Facility Needs Assessment

The Need

Colorado lacks sufficient child care and preschool capacity necessary to serve all children and families. Half of the state’s population lives in a licensed child care desert, in which there are at least three children from birth to age five for every one available licensed early childhood care and education slot. This condition is particularly acute for infants and toddlers under age three. Additionally, many child care providers have been forced to close their doors or are prevented from expanding into available space due to high facility costs.

The Strategy

This activity funds a facility needs assessment to better understand the challenges child care programs are still facing and to provide a roadmap to addressing those concerns.

The facility needs assessment will look at issues such as underutilized space in existing child care programs that could be converted into classrooms, as well as underutilized spaces at churches, schools and other facilities that would only need minor renovations to become licensed as a child care program. The assessment will also look at the percentage of programs that own space versus lease space, the cost per square foot of their lease or mortgage and related topics. This data will help Colorado better understand the barriers to creating a successful child care business or designing a child care facility, which will make it easier for CDEC and its partners to address these issues and support a growing early childhood ecosystem.