New grant program invests $140,000 to address Colorado’s childcare affordability crisis

DENVER — Colorado’s childcare industry will receive a much-needed $140,000 injection to address the state’s childcare affordability crisis. 

The recently-announced Child Care Access Alliance will distribute the funding across seven local chambers of commerce. The grants will be used to assess the local challenges and impacts of unaccessible childcare and identify potential solutions.

The Child Care Access Alliance is a partnership between the Colorado Chamber Foundation, Gary Community Ventures and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC). The cost of childcare is a significant financial burden for families across Colorado, who, in the state’s most populous counties, spend an average of 20% of their income on childcare. 

The lack of access to affordable childcare impacts businesses and employers too, with higher turnover, reduced productivity and hiring shortages, said Rachel Beck, executive director of the Colorado Chamber Foundation, in a press release. About one third of Colorado parents decide to quit, change or turn down professional or educational opportunities to meet their childcare needs.

The state has invested more in early childhood education over the past few years, creating the Department of Early Childhood in 2022 and launching universal pre-K in 2023. Colorado’s Childcare Assistance Program (CCAP) had been a tool to cover childcare costs for lower-income, working families, but due to new federal requirements that increased the reimbursement rates for each child, 20 Colorado counties have issued enrollment freezes, preventing new children from participating in the program.

In April, state lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill to create a special fund to subsidize childcare for lower-income families. The bill quickly failed.

In the wake of the CCAP enrollment freeze, the Common Sense Institute, a nonpartisan economic research organization, predicts a decline in employment among parents who depend on the program. If 20% of parents who use the program stop working, CSI projects the state’s GDP will decline by $1.1 billion.

By partnering with chambers of commerce, the Child Care Access Alliance aims to involve local business leaders in tackling the childcare challenges that impact their employees.  

After reviewing applications, the Alliance chose seven cities to receive grants, most of them along the Front Range: Adams County Regional Economic Partnership, Aurora Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, Greater Arvada Chamber of Commerce, Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce and Greeley Chamber of Commerce. The work initiated by the grants is expected to be done in the spring of 2027.

An RMPBS Original documentary on the struggles families face in securing childcare is now available to stream on YouTube, the free RMPBS+ app, or watch it below.