Content provided by the Moffat County School District.

Moffat County School District’s Early Childhood Center announced the receipt of a grant from United Way of the Yampa Valley that will help the preschool serve more families of 3- and 4-year-olds.

The Early Childhood Center learned it had been selected by its local United Way to receive $10,000 in grant funding. This funding comes at a time when rising costs at the preschool have necessitated an increase in tuition fees for families sending their children to the half-and full-day school.

Although many lower-income families are covered by various public services distributed by the state and federal government, including Universal Preschool, the district and preschool knew that increasing tuition fees would be a burden on some families. That’s why the district reached out to the United Way and applied for the grant.

“We have worked incredibly hard for many years to provide the highest-quality preschool education for the lowest possible cost to families,” said Stephanie Davis, director of the Early Childhood Center. “Even now, as we’ve had to increase rates, we’re still significantly less expensive than others in this community, not to mention what families have to pay in Steamboat Springs. But we were still deeply concerned that this increase might prevent some families from bringing their littles here, or, just as hard, become a significant burden for those who do.”

The UWYV grant will be used to defray the cost of tuition to families that fall above the income limits for UPK and other programs, but whose income is still low enough that tuition is a significant financial burden for them.

“We want every 3- or 4-year-old in Moffat County to enjoy the incredible opportunities we provide at our preschool,” Davis said. “Obviously we’ll never get all of them, but we want as many as want to be here to be able to be. The education is top-notch, and the connections and preparation these young boys and girls are making with our wonderful educators is so valuable to getting them ready to succeed in elementary school and beyond. This grant is a gift not only to our school and those families, but to our community. More kids will get a great education now because of the United Way and the generosity of their donors.”

United Way of the Yampa Valley has carved out a particular niche serving and creating opportunities for that in-between group of lower-income households — those families and individuals who are working hard at providing for themselves and their families but whose circumstances are such that they just can’t quite get ahead. That group has been defined by the term ALICE, Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed.

“We have a lot of these families in our community, and maybe especially those with young kids,” Davis said. “I’m so grateful our local United Way is considering their needs, too. Some families are just in that too-much-but-not-enough zone, where they can’t get the help they need because they’re earning barely too much. We don’t want that to prevent kids from learning, and, on top of that, the fact that mom and dad can trust that their young kids are safe and growing during the day means they have more time to work and hopefully start moving toward getting ahead financially.”

ECC is still open for enrollment for 3- and 4-year-old children who live in Moffat County. The preschool is adding options for full-day sessions for 3-year-olds after many years of only providing half-day for that age group. Additionally, later-release is in the works for families who work more traditional schedules and for whom a 3-4 p.m. pickup is too early to finish a full shift. Go to moffatsd.org to find more information, or call 970-826-6280.

“We’re truly committed to this community,” Davis said. “My greatest mantra with education is ‘All means all.’ We have to live up to that, and this grant helps us do it better.”