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County expands childcare and green‑grant support; Strong Start reports higher retention and larger grants in 2025
Summary
Kathy Barber reported Strong Start distributed capacity‑building grants of about $440,000 in 2025 and supported 99 children with tuition assistance (avg $2,700/child); commissioners approved increasing Green Grants county funding to $150,000 and a $10,000 admin contract with EcoAction Partners.
Kathy Barber, Strong Start program coordinator for Bright Futures, told commissioners the program leveraged voter‑approved mill levy funding and partnership grants to award about $440,000 in capacity‑building and quality improvement grants in 2025 (including $125,000 from the Telluride Foundation). Barber said the LIFTDC program (teacher income support) paid roughly $182,000 to 46 teachers in 2025 and produced a 94% retention rate among awardees.
Barber also said Strong Start distributed tuition assistance to 99 children in 2025 (average award about $2,700 per child) and that the programhas cumulatively distributed over $1 million in tuition assistance since inception. She described emergency winter assistance funds and a quick deployment that helped 34 families and added 13 new families into care during a recent severe winter period.
Separately, EcoAction Partners (presented by Star) reviewed the Green Grants program. In 2025 there were 21 applicants and roughly $307,480 in total requests; Telluride Foundation funds covered about $124,504. The applicants included lower‑income households and municipal projects. Commissioners moved to increase county funding for Green Grants to $150,000 (from rent/energy funds) and to allocate $10,000 to EcoAction to administer the program; the motion carried unanimously.
What happens next: Strong Start will continue to focus on teacher recruitment and retention, expand emergency tuition support as needed, and coordinate with county and foundation partners. EcoAction will open the next Green Grants application cycle and administer awards under the expanded county funding allocation.
