The hidden cost of our child care gaps
As published in the Durango Herald
Sunday, Mar 2, 2025 5:00 AM
As the La Plata Economic Development Alliance, we are known for our focus on economic issues – supporting employers, developing our workforce, and galvanizing public – private partnerships to drive growth. When we decided to tackle child care in 2024, people asked, “Why child care? Why now?” The answer: the hidden cost of our child care gaps.
Our current child care capacity falls short, with a gap of 991 total licensed spots. Within this shortage, 576 spots are missing in licensed infant care (0–18 months), where there are only 80 licensed spots for 656 infants currently. Without intervention, our county’s early child care capacity is projected to drop below 1,000 total spots by 2030.
These shortfalls disrupt our business ecosystem and diminish our residents' quality of life. In La Plata County, 60% of employers have reported losing staff due to child care challenges, exacerbating labor shortages and driving up recruitment costs. Meanwhile, 59% of parents report reducing their working hours or leaving the workforce entirely – resulting in La Plata County experiencing $34 million in lost wages annually.
While the Alliance has had success in building momentum around workforce housing, we are hearing from large and small employers across industries that child care is at the nexus of that same issue.
Stories shared by employers range from a hotel manager, as well as a K-12 teacher, unable to find child care and rescinding the jobs offered to them, to members of our Latine community having to bring their children to work with them due to lack of child care.
In fact, it was participating on the Good Food Collective’s Latinx Early Childcare advisory board and the resulting study that inspired me to understand how child care was impacting our community throughout the county.
The City of Durango helped the Alliance to fund the La Plata Early Childcare Strategic Investment Plan, and the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County (ECC) was a critical partner. The ECC has supported our child care system for more than 28 years, and was crucial to help us understand not only the impact of access to child care, but how destabilized the industry is as a whole and how we can build a framework for investment.
We interviewed more than 300 community members, child care providers, employers, public and private partners by way of one-on-one interviews, focus groups, surveys, and public forums.
Our Early Childcare Strategic Investment Plan is the first county-wide initiative of its kind in Colorado. Our framework creates an overarching child care investment plan with three distinct components, each targeting specific market failures identified through community engagement and economic analysis. These initiatives include a Childcare Investment Fund, Capital and Infrastructure Fund, and Childcare Champions Initiative.
A $20M investment over five years will reimagine the child care sector in La Plata County, stabilizing the industry and doubling the number of child care slots available for children 0-3. This investment will be made collaboratively through public-private-philanthropic partnerships, but there is space and need for community involvement and support.
As a community, we have relied heavily on state and federal resources and have not historically made large scale local investments in child care. There has never been a better time to fortify our community, prioritize our workforce, and build resilience through quality, affordable child care access.
If you are interested in learning more about the child care investment plan, attend the public meeting at the Durango Public Library on Wednesday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m. or review the entire plan and submit feedback atyeslpc.com/alliance-programs/childcare-strategy/.
To learn more about our local early childhood system, reach out to the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County directly at [email protected] or call 970-247-0760.
Sarah Tober is the Executive Director of the La Plata Economic Development Alliance. Learn more and reach her at yeslpc.com.