According to a study acquired by our partners at Fountain Valley Community’s that Care, through Alliance for Kids in 2019, an Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment for the Fountain Valley Region found that, “El Paso County is home to nearly 50,000 children under age 5, or whom 8,700 live in the Fountain Valley region. Average income for the county is lower than for the state as a whole, with nearly one in seven young children in poverty, and incomes in Fountain Valley are lower still. Economic pressures and the high costs of child care mean that quality care is out of reach for many families, making El Paso County one of the least affordable counties in the country for child care.”
The study continues, “Throughout the neighborhood, 72 providers supply 1,762 licensed slots. There are nearly five young children for each of these slots, a worse ratio than for the county as a whole. Children who are not in licensed care may be in one of the estimated 146 locations providing family, friend, and neighbor care, or they may not be in care at all. Across the neighborhood, only about 23 percent of slots are in high-quality providers, defined as Colorado Shines level 3, 4, or 5, much less than the 42 percent of slots in high-quality providers countywide. Many of the high quality slots are in Head Start, meaning fewer are available to families over 100% FPL, many of whom struggle to afford child care even though they do not qualify for Head Start.”
Source: “Fountain Valley ECE Needs Assessment Summary Report” Prepared for The Alliance for Kids, Andrew Brodsky, Principal Brodsky Research and Consulting September 18, 2019
Then came the Sounding Boards…
In the year of the Pandemic, 2020, we knew Fountain Valley’s problems would not stop because the world did. It showed there was even more of a need for childcare then ever before! With the help of our amazing partner, Fountain Valley Communities That Care, we were able to do Parental Sounding Boards to hear their feedback. Their feedback on: Why do you believe the lack of childcare is so great? What are the obstacles between you and securing adequate childcare? Once you have secured childcare, do you find it to be quality?
Fortunately, they were not the only ones that heard of our target population - and Fountain Valley Childcare Providers showed up, ready to educate!
Through these, now deemed “Childcare Sounding Boards”, an idea was born. An idea that brought community to the faces of the people that take care of your children in the middle of a childcare desert. An idea that spurred into a vision of having “Every child will have access to safe, inclusive, and equitable early childhood education provided by healthy, supported licensed providers in the Fountain Valley”.
Luckily, because we had the invaluable views of the Fountain Valley licensed childcare providers, we knew that the access to education and resources of potential and existing childcare providers was critical in solving the problem. As of 2021, the Fountain Valley childcare desert was not a priority for any existing childcare association…