Full Article:Literacy Bus Tour Video
Mile High United Way and
State of Colorado’s Early Childhood Literacy Bus Tour attended a community discussion at an
ELV Alliance in Colorado Springs with local, independent child care providers on the need for high-quality Early Care and Education (ECE) experiences for all children. The focus of the tour was to hear from local education and community leaders and parents on how to support their efforts on early literacy.
The Early Childhood Literacy Bus community discussion was joined by Colorado philanthropist, David Merage and the Lt. Gov., Joe Garcia. In 1977,
David Merage co-founded Chef America, a frozen-food company best known for developing Hot Pockets. He and his brother sold the firm to Nestle in 2002 for $2.6 billion. Merage supports ECE through a non-profit he co-founded in 2008,
Early Learning Ventures (ELV).
ELV is building a statewide network of child care providers working together to streamline the often difficult and diverse tasks of running a small, independent business. ELV is strengthening the child care industry by developing innovative tools and business operating supports that providers need to make managing a financially-stable, high-quality child care business attainable.
Since its start in 2008, ELV has contracted with 53 child-care providers in Colorado serving 3,750 children.
Early Connections Learning Centers is one of 9 active Alliances in the state of Colorado.