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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 11/15/2022 - Memorandum From Adam Molzer Re: Childcare Priority Update: Affordable, Quality And Accessible Childcare InfrastructureSocial Sustainability 222 Laporte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6757 MEMORANDUM DATE: November 9, 2022 TO: Mayor Arndt and City Councilmembers THRU: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager Josh Birks, Deputy Sustainability Director FROM: Adam Molzer, City Grants and Community Partnerships Coordinator CC: Beth Yonce, Social Sustainability Department Director Teresa Roche, Human Resources Executive Dean Klingner, Interim Community Services Director SeonAh Kendall, Economic Health Office Director LeAnn Williams, Recreation Department Director RE: Childcare Priority Update: Affordable, Quality and Accessible Childcare Infrastructure The purpose of this memo is informational and provides a check-in on the status of the childcare sector in Fort Collins and City Council’s priority on childcare – “Affordable, Quality, and Accessible Childcare Infrastructure”. This memo reflects efforts occurring between May-October 2022. Bottom Line: Systemic impediments affecting access, affordability and workforce stability persist throughout the childcare sector in Fort Collins. The City continues to address the stabilization of childcare as a priority. City Role & Scope: The City’s role is to help reduce barriers, increase capacity, leverage City assets, identify and respond to childcare needs, and lead by example as an employer. This response is achieved through partnerships, funding, programs, technical assistance, policy, and legislative action. Noteworthy Highlights - City of Fort Collins: The City continues to support a variety of activities to help stabilize childcare needs for the larger community and employees, including: Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC) recognized the City of Fort Collins with the Delta Dental Early Childhood Champion Award on September 29 at their Business Leaders Dinner in Denver. EPIC annually honors exemplary family-friendly businesses for their innovation, leadership, and investment in strategies that support young children and the needs of working families. The City was recognized for the intensive and interdepartmental work to offer solutions that address employees' early childhood needs and childcare struggles while creating a family-friendly culture. Human Services Program contracts for the 2022-23 grant term are now active, with $219,500 (General Fund) awarded towards early childhood education and childcare services. 2 $100,000 of ARPA funds were committed by Social Sustainability in July through a competitive grant process to 4 childcare system support programs. Awards were made to the following organizations and are currently being expended: o Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County - Behavioral Health Team Support o Early Childhood Council of Larimer County - Mitigating COVID Impact in the ECE Workforce o Teaching Tree Early Childhood Learning Center – Workforce Development/Retention o United Way of Larimer County – Larimer Child Care Fund Scholarships City Council’s 2023-2024 budget includes $400,000 of ARPA funding each year for childcare system support grants. Social Sustainability will lead the grant-making efforts and commit the next round of awards in Q1 2023. The 2023-2024 budget also includes ARPA funding to support childcare programming operated by the City’s Recreation Department: o Retention of a contractual position that currently provides mental/social/behavioral supports and recreational therapy to the children, families and staff involved in City-run childcare programs. Outcomes will be reported in a future update memo. o Facility upgrades for a childcare suite at Northside Aztlan Center that will allow for quality- rating through the Colorado Shines system in fall of 2023. Improvements include security, outdoor classroom space and increased capacity for licensed early childhood and summer camp programs. Human Resources continues to refine and implement the Caregiving Support framework developed in the past year to meet the needs of City employees who are caregivers. Efforts are focused on the following priorities: o Access to a mixed delivery system offering a choice o Schedule flexibility o Ongoing citywide collaboration o More services for families with special needs and unique situations o Elevating the quality of childcare across the spectrum of providers and settings HR is also in discussions with lead childcare organizations to deepen those partnerships. The Economic Health Office continues to engage with regional partners and the NoCo Works initiative (formerly Talent 2.0) to address to regional workforce challenges with childcare recognized as a barrier. The Economic Health Office supported Larimer Small Business Development’s Early Childhood Business Licensing Program. This program is a free six-week virtual workshop which teaches both new and existing childcare providers, including home-based providers, to manage operations of their business. Childcare providers also earn their required professional development hours by participating in this program. This program is also available in Spanish. The Recreation Department received over $300,000 in Childcare Block Development Grants to support their 3 licensed programs. The grant funds were applied towards tuition reduction, scholarships for low-income families (in partnership with The Family Center / La Familia), workforce recruitment and retention strategies (trainings and monetary bonuses), and capital/operational improvement strategies. 3 Over $13,000 in Recreation Department childcare subsidies were utilized in 2022 by benefit-eligible City employees who sought discounted caregiving services. Several new staff have been hired by the Recreation Department to support youth programming and childcare services, while non-childcare duties have simultaneously been removed from some of the positions. Exploratory conversations are also underway about potentially expanding childcare operations to additional City of Fort Collins facilities. Childcare continues to be included as a policy statement category in the City’s 2022 Legislative Policy Agenda. The Caregivers’ Alliance, an internal City employee resource group, continues to host monthly meetings to provide practical tools and space for City staff who serve as caregivers to children, youth or older adults to share mental and emotional load together. This group continues to engage employees on caregiver issues that are relevant to City employees. Noteworthy Highlights - Community The Colorado Department of Early Education has selected the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County (ECCLC) as the Local Coordinating Organization for Universal Preschool efforts in the community. This designation will empower ECCLC to support families in navigating enrollment, track and report on seat availability in local preschools, lead communications and supports for providers, and overall ensure the smooth rollout of at least ten hours of free voluntary preschool for every child in the year before kindergarten. An Early Childhood Workforce Report and Roadmap was released this autumn by ECCLC, featuring data and recommendations that will guide workforce recruitment and retention efforts in the childcare sector. The Executive Summary is attached to this memo. A data report from ECCLC was released over the summer featuring the average cost of care for families in Larimer County. The average full-time cost for an infant in a child care center is $390 each week, or $20k annually. The cost for a single pre-K child in a center is $276 each week, or $14k annually. Dedicated public funding for childcare system stabilization across Larimer County will be reexamined in 2023 by ECCLC and a steering committee of stakeholders, including the City of Fort Collins. Next Steps: Maintain regular correspondence and check-ins with childcare partners to understand emerging service gaps and respond appropriately. Administer funding programs that deploy ARPA dollars towards local childcare needs. Continue to evaluate regulatory barriers within the building and development processes that uniquely affect childcare providers. Further implement policies and resources that serve the unique interests and needs of City employees who are caregivers.