Youth who experience limited academic success as measured by grades starting in late elementary school are at higher risk of substance use, depression and anxiety, violence, delinquency, teen pregnancy, and dropping out of school. The evidence appears to show that the experience of failure, not any lack of intellect, increases the risk of these problem behaviors.
High quality early childhood programs and services designed to meet the child care needs of families can positively impact the development of children. More specifically, quality child care can promote academic success over the lifespan by supporting: healthy brain development, acquisition of motor and language skills, healthy socialization, and learned self-regulation. [1]
In addition to benefiting children, the availability of quality child care benefits parents and families by providing them with essential supports that allow adults to go to work and/or school. Research indicates families that have access to quality child care can more easily enter and remain in the workforce and pursue education and/or training programs to advance their employment opportunities, which in turn increases their economic opportunities. [2]
Unfortunately, providing high-quality childcare can be a challenge for families due to barriers such as cost and accessibility. High childcare costs limit the number of families that can access services, and challenges exist for eligible families accessing and utilizing subsidies to offset the cost. Accessibility is a concern due to the limited child care options that may be available during non-traditional work hours. [3]
Understand what “quality” child care means. A child care program’s safety and quality are two of the most important factors in ensuring children attain the positive benefits associated with participation in childcare settings. As you begin, your coalition should take time to learn about the standards that promote quality and safe care for children.
Resources:
Learn about child care quality ratings at childcare.gov.
In Colorado, a rating system has been developed to assess the quality of child care programs throughout the state. Colorado Shines, which is responsible for the development of this rating system, offers a brief overview of the ratings process as well as a comprehensive guide.
Additionally, Colorado Shines offers a worksheet which covers a variety of metrics which can be used to assess the quality of child care options.
Early child care is often provided through family, friends, and neighbors (FFN) as well. To ensure that FFN are supported in improving their care for Colorado children, read about their own ideas for strengthening early child care systems here, and understand ways in which your coalition can support efforts to strengthen FFN support specifically here.
This Colorado Statewide Early Childhood Strategic Plan provides overarching goals and shared priorities for action to support the state’s youngest residents, their families, and the professionals who serve them.
In 2023, the Department of Early Childhood partnered with the Colorado Health Institute to examine how the early childhood system supports children from birth through age 5, and where there are gaps or opportunities to improve programs and services.The Colorado Birth through Five 2023 Needs Assessment outlines the results of these efforts.
The Early Childhood Colorado Framework is a guiding tool to build a strong and equitable early childhood system designed to provide a comprehensive range of high-quality supports. This newly revised Framework provides an up-to-date version of the document that takes into account the most recent advances, as well as some of the ongoing challenges, in the state.
Learn about the child care options available to families and the policies that assist families in accessing these options. To begin this work, your coalition should understand what options are typically available to families, as well as the available policies and supports that can help them access these options.
Resources:
Learn about the various child care options typically available to families on the Colorado Shines website.
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood outlines the financial assistance available to eligible families in Colorado.
The Child Care Technical Assistance Network offers a Data Explorer, which allows users to access data on various early care and education topics, including demographic information, program participation and funding, subsidy program administration, program quality improvement activities, and professional development and workforce initiatives.
Your coalition should also seek to learn more about informal care options, commonly referred to as “Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN)” care, which is when young children are cared for by family, friends, and/or neighbors. FFN is an affordable, and often flexible, form of child care that is used by many families in the U.S. Childcare.gov and Home Grown offer an introduction to the importance, prevalence, and landscape of FFN.
Identify and connect with other organizations and individuals working or interested in this area, as well as those that hold decision-making power. Working with other organizations and/or individuals is the best way to maximize your coalition’s power and allows for a greater influence. Before selecting implementation activities, your coalition should take time to understand who is already working in this space, who has power to influence decision-making, and what efforts are already underway. Reaching out to these organizations and individuals can help you form partnerships and learn from current and/or previous systems-level work in this area.
Resources:
The National Academy of Community Organizers offers A Guide to Power Analysis in Community Organizing, which can help coalitions understand where power sits within a community around a particular issue.
Understand the inequities that are related to this strategy and consider the systemic and structural causes of disparities. By understanding the factors that contribute to this strategy, your coalition will be better able to identify the action that needs to be taken. Additionally, new and/or existing policies and systems-level approaches have the potential to exacerbate existing inequities, making it important for your coalition to critically examine your action plan for signs of negative consequences.
Resources:
Learn about policies that further entrench inequities among infants, toddlers, and their families in “Building Strong Foundations” from Zero to Three and the Center for Law and Social Policy.
Consider the important role FFN care plays across communities, and the inequities in support, resources, and recognition providers receive compared to more “formal” childcare options. Learn more about these disparities in “Scaling Programs for FFN Caregivers”.
“Child Care and Early Education Equity: A State Action Agenda” from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) discusses how policies can be made to ensure equitable access to child care services.
“Equity Starts Early” from CLASP discusses how child care and education policies have been shaped by a history of systemic and structural racism.
Learn about inequitable access to child care subsidies in this report from CLASP.
As a part of their ‘Five Building Blocks for Racial Equity’, the Race Matters Institute of JustPartners, Inc. offers a free guide on conducting
a Racial Equity Backmap, which helps groups and individuals consider and identify the various drivers of a given inequity.
Consider using an Equity Impact Assessment to better explore and understand such consequences. Both the Center for the Study of Social Policy and Race Forward offer free resources.
The Government Alliance on Race and Equity offers Racial Equity Toolkit An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity.
The Children’s Equity Project (CEP). The CEP works at the intersection of research, practice, and policy and focuses on a range of equity issues in the early years and the early grades. Also see CEP’s Reports and Resources including their Start with Equity Report.
It is important to note that the uniqueness of your community, its resources, and its needs will ultimately determine what implementation of this strategy will look like. Additionally, it is important for your coalition to approach this strategy in a way that is aligned with your overarching goal(s). The list below offers suggestions and ideas of evidence-informed actions your coalition can consider taking as part of your implementation of this strategy.
Understand the current state of accessible quality childcare options for all families. Understanding the existence and locations of child care options within your community is the one of the first steps in understanding the need and appropriate solutions that will best support families. Additionally, talking to families to understand the challenges, barriers, concerns, successes, strengths, and opportunities for child care options within your community can help guide future implementation activities.
Resources:
ChildCare Aware offers state-specific child care data.
Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood compiles a list of ways to find child care.
Colorado coalitions can utilize Colorado Shine’s “find a program” resource to identify the programs available within their communities, as well as their current ratings. Additionally, the organization offers a checklist for determining child care quality.
Childcare.gov also provides resources to search and identify local services.
Defining and Measuring Access to Child Care and Early Education with Families in Mind, a report from ChildTrends, offers a suggested method for measuring access within communities that centers families.
Assist or lead efforts to expand support for FFN caregivers. While prevalent in many communities, FFN care providers receive little support compared to more formal providers within the same communities. Creating and expanding support for FNN care is important in promoting the positive development of all children. Support for FFN providers can include programming, funding opportunities, and free or subsidized training opportunities.
Resources:
These efforts will need to start with building trusting partnerships with FFN caregivers in your community, as discussed in “Scaling Programs for FFN Caregivers” and “Engaging Colorado's FFN Child Care Providers in Early Childhood Systems”.
Early Milestones Colorado outlines recommendations on how communities can support FSN care, including suggestions related to the community agencies and partners that need to support such efforts.
Additional recommendations for action are outlined in the report “Supporting and Strengthening FFN Care: Honoring Family Choice and Recognizing the Need for Flexible Care” from Home Grown.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted FNN care across the U.S., prompting additional considerations and recommendations for action, according to the report “The Impact of COVID-19 on Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care in Colorado: Ensuring ALL Children are Valued, Healthy, and Thriving”.
Educate stakeholders on the importance of expanding child care subsidies and public programs to include FFN providers. Despite the important role FFN care plays in providing families with necessary, affordable, and flexible care, many FFN providers and the children they serve do not participate in or benefit from public programs and funding (e.g., subsidy programs).
Resources:
The Urban Institute discusses why child care subsidies should include FFN providers, as well as offers suggestions for action in their report “Child Care Subsidies and Home-Based Child Care Providers: Expanding Participation’”.
The Urban Institute also produced a report on how to increase FFN access to the Child and Adult Food Program.
Build partnerships with your local Early Childhood Council. These councils throughout Colorado are likely already champions of child care access, making them a critical partner in understanding community needs and appropriate implementation activities.
Resources:
Learn more about Early Childhood Councils on the Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance website. Colorado communities can find their local Early Childhood Council here.
Educate stakeholders on the benefits of expanding eligibility limits for child care subsidy programs. The U.S. government provides funds to each state to run a child care subsidy program, which helps low-income families pay for child care so parents or guardians can work or attend school. Individual states can elect to raise income threshold limits to expand the number of families eligible for subsidy programs.
Resources:
Find the administrative coordinating office for these funds in your state here.
The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) helps Colorado families that are homeless, working, search for work or in school find child care assistance. Each county in the state sets its own eligibility requirements.
Support and amplify public education initiatives that help families understand their eligibility for child care subsidies. Expanding outreach on the availability of child care assistance can help increase enrollment. These efforts may be particularly beneficial for underserved communities or populations.
Resources:
The Women’s National Law Center’s report, “Strengthening Child Care Assistance Outreach” offers strategies to reach families across communities.
Strategies used to educate community members about eligibility for other assistance programs and resources (e.g., SNAP, EITC) may also be effective to spread information about child care subsidy eligibility. See the Make Community Assistance Programs and Resources More Accessible to Eligible Families strategy page for more ideas.
Educate stakeholders on the benefits of aligning child care subsidy enrollment requirements and processes with other assistance programs (e.g., SNAP, housing vouchers). Child care subsidy programs, like other assistance programs, can have confusing and lengthy enrollment and renewal requirements and procedures. Streamlining child care subsidy enrollment and renewal with enrollment/renewal in additional assistance programs can more efficiently connect families to necessary services and reduce existing barriers.
Resources:
The Essentials for Childhood Policy Guide (pg 17) offers examples of states that have coordinated child care subsidy eligibility with other assistance programs to reduce barriers to accessing and navigating the benefit.
Strategies used to align enrollment procedures across assistance programs and resources are further discussed on the Make Community Assistance Programs and Resources More Accessible to Eligible Families strategy page.
Educate stakeholders on the benefits of increasing the supply of child care services outside of traditional work hours. Adults with child care needs outside of traditional business hours face additional challenges in finding quality child care.
Resources:
The National Women’s Law Center offers suggestions for how state and local governments can increase the supply of services outside of traditional business hours.
The Urban Institute discusses policies that could promote this supply increase here.
Read about Colorado communities that have implemented this strategy here.