- by Lisa Hill, Executive Director, Invest in Kids
Working in close partnership with Invest in Kids (IIK), Colorado has become one of the largest and most successful program replications of The Incredible Years (IY) in the country. IIK has raised $10M in private philanthropy support over 16 years providing IY to 80,000 children and parents by supporting hundreds of teachers, paraprofessionals and parent program facilitators throughout Colorado. The combination of the program’s robust evidence-base and IIK’s value-add supports in Colorado communities has shown consistent positive outcomes.
IIK has worked with leaders in state government to understand the impact of the program and the opportunity to further scale and sustain the program. Earlier this year, Colorado included IY in the state budget as a direct line item for the first time. The funding, $624,000 in year one and $843,000 in year two and beyond, will support local implementation costs, IIK’s costs (site selection, training, coaching, evaluation) and fiscal intermediary costs at the Colorado Department of Human Services’ Office of Early Childhood. This public-private partnership is core to IIK’s vision for scaling and sustaining evidence-based programs.
Colorado has received national recognition including the July 2018 Results For America, “Invest in What Works: State Standards of Excellence” a roadmap for how state governments can consistently and effectively use data and evidence to achieve better results for their residents, which features Colorado (and Washington) as states recognized for leading the way. Specific to IIK and IY, the National Association of State Budgeting Officers (NASBO) increasing investments in evidence-based programs: http://budgetblog.nasbo.org/blogs/kathryn-white/2018/04/09/the-use-of-data-and-evidence-in-governors-fiscal-2 citing the use of return on investment data in the budgeting process.
For more information on this funding or to learn more about IY efforts in Colorado, please contact Patrick Sablich, IIK Deputy Director, at psablich@iik.org
Read the Invest In Kids 2017-2018 statewide outcomes report here.
