Resources

The Parent Education and Support Program offers parenting classes during the fall and spring semesters of each year, usually one during a week day and one in an evening.  A fourteen-week class supported by the Colorado Children’s Trust Fund (CCTF) is based on the nationally acclaimed Nurturing Parenting program.  This class is free to the participants and is best suited to parents at the prenatal stage or with children up to the age of ten.

A twelve-week parenting class supported by the 8th Judicial District Victim Assistance and Law Enforcement Fund (VALE) combines elements of curricula from Nurturing Parenting, Love and Logic and Partners in Parenting.  This class costs $35 for one adult for the entire twelve-week session or $50 for a couple participating together.  (A sliding fee is available, if needed.)  This class is best suited to parents of one to twelve year old children.

Both of the classes include a concurrent children’s group designed to offer socialization and skill building through crafts, games, songs and stories with healthy snacks provided to parents and children.  Parents are encouraged to bring their children to share in this experience.  There is no charge for the children’s group for either class.  The two and one-half hour classes provide a mid-class break with parents and children joining together to share a snack and an activity.  A parenting manual specific to the participant’s needs (for parents of infants, toddlers and preschoolers or for parents of school-age children) is provided to each class member. 

Parents’ classes and children’s groups are facilitated by trained group facilitators and the curriculum focuses on:

  • Developing empathy for one’s children
  • Understanding the motivation behind a child’s behavior
  • Learning about developmental stages, appropriate family expectations and roles
  • Learning successful ways to discipline children without shouting and spanking.

Previous participants have included community members looking to increase their parenting skills and knowledge, separated parents wishing to coordinate their parenting efforts, grandparents relearning parenting skills and those involved in the a court system requiring their participation.  Referrals have come from a variety of community agencies including the courts, medical facilities, Project Self-Sufficiency, Workforce Center, CSU, Habitat for Humanity, Senate Bill 94 Coordinator, Healthy Beginnings and the local school districts.