Closing the gap on early education
La Plata County gets closer to meeting child-care shortage

SideStory: Getting to know the neighbors: La Plata County joins national celebration

A row of swings sit empty at a local park on Tuesday morning. A recent report from the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County found that the shortfall of local licensed child-care slots is dwindling, with enough slots for the county’s children ages 3 to 5 years old./Photo by David Halterman

by Missy Votel

Local parents juggling child care and careers could finally be getting some relief. For the first time since a concerted effort began several years ago to address the child-care shortage in La Plata County, there are now enough licensed slots to serve most of the area’s working families. Furthermore, eligibility requirements for child-care financial assistance were recently upgraded, meaning more families now have access to help in paying their child care bills.

“La Plata County has made great strides in increasing child care availability while sustaining quality over the years,” said Nicole Tracy, child-care resource and referral/data coordinator for the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County, or ECC.

A coalition of community members and agencies, the ECC works under the umbrella of the Durango 4-C Council, a private, nonprofit agency started in the 1960s by federal mandate to coordinate quality child care and family services in Southwest Colorado area, Tracy said. “The ECC is a way for the state to get a grasp on the quality of care throughout the state,” she said.

According to numbers compiled by Tracy last month from various sources, including Kids Count, in 2000 there were 800 licensed child-care slots for an estimated 1,550 children ages 0-5 – a shortfall of nearly 50 percent. However, thanks to efforts of the ECC, in concert with the La Plata County Department of Human Services, that discrepancy has steadily shrunk over the years, with the gap finally closing this year, with roughly 1,800 licensed spots for an estimated 1,800 children in need of care. Child-care needs are estimated based upon 66 percent of the county’s population of children under the age of 5 needing care.

“The good news is that we have met our child care needs in La Plata County,” said Tracy.

While progress has been made, Tracy said the ECC’s work is not yet done. There is still a shortfall in licensed child care for infants and toddlers ages 2 and younger, with only about 300 slots available for an estimated 700 children. Tracy said the higher cost of caring for younger children combined with a faster growth rate in the community is partially to blame. “The provider to child ratio is lower for infants and toddlers, so obviously it costs more, and more providers are required to meet that ratio,” she said. However, she said the ECC is working to remedy the situation.

“We have made it a priority to combat this issue through recruitment projects, added monetary subsidies, and grants for those providers that increase infant/toddler slots,” Tracy said.

Rebekah and Ivan Barry walk son Kiyan, 16 months, along the Animas River Trail on Tuesday morning. Although the local shortage of licensed child-care slots is lessening, there are still not enough for children 2 years and younger./ Photo by David Halterman

The effort dovetails with the recently completed “Child, Youth, Family and Master Plan,” which culminated nine months of extensive planning and community involvement last spring. The process included input from more than 2,000 county residents as well as representatives from La Plata County, the City of Durango, the Town of Bayfield, the Town of Ignacio and the Southern Ute Tribe. Using a model based upon the work of noted consultant Richard Goll as well as the National League of Cities, the plan outlined seven “action areas” that lead to thriving communities, one of which was early childhood development.

La Plata County management, along with the Board of County Commissioners, has been instrumental in spearheading the early child-care effort and closing the supply and demand gap, which was highlighted as a Master Plan objective.

According to County Commissioner Kellie Hotter, the Master Plan not only goes hand-in-hand with the county’s new “Strategic Plan” (also known as the La Plata County Compass) but it also is a topic that hits close to home. As a mother of four children ages 15 to 22, as well as grandmother to a 2-year-old grandson, Hotter is all too familiar with the child-care situation in La Plata County. “It’s expensive to have a family, and child care can be cost-prohibitive for young couples, and the waiting lists can be quite long.”

To that end, county commissioners last June upped the ante for working families, extending financial assistance to those earning up to 200 percent of the poverty level, or $3,534 a month. This was the second increase in 2008. “It’s exciting that the county has taken the lead,” Hotter said. “By raising it to 200 percent, we can touch more families and make child care more accessible.”

As the second part of the equation, the ECC and Department of Human Services recently kicked off a fall Family Home Provider Recruitment Project to seek out more in-home infant/toddler providers. Another campaign earlier this year yielded six new in-home providers, which together supplied 12 infant and toddler spots. “We are trying to beef up the number of child-care providers and help people negotiate the process to become licensed in-home providers,” said Assistant County Manager Joanne Spina.

In addition to this, the ECC provides incentive grants and subsidies for improvements in early childhood education. The council also offers improvement assessments and recommendations for local providers and has a quality-initiatives coordinator to coach providers in how to improve quality. Local centers that want to go beyond this also can apply for a Qualistar Early Learning rating at a discounted rate. Tracy noted that ECC programs have made such headway that the council was recently acknowledged as a “model community” and has mentored other communities on early childhood programs.

“The thriving of families and children is of utmost importance,” said Hotter in closing. “As leaders, we need to make sure our policies are aligned and supportive of what residents need and want.”

For more information on the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County or its programs, please visit www.earlychildhoodprograms.org or call Nicole Tracy at 247-5960, Ext. 25. •