Frozen Childcare Access

More than 400k working American families lost access to affordable childcare in the past year. In Colorado, the impacts of this childcare funding freeze have been catastrophic for parents and providers. Our founder, RB “Ms. Bea” Fast recently spoke with journalist Emily Tate Sullivan about how these funding freezes are affecting our Denver location’s community.

From the article “With 400k Children on Childcare Waitlists, Families Are Left Scrambling” originally posted on The74Million:

“There’s a lot of questions right now from providers of, ‘Is it worth it? Is it worth taking subsidies when I can’t get more kids off the waitlist?’”

These outcomes are not theoretical for RB Fast, founder of Westwood Academy, an early care and education program in Denver.

She remembers receiving an email in fall 2024 notifying her that one of the counties she serves was freezing intake. (In Colorado, waiting lists and freezes are decided at the county level.)

“I really thought it would be a couple of months,” she said. “I was not ready for it to be semi-permanent and extended the way it has been.”

Soon, she learned that two more counties would also be implementing a freeze.

Back then, Fast’s program, which is licensed for 30 slots, was fully enrolled. She estimates that about two-thirds of those families paid with subsidies. Today, her program is underenrolled, with 22 children, and only three of those families pay with subsidies — two got in before the freeze began and the third is a child living with a foster family who was granted a temporary subsidy.

For the remaining families, some manage OK, but others scramble each month, sending panicked emails asking if they can pay late or use a friend’s credit card for this month’s tuition. “You can tell they’re juggling to try to get tuition paid,” Fast said.

She has also seen firsthand the way some families pull together substandard childcare arrangements in the absence of public assistance. Fast knows of a family that had to start leaving their toddler with the great-grandmother while the parents go to work.

“I’m sure she loves that child very much … but at 80, are you in place to give an optimal environment to a 2-year-old?” said Fast, noting the level of attention and activity a toddler requires. “It’s not about an inconvenience for one family or a handful of families,” she said of the waitlists. “It affects employers, extended families [and] children.”

Fast is in the process of opening her second location, in a nearby suburb of Denver. That program will not be accepting childcare subsidies, she said. Nor will any future program she opens.

“It doesn’t feel worth it to me,” she said.

Read the full article here: https://zero2eight.substack.com/p/with-400k-children-on-childcare-assistance