An emerging, statewide partnership of diverse child care providers working together to bring attention and understanding to the current challenges with publicly funded child care in Colorado.
Change Starts Here
State and Federal Funding Shortfalls Threaten Child Care for All Colorado Kids
Public funding for child care is essential to young children, working parents, the child care industry & Colorado’s economy. However, policy and budget choices at the federal, state and local levels are limiting access for Colorado’s working families & undermining an already fragile infrastructure.
What is at risk?
Child care is already hard to find and expensive to afford in Colorado. In fact, even before this crisis, 51% of Colorado’s population lived in a “child care desert.” CCCAP is an essential part of the child care funding picture. Without it, many child care providers will lay off staff, reduce capacity or close all together, putting even greater strain on Colorado families.
Who is impacted?
Children – More than 27,000 Colorado children relied on CCCAP for early care and education and out-of-school time programs in fiscal year 2024-25. These programs enrich learning and support healthy development between the ages of birth and 12 yrs old. They also ensure kids have a safe and nurturing place to be while their parents work or are in school or job training. As of Feb 1st, more than 13,500 children are being impacted by enrollment freezes and waiting lists.
Working Parents & Their Employers – CCCAP helps pay for child care for parents who are working or pursuing education and/or training. 18,000 Colorado families depend on CCCAP for financial stability while Colorado employers need a reliable and present workforce, including parents.
Child Care Providers – CCCAP is an essential part of the child care funding picture that helps support more than 2,500 child care businesses, including 2,400 licensed providers and more than 110 qualified license-exempt (Family, Friend and Neighbor) providers across the state. Many child care businesses are small, woman and / or minority owned.
Colorado’s Economy – Employed parents who lose their CCCAP support will struggle to continue working, hurting Colorado’s economy. A Common Sense Institute report from October 2025 found that a 20% reduction in employment among parents with a child receiving CCCAP (a decline of 2,667 people), would result in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decline of more than $1B. Even before this crisis, it was estimated by the Center for American Progress that Colorado lost about $3B per year in unrealized income due to a lack of child care.
How Did We Get Here?
State & Local CCCAP Enrollment
Freezes & Waitlists
The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) is funded primarily through federal dollars that come to Colorado through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). The program helps families pay for child care if the adults in the family are working, in school or training and / or searching for a job. Federal funds flow through the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) to County Departments of Human Services.
In response to federal regulatory changes, state legislation passed in 2024 made policy changes to CCCAP - including capping family co-pays, paying providers prospectively and based on enrollment (not attendance) and changing methodology for reimbursement rates - that increased the cost-per-child served to make child care more affordable for families and to better reflect the actual cost of care.
The federal government did not sufficiently increase funding to states to cover the full cost of these new policies and the State of Colorado was unable to make-up the federal funding shortfall, leaving the counties with unfunded mandates. As a result, several counties have implemented enrollment freezes and waiting lists as a budget management strategy.
Enrollment freezes will shrink CCCAP over time by prohibiting new enrollment. While no one enrolled in the program at the time of the freeze loses their benefit, no one new can access the program. CDEC projects the enrollment freezes could last 5 years or longer, meaning babies born in 2026 would not be able to benefit from CCCAP during their infant, toddler and preschool years.
When a child who was on CCCAP leaves a child care program – e.g. they “graduate” to kindergarten or their family moves to a different county – the child care provider cannot fill the spot with another CCCAP-funded student. This means that child care providers serving low income kids either must
scale back costs, serve fewer children and reduce access to care: reducing hours for teachers, laying off teachers, closing classrooms, closing programs – all of which impacts access to child care for all children, whether they rely on CCCAP funding or not
backfill government shortfalls with private and philanthropic funding, if available and accessible
charge families full tuition costs
Enrollment freezes are currently in effect in 19 Colorado counties, including Adams, Denver, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo, Summit and Weld. Five counties have waiting lists in place.
As of February 1st, there are 13,500+ children who have been unable to access child care because of CCCAP enrollment freezes and waiting lists. Child care providers are already taking steps to reduce costs and capacity and limiting or halting expansion efforts because of these policies.
Withholding of Federal Funding
On January 6, 2026, CDEC received official notice from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that Colorado’s Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) allocation, the federal funding source that supports CCCAP, is being temporarily restricted based on allegations of fraud.
The funding freeze was set to take effect on January 31, 2026. However, on January 9th, a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze. The temporary injunction has been extended, and court action is pending. In the meantime, families and child care providers are operating with great uncertainty.
Should the federal Administration not reimburse Colorado for any CCDF expenses for the remainder of Colorado fiscal year 2025-26, it would cost Colorado approximately $91M of lost federal funding.