COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — As an Army spouse and mother herself, Kayla Corbitt knows firsthand the challenges military families face when it comes to childcare.
Corbitt, who now lives in Colorado Springs, launched her nationwide nonprofit, Operation Child Care Project, which focuses on childcare access and equity for military and veteran families.
Oftentimes, military families consist of active-duty parents or situations where one parent is a servicemember and the other works full-time. And sometimes, one parent chooses not to work to focus on childcare, which causes the loss of income.
As military families continue facing childcare challenges, Corbitt is bringing a new initiative to Colorado Springs called “HomeFront Help.”
HomeFront Help, which had its first successful launch in Florida at Eglin Air Force Base, aims to offer a vetted network of caregivers, known as “helpers,” to military families.
“Unlike civilians, military families really lack that local support system that is inherently built in when you get to stay in a place. And so, they were turning to what they had, which was social media,” Corbitt said. “And they were asking, ‘Who can help me with my kids? Who can watch my children while I go to an appointment? Who can watch my children this weekend?”
Corbitt said these posts on sites like Facebook groups aren’t ideal, nor are they necessarily a safe option for families.
HomeFront Help trains a number of these so-called Helpers to offer emergency, ad-hoc, and part-time care for families through a locally managed database. Corbitt said these are trained, safe, and reliable childcare providers. Helpers then set their rates to earn income.
By securing funding through private sponsors and the Bainum Family Foundation, a private operating foundation focused on early childhood education, HomeFront Help can train individuals at no cost and offer scholarships and stipends.
The pilot program initiative will cover several childcare requirements, including:
- Free Adult and Pediatric CPR/First Aid Certification
- Free FBI, State Criminal History, and Child Safety Background Checks
- 40 hours of free provider training
- Free Special Needs and Behavioral training
- Two Free Hours of one-on-one consulting with industry care experts
- Free self-employment training
“We are asking trusted caregivers, those people who are already responding, saying, ‘I will help you out. I will watch your children so you can go to your prenatal appointment. I will sit at your house in the morning so your kids can get on the bus,’ and we are paying them to take training to make them safer options in general for both the community and military families to leverage,” Corbitt said.
The first cohort, as she’s calling them, will participate in required in-person training on June 28. Registration is already open with several people already filling out the slots, but Corbitt said she encourages anyone who’s interested to still sign up.
In its first phase at Eglin Air Force Base, since November 2024, HomeFront Help supported over 150 families with more than 550 days of care, according to Operation Child Care Project.
In the Colorado Springs community, the program takes on a necessary need as El Paso County faces hurdles of being a “childcare desert.”
According to Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families, a Colorado Springs nonprofit, there is a gap of 16,000 childcare spots, meaning there aren’t enough professionals or centers to help with the community’s childcare needs.
HomeFront Help won’t eradicate that need, but every little bit helps, said Kelly Hurtado, the chief operating officer for Joint Initiatives.
“We really need to come together,” said Hurtado. “The call to action is to continue to fund early childhood programs so that we're giving children a strong start when it's critical to their development.”
This year, the Trump Administration has considered cutting funding for early childhood education and care programs like Head Start through an earlier budget proposal.
It appears that funding will now remain flat, but other actions at the federal level have raised levels of concern for childcare groups.
As KOAA reported, President Trump’s civilian hiring freeze this year had downstream effects, causing disruptions and closures for childcare on military installations.
HomeFront Help, though not the ultimate solution, aims to address many of these gaps in care and ease the burden on military families.
“Not everybody wants to do or is able to do full-time childcare, and this allows them to give back to their community, earn an income, and serve military families in the process,” said Corbitt.
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Email Senior Reporter Brett Forrest at brett.forrest@koaa.com. Follow @brettforrestTVon X and Brett Forrest News on Facebook.
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