Colorado § 26-25-103 - Cradle to career grant program - created - program guidelines and criteria - rules.

§ 26-25-103. Cradle to career grant program - created - program guidelines and criteria - rules.

(1) The cradle to career grant program is created in the state department. The purpose of the grant program is to provide grants to eligible entities to promote coordinated community-based supports and services that open opportunities for economic mobility from poverty. The grant program must connect children and youth with high-quality educational and extracurricular programming and families with key health and social services in order to improve prenatal and early childhood outcomes, student achievement, and workforce readiness; to help children and youth make smooth transitions throughout the secondary and postsecondary education systems; and to create wealth-building opportunities that promote lifelong financial security.

(2) Grant recipients may use the money received through the grant program for the following purposes:

(a) Promoting family stability and well-being through access to:

(I) Safe, affordable, and stable housing;

(II) High-quality child care and early childhood programs that support child development and successful transitions to and through elementary education;

(III) Adequate nutrition and health care, including maternal, behavioral, and mental health care; and

(IV) Supports and services for children and youth with disabilities;

(b) Implementing family-strengthening public safety protections, community engagement strategies, and interventions that enhance child and youth welfare, prevent justice-system involvement, and reduce exposure to substance use, family conflict, and child abuse or neglect;

(c) Providing high-quality educational and academic enrichment opportunities for K-12 students that supplement but do not supplant instructional time, including out-of-school-time programs that:

(I) Focus on sports and fitness, character and leadership, or arts and culture; and

(II) Reinforce and complement school-based academic programs in a safe and healthy environment;

(d) Connecting youth to quality jobs and in-demand occupations through postsecondary and workforce readiness programs that may include work-based learning, credential completion, or apprenticeships, with a focus on high-need, in-demand career pathways;

(e) Using asset-building strategies to address wealth disparities and increase access to higher education, home ownership, and opportunities for entrepreneurship;

(f) Coordinating and aligning programs and strategies within a designated service area, including the development of shared data systems; and

(g) Matching additional federal, local, or private funding for poverty reduction initiatives in the eligible entity's designated service area.

(3) [Editor's note: This subsection (3) takes effect upon notice to the revisor of statutes (see the editor's note following this section)] The state department shall administer the grant program and, subject to available appropriations, shall award grants as provided in this article 25. Grants must be paid out of the cradle to career grant program cash fund created in section 26-25-107.

(4) [Editor's note: This subsection (4) takes effect upon notice to the revisor of statutes (see the editor's note following this section)] The state department shall implement the grant program in accordance with this article 25. The state department shall adopt the rules required in this article 25 and any additional rules necessary to implement the grant program.

(5) [Editor's note: This subsection (5) takes effect upon notice to the revisor of statutes (see the editor's note following this section)]

(a) The state department, in collaboration with the council, shall develop and make available program guidelines, including, but not limited to:

(I) Guidelines for the content of an economic mobility needs assessment and comprehensive proposal for single eligible entity applicants and multiple eligible entity applicants applying jointly pursuant to section 26-25-105 (2);

(II) Guidelines for proposing, approving, and implementing different grant structures to promote building capacity for delivering, in an applicant's designated service area, services that promote economic mobility. Grant structures may include planning, early implementation, and full implementation phases for service delivery.

(III) Processes for an eligible entity to solicit and incorporate into its comprehensive proposal input from organizations and individuals in the community pursuant to subsection (5)(b)(III) of this section.

(b) In addition to the guidelines developed pursuant to subsection (5)(a) of this section, the state department, in collaboration with the council, shall develop criteria for awarding grants, including, but not limited to, the following requirements:

(I) That the comprehensive proposal targets a designated service area in which at least thirty percent of households with children have an annual household income at or below two hundred percent of the federal poverty line;

(II) That the eligible entity's comprehensive proposal prioritizes connecting children and youth with high-quality educational, extracurricular, or workforce programming or families with key health and social services in accordance with the areas of greatest need identified in the eligible entity's needs assessment;

(III) That the eligible entity has solicited and incorporated into its comprehensive proposal input from organizations and individuals in the community, including local education providers, community mental health centers, local nonprofit or not-for-profit organizations, local law enforcement agencies, businesses, and local government leaders;

(IV) That the comprehensive proposal relies on evidence-based or evidence-informed practices in the delivery of services, supports, and opportunities;

(V) That the eligible entity demonstrates evidence of impact with respect to the type of programming or services that the eligible entity proposes to provide with a grant award; and

(VI) That the eligible entity has, with a successful track record, been serving the designated service area for at least three years.

(c) An eligible entity that receives a grant award pursuant to this article 25 must:

(I) Comply with all applicable state and local health and safety regulations;

(II) Require its employees to submit to a name-based criminal history record check;

(III) Require evidence of financial responsibility, including bonding or licensure, for employees involved in the eligible entity's financial affairs;

(IV) Comply with the requirements of the "Colorado Open Records Act", part 2 of article 72 of title 24;

(V) Deliver services or accept program participants without regard to race, color, national origin, creed, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, athletic performance, proficiency in the English language, or past academic or disciplinary history;

(VI) Comply with all applicable state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination, including Title IX of the federal "Education Amendments of 1972", the federal "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990", section 504 of the federal "Rehabilitation Act of 1973", and Titles VI and VII of the federal "Civil Rights Act of 1964"; and

(VII) If the eligible entity is a local education provider, not use money awarded pursuant to this article 25 to support its standard academic programming or operations.

(d) In addition to the guidelines and criteria developed pursuant to subsections (5)(a) and (5)(b) of this section, the state department shall establish timelines for submitting and reviewing grant applications and timelines for submitting the list of eligible entities chosen to receive grants to the council.

(6) The state department is only required to implement sections 26-25-103 (3), 26-25-103 (4), 26-25-103 (5), 26-25-104, 26-25-105, and 26-25-106 if the sections become effective pursuant to section 26-25-108. The work of the state department, the council, or any other entity conducted pursuant to this article 25 is contingent on money being available to implement this article 25.

Source: L. 2026: Entire article added, (SB 26-080), ch. 409, p. 2564, § 1, effective August 12 (see editor's note).

Editor's note: Section 26-25-108 provides that subsections (3), (4), and (5) are effective if the department receives, on or before December 31, 2028, at least nine hundred thousand dollars for the purposes of this article 25, and the executive director shall notify the revisor of statutes in writing of the date on which the condition specified has occurred by emailing the notice to revisorofstatutes.ga@coleg.gov. Subsections (3), (4), and (5) take effect upon the date identified in the notice that the department has received at least nine hundred thousand dollars for the purposes of this article 25 or, if the notice does not specify that date, upon the date of the notice to the revisor of statutes. For more information, see SB 26-080 (L. 2026, p. 2574). As of publication date, the revisor of statutes has not received the notice referred to in § 26-25-108.