Welcome to our 2023 voter guide! For those of you who are new to Better Beginnings, this is a podcast on how families and providers are navigating Colorado's evolving early childhood system. The show is also searching for an answer to this question: How do we create childcare and preschool systems that better serve all Coloradans? We think Proposition ii and Denver Question 2P can help us do just that by improving UPK and extending the Denver Preschool Program. Tune in to find out how.

We'll wrap up our show by discussing a forthcoming technology platform aiming to simplify the process of finding, enrolling in and paying for childcare and preschool in Colorado. Simple, right? The only problem is that our early childhood system is incredibly complex, and efforts to simplify it have eluded us for at least 100 years. Despair not, though. There's hope. We'll also wrap up with the Byrd family. After months of searching, have they found a childcare solution that works for them?

If our early childhood care and education system offers a bad experience for all—families and providers included—why haven't lawmakers done more to fix it? Brooke asks Colorado State Sen. Brittany Pettersen that question, and Sen. Pettersen offers a frank assessment in this mom-to-expecting mom conversation. We explore a major roadblock Sen. Pettersen believes has impeded legislative progress, and several legislative solutions that could improve our childcare and preschool system.