SOUTHEAST SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Public safety was one of the many issues Colorado Springs' mayor addressed in Friday's State of the City speech.
Mayor Yemi Mobolade talked about increasing the police force and using technology to keep the city safe. The police department's Real Time Crime Center uses technology such as drones and red light cameras.
He also highlighted crime prevention partnerships with organizations like Men of Influence and Kingdom Builders Family Life Center.
"These organizations are mentoring young people, interrupting violence and helping people leaving incarceration find a better path because the most effective way to prevent crime, to fight crime, is to prevent it," Mobolade said.
The mayor also focused on the city's growth, the business climate, and affordability and child care issues both families and facilities face.
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For Wayne Carbowski, the Lighthouse Early Care and Education Center was the best option.
"It's the closest one," Carbowski said.
Carbowski applied for the Universal Preschool Program for his son.
"It helps parents because it provides at least 15 free hours a week, you know, and then if you want extra on top of that you gotta pay extra for that," Carbowski said.
He says without state help, he'd have to find other care.
"I'm not gonna spend $1500 to send my kid here. I can't even make bills, so I, I understand that the 15 free hours was, was a big thing for me," Carbowski said.
For the center providing that care, keeping the doors open isn't so simple.
At the State of the City, Mobolade said El Paso County has about 47,000 children under 5, but only 18,000 licensed child care spaces.
"That is why city council and I modernized zoning rules this year to make it easier to open childcare facilities," Mobolade said.
Annisa Aldaz runs the center and says opening a center takes more than changing the zoning.
"You don't have staff you're not open yet these are barriers that you're going over, paying rent and things before you're even staffed and open and operating," Aldaz said.
She says when families can't afford care, providers feel it, too.
"Parents are paying like $400 a week, parents are basically working to have us watch their kids, and that's not fair," Aldaz said.
Aldaz says more funding could help centers serve families and cover the costs of staffing and operating.
"It might take those city officials to come in and actually see what we're doing, we're looked at as like we're a luxury and really I think we're a necessity," Aldaz said.
