and budgeting and the state controller in accordance with section
24-75-226 (5)
.
(d)
This subsection (5) is repealed, effective September 1, 2027.
(6)
The department shall report progress on the support programs as part of its "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearing required by section
2-7-203
.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 429,§ 35, eff. 6/5/2024.
Added by 2022 Ch. 345, §6, eff. 7/1/2022.