Supporting the development and expansion of early
care and learning opportunities in Teton Valley
OUR VISION
Every family in Teton Valley has equitable access to affordable, quality early care and learning opportunities.
OUR MISSION
The Collaborative for Early Learning seeks to support the development and expansion of early care and learning opportunities for families and children of Teton Valley that prepares children for a successful start in school and life.
Teton County is identified as a childcare desert.
More families need care than what is available.
In April, 2022, the owner of the only licensed child care facility in Teton Valley learned she would soon be losing her lease. Without other affordable rental options for this facility, she worried our community would lose the last existing facility to provide care for the youngest residents of our county. Prior to this, Driggs lost three other childcare providers in the one year preceding this announcement.
This crisis has motivated local leaders and non-profits
A Project manager was hired and Teton Valley Collaborative for Early Learning was established.
In Idaho, because there are no state funded early learning opportunities, families must rely on privately owned businesses which tend to be limited in number and high in cost, which restricts access for many families.
Families in rural communities, those with low-income, and households where English is not the primary language, face additional barriers to accessing high quality early care and learning.
TVCEL Consists of Representatives from:
Above and Beyond the Classroom in Teton Valley
Building Blocks Early Learning Center LLC
City of Driggs
Community Foundation of Teton Valley
Education Foundation of Teton Valley
IDAEYC
The Spark Foundation
Teton County
Teton School District #401
Teton Regional Economic Coalition
University of Idaho Extension
Teton County
If you would like to make a donation to the Collaborative to support the Gambal House project to help it become an operational center, or any of our other projects, please reach out to collaborative@tetoneducation.org
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