With a focus on efficiency and equity, many communities are using COVID-19 relief and recovery funds to invest in technical innovations to help children and families. Many have found these initial investments in technology are already paying off. One example is Larimer County’s Child Care Connect, a web-based tool that connects families and child care providers to help address the child care crisis.

Larimer County is an hour north of Denver and extends up to the Wyoming border. Like much of Colorado, the county has seen recent rapid population growth that has come with child care availability challenges. According to a 2018 study, there are only enough child care slots in the county to cover 25% of infant care needs and 60% of preschool-age care needs. Meanwhile, it’s estimated that Larimer County families with two children younger than five years spend 37% of their pretax income on child care. Lastly, Larimer County families faced barriers to accessing information about which providers had openings at any given time.

Child Care Costs in Larimer County, CO

While the pandemic further exacerbated many of these challenges, it also presented a tremendous opportunity for Larimer County. Christina Taylor, the CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County (ECCLC), saw a chance to address the county’s broken resource and referral model and address the county’s child care supply and demand mismatch using a portion of the funding the county received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Her goal was to help families find available care quickly and easily, and she went about finding the right partners to help her achieve that goal.

Taylor found a partner in BridgeCare, a child care data and community management platform. Together, BridgeCare and the ECCLC built Larimer Child Care Connect, a web-based tool that connects families and child care providers easily and efficiently while giving the ECCLC access to real-time child care supply and demand data.

Larimer Child Care Connect includes three components:

  1. A searchable database of providers with real-time availability data for families that allows families to search and filter on key provider features including location.
  2. A web-based portal where child care providers can log in and quickly keep their profile and availability data up to date.
  3. A web-based administrative portal for ECCLC staff for tracking child care supply and demand data and statistics on provider engagement with the platform.

The community immediately responded positively to Larimer Child Care Connect. Before the launch, 200 families a year used the existing child care resource and referral hotline to find care. After the launch of Larimer Child Care Connect, the number of families seeking resource and referral services jumped significantly, with more than 3,000 local families using the portal to date.

Larimer Child Care Connect illustrates an innovative use of stimulus funds to create a sustainable technology tool designed to help address the child care crisis in one community. The latest influx of funding from the American Rescue Plan gives communities another chance to continue to tackle the crisis. Technology investments can be an incredibly cost-effective and powerful way to address the needs of a variety of stakeholders. In the case of Larimer County, the investment helps families, child care providers, and the Early Childhood Council itself.

The example of Larimer County highlights several best practices communities should consider when using COVID recovery funds for technology projects designed to help children:

  1. Don’t be afraid to innovate! Far too often, communities try to make new technology fit within current systems and processes. Sometimes communities need to disrupt and reinvent existing systems for effective change. Larimer Child Care Connect brought a completely new child care resource and referral system to a community in need.
  2. Find the right partners for your project. The best partners are those who want to grow and improve with you. Both BridgeCare and the ECCLC view Larimer Child Care Connect as a work in progress. Together, they are working to develop new features and increase functionality as the platform matures.
  3. Understand the needs of your community and design your project around your key stakeholders. The ECCLC knew that families were not finding the prior resource and referral model useful or approachable. Larimer Child Care Connect gives families what they need—a list of child care providers with immediate availability to care for their children, and it is quick and easy to use.

Emma McCarthy is the former business development and program lead at MetrixIQ.