It is our pleasure to announce the awardees chosen to receive Healthy Child Care Colorado’s 2024 Building Healthy Futures Awards. These awards provide HCCC an opportunity to recognize our incredible partners engaging in work that aligns with our mission to build safe, supportive, and healthy early childhood settings and systems in Colorado. Please join us in congratulating them on their well-deserved recognition!
Partnership & Innovation
Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation
Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation has shown outstanding commitment and creative leadership in advancing early childhood oral health. Their team and board have played a pivotal role, demonstrating inspiring leadership and dedication to preventive strategies that emphasize the importance of establishing early oral health habits. Through strategic collaboration, statewide programs, and unwavering support for initiatives like the Healthy Universal Preschool Collaborative and Cavity Free Kids, they have made essential resources and education accessible to thousands of families and early childhood professionals. This collective effort has set a new standard for partnership-driven impact, fostering lifelong health habits and equitable outcomes for children across Colorado. We celebrate their dedication, which has transformed early childhood oral health in the state, making a lasting difference for children statewide.
Collaboration & Commitment
Ty Johnson
Child Care Partnerships Director
Early Learning Ventures
Ty Johnson’s collaboration and commitment as a key member of the Advisory Team have been essential to the success of the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Network Hub. From the beginning, she has helped shape a clear vision and establish a strong foundation for our work. Her dedication to building a supportive infrastructure for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation across Colorado is evident at every step. Ty’s thoughtful insights, active participation, and hands-on involvement with the State Leadership Team have sharpened our focus on the evolving needs of the workforce, allowing us to create impactful learning experiences for consultation teams statewide. Her commitment, the challenges, and the ideas she contributes inspire all of us at Healthy Child Care Colorado. We honor her for the years she has devoted to fostering an inclusive, collaborative early childhood field throughout Colorado’s communities, and we are grateful for her unwavering dedication to this mission.
Leadership & Dedication
Jennifer McDonald
Manager, Registry & Career Pathways Unit
Colorado Department of Early Childhood
Jennifer McDonald’s leadership and dedication to the professional development of the early childhood workforce have been inspiring and invaluable as we build a unified, coordinated, and effective system of training and support. She has been a passionate advocate, working across agencies to ensure that the systems we create are innovative, responsive, well-understood, and fully supported. We are incredibly grateful for her commitment to integrating consultative roles into the system, particularly through her work with Child Care Health Consultants, Pyramid Model practitioners, and the Training of Special Recognition. Thanks to her efforts, we now have a robust system to track qualifications, train professionals, and continuously collect and analyze data to improve our programs’ quality and reach. Her collaboration and strategic partnership have impacted the development and sustainability of a strong infrastructure for the early childhood workforce.