COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Childcare in Colorado Springs is becoming increasingly expensive and hard to find, with studies identifying the city as a "child care desert."
The Pikes Peak region has roughly 47,000 children under the age of five, but only about 18,000 child care spots to serve them, according to SherryLynn Boyles, president and CEO of Joint Initiatives.
"We live in a childcare desert, which means we don't have enough childcare for the number of children we have," Boyles said.
For many families, the shortage has forced difficult choices, some parents have left the workforce entirely.
"If I was working, my entire paycheck would go just to child care, and so we would not make any extra money anyway. So I might as well raise my kids myself," Sarah McArthur a Colorado Springs parent said.
Others were pushed out of the workforce by circumstances beyond their control.
"I had my first child during COVID. So day care, everything shut down. So finding anything to take care of my child wasn't easy already. So I just took the risk of staying home to take care of my first born," Asia Silao, another parent said.
Emmie Swize and her husband both work full time after leaving the military, with two children and one on the way, finding child care has become a challenge of its own.
"I live right by base, which was great when they went military to childcare. And now I have to do, like, at least, like, fifteen minutes up powers to get to, like you know what I mean? To get to the best available one. It's stressful," Swize said.
Swize described the difficulty of balancing the three factors families look for in child care.
"It's hard to find somewhere that's close by affordable and that I like. I found that I kinda have to pick two of those three things, and two is, like, a pretty good find if I can get two of those three," Swize said. "So for my kids, I found one that is affordable and that I like, but it's not close by. So it's a little tough for us."
Joint Initiatives has been advocating for changes to Colorado Springs zoning laws to allow more child care centers in residential neighborhoods. Boyles said zoning is the critical first step to expanding access.
"When you think about all the hoops you need to jump through to start a childcare facility, zoning is the number one piece. Like that's how you get off of home plate. So we're not getting get the home run of a childcare center without getting off of home base," Boyles said.
Boyles acknowledged that zoning changes alone will not solve the affordability problem. The goal is to increase the number of available spots and bring child care closer to where families live.
"When we are restricting childcare out of neighborhoods, then we are greatly limiting the ability for parents to find childcare that they can actually use," Boyles said.
Joint Initiatives is also looking ahead at solutions to the affordability problem, which could include a future ballot initiative to fund child care in the area. Boyles pointed to previous support in El Paso County for using sin taxes to fund universal preschool as a model for how that could work.
This story was reported onair by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Man caught on camera taking dog from backyard in Colorado Springs
You are asked to reach out to the Colorado Springs Police Department and reference online tracking number 26006588 if you have any information regarding the incident.
