Over 130 early childhood educators from across Routt County are participating in a three-year professional development initiative with the mission to strengthen teacher mental health and support children’s social and emotional growth, according to a news release from the county.

Funded by a $528,000 grant from the Colorado Attorney General’s Youth Mental Health Challenge Grant, the project is being implemented by First Impressions of Routt County — a local organization that seeks to provide resources for Routt County’s young children, families and educators to promote healthy development and school readiness.

“We jumped on this because, in the grant, it specifically called out preschool, which is not typical,” First Impressions Executive Director Meg Franges told the newspaper. “We want to think about youth mental health from a upstream approach and how we can suppport the educators that are in the classroom with these children during the most fundamental time of development.”

First Impressions applied for the grant in January, said Franges. Only one month later, Steamboat Springs child care center Young Tracks Preschool and Day Care Center was shut down due to allegations of child abuse.

“That closure really highlighted how much we need to make sure that the individuals who are caring for our children are okay,” Franges said.

The program is spearheaded by Conscious Discipline, an “evidence-based framework that helps teachers manage challenging behaviors, reduce stress and create safe and supportive classrooms,” states the news release.

On top of providing support for educators to invest in children’s development, the project also aims to reduce burnout, improve workforce retention and overall outcomes for children and families.

Franges said all three school districts in the county — Steamboat Springs School District, South Routt School District and Hayden School District — are participating in the initiative, which will involve in-person trainings and classroom coaching to help integrate Conscious Discipline strategies to daily practice.

The program will also involve licensed child care providers in the county who work outside of the school districts.

“The grant really wanted a regional approach and to foster collaboration,” said Franges. “It was pretty powerful to have all three school districts want to invest together in their early childhood educators.”

“Educators spoke pretty loud and clear that they want in-person professional development opportunities and coaching,” Franges continued. “With being in a rural community — and being post-COVID — we have kind of fallen into this virtual world where we do our trainings online, and that’s great. But there is something to be said for an in-person training.”

Franges added that the trainings will kick off in January 2026, and will involve trainers visiting classrooms during class times, individual coaching and group trainings spannin until the next school year.

“These teachers will get to interact with other teachers,” said Franges. “Although they’re all doing the same work — even within a child care center — there are infant-toddler teachers and then you have toddler teachers, and pre-K teachers. The children in each of those age groups are so different, so even within your own center, you can kind of feel siloed. With these in-person opportunities, teachers will get to network and collaborate with each other.”

The three-year program is fully-funded by the Attorney General’s grant, allowing Routt County early childhood educators to participate in the program through the 2028 school year.

“This shows just how powerful collaboration can be,” Franges added. “No one child care center would be able to afford to bring the full Conscious Discipline program … That’s a lot of money and no one center woud be able to bring that here. By pulling together as an early childhood community to say, ‘This is something we want to do,’ we’re now able to bring it countywide.”