Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County

Adams County is the state’s 5th largest county serving a population of 500,000+ residents and accounts for more than 10% of the state’s population of children under the age of 5.

    ECPAC's Mission: Building a community where all young children, their families and early childhood professionals can reach their full potential.

ECPAC's Vision: All children, their families and early childhood professionals are valued, healthy, and thriving.

ECPAC's Ultimate Goal: All Adams County children enter school healthy and ready to 
learn and succeed.

Children's Summer Reading Program

ECPAC, established legislatively as the early childhood council for Adams County, has been serving our community since 2004. As a collective impact network and service organization, we collaborate with those who affect outcomes for young children: families, childcare staff, social service organizations, and elected officials. Together we strengthen the connections between these groups, fill the gaps in resources and increase the quality of care, support and education for children and families. 

One area of our work is improving systems to increase equitable access to affordable, high quality and comprehensive child and family services.  This includes supporting families to develop leadership skills to impact change in their community.

"Thank you so much for caring about us! Thank you for making us part of your team despite our limited English skills! And thank you so much for sharing such important information with us." ~ Family Leader

A second area of our work includes supporting high quality early learning environments for young children and their families by providing research-based professional development and support for early care and education professionals in licensed child care homes and enters, including early childhood mental health consultation, quality improvement coaching, early childhood education career navigation, and navigation supports for accessing resources and strong business practices, including starting new child care programs.

"We still remember the first time [ECPAC] reached out to us ... offering financial and educational resources. From that moment on, she became a guiding light—connecting all the missing pieces we didn’t know how to put together. Her expertise in early childhood education helped us navigate areas we had no prior knowledge of." ~ New ECE Program

A third area of work is providing direct services to families who are expecting or have at least one child under the age of 9.  This includes the provision of emergency basic essentials (diapers, wipes, formula), helping families connect to needed services and resources, and parenting classes including those focused on the early literacy skills that prepare children to be successful in school.  These services support family stability and heathy child development.

"Before participating in ECPAC classes, I felt very isolated and had little desire to do anything. Now I feel more connected to other families in my community and I'm glad I can take all the classes offered." [translated from Spanish) ~ Parent

Investing in the Early Years is Important 

When we invest in early childhood as a whole community, we create better outcomes for each child, each family, our community and our state. Research shows from birth through age five, a child’s brain develops more than at any other time in life. When children and their families have equitable access to high quality care and education, they are better prepared for kindergarten, do better in school and are healthier throughout their lifetime. While parents are working hard to support their children, no single person or organization can provide everything a child needs to be healthy, to learn, to succeed in school and to thrive in the long term.