Kid Connects Grant Expands Model to Support Less Formal, Unlicensed Caregivers
Mental Health Partners (MHP) has received a $250,000 Kid Connects in the Neighborhood grant, awarded over 3-years, from the Colorado Health Foundation, to expand Kid Connects services in response to stressors created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant expands the current Kids Connect model, which provides early childhood mental health consultation to licensed daycares and preschoolers, to allow this model to reach less formal or unlicensed caregiving environments – such as those provided by friends, family and neighbors.
Kid Connects has provided integrated health and mental health consultation to licensed early care and education settings in Boulder and Broomfield Counties since 2002. This program works to improve the capacity of caregivers to respond to the social and emotional needs of young children, thus improving health, developmental and mental health outcomes for young children; reducing expulsions from early care; and creating mentally healthy learning environments for all young children and their caregivers.
We are grateful to the Colorado Health Foundation for their continued support of this important program, which has positively impacted hundreds of kids and families in Boulder and Broomfield counties. To learn more about MHP’s Early Childhood Services, including Kid Connects, visit: www.mhpcolorado.org/about/services/specialty-early-childhood-services.