Colorado SunFest 2026 is a daylong event bringing Coloradans together to discuss what makes A Better Colorado. Find out more about specific sessions planned for Friday, May 1, below.
Panel Name: Child Care: Colorado looking for ways to calm the crisis
Moderator: Erica Breunlin and John Ingold
With rising child care costs forcing many parents to stretch their budgets and even leave the workforce to stay home with their kids, some places across the country are finding ways to cover the full cost of child care with public dollars. New Mexico last year launched a revolutionary program offering free full-time, year-round child care to all parents with infants and children up to age 13. How did our neighbors do it and what would it take for Colorado to develop a similar program?
Elizabeth Groginsky
New Mexico secretary of the Early Childhood Education and Care Department
Groginsky has more than two decades of executive leadership experience administering public and private human service organizations at the national, state and local levels.
She previously served as the assistant superintendent of early learning for the District of Columbia, a role she held for nearly five years. She also previously directed early childhood education for United Way Worldwide, where she helped expand the number of communities collecting and using population-based early childhood data; and she was the first executive director of the Early Childhood Data Collaborative, a national coalition to improve state policies and practices in the development and use of early childhood data system.
Groginsky earned a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Colorado Denver and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland.
Lisa Roy
Executive director of Colorado Department of Early Childhood
Roy, who holds a doctorate in education, was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis as the executive director to lead the new Colorado Department of Early Childhood in May 2022.
She previously served as the director of program development for the Buffett Early Childhood Institute and as the executive director of early childhood education for Denver Public Schools. She has volunteered and worked in nonprofit and government roles supporting families with young children for over 30 years.
Roy completed a doctorate in Leadership for Educational Equity with an emphasis on executive leadership from the University of Colorado Denver. She also has a master’s in counseling psychology and counselor education with a focus on school counseling, also from CU Denver.
Mary Alice Cohen
Chief program officer of Colorado Department of Early Childhood
Cohen serves as the chief program officer at the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, championing a holistic vision for equitable access and well-being for all Colorado children, families and early childhood professionals. She oversees the administration of key CDEC programs, including child care licensing, subsidy, workforce and quality, universal preschool, early intervention, home visitation and early childhood mental health programs.
Her background in community empowerment includes serving as a founding board member of a children’s museum in Washington. She previously directed all programs and operations for the Mountain Resource Center, and, early in her career, she assisted mothers who were migrant farm workers with vocational skills to achieve economic mobility for their entire family.
Cohen holds a bachelor’s in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master of education (M.Ed.) from the University of San Francisco.
The panel — “Child Care: Colorado looking for ways to calm the crisis” — is one of 11 conversations scheduled for Colorado SunFest 2026.
The fourth annual Colorado SunFest is Friday, May 1, at Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs on the University of Denver campus. Tickets for the event are available on The Colorado SunFest event page.
Editor’s note: This panel is sponsored by Douglas County School District.
Other Colorado SunFest panels
- Keynote Speaker: Dean Baquet, former New York Times executive editor
- Colorado Weather: Always pack a coat
- How Coloradans are feeling heading into a big election year
- Housing – Any relief in the high country?
- Exploring 150 years of Statehood
- What is a River: A visual showcase of the Arkansas River
- AI in our lives
- The future of public policy
- Basic income programs in Denver and beyond
Colorado Authors will be available to meet and sign books in the Networking Lounge on the 1st floor.