To identify a plan to address gaps in the system, the Craig-Scheckman Family Foundation (CSFF) and First Impressions of Routt County commissioned a needs assessment in October 2022 to clearly understand the state of Early Care and Education (ECE) in the county.

There is a child care crisis in Routt County, Colorado. While there are not enough child care spots for the number of children who need care from birth through age 8, the situation is particularly challenging for families with infants and toddlers. Even when child care spots exist, they frequently do not meet
families’ needs in terms of hours of availability, location, and quality.

Routt is a rural county in northwest Colorado that is home to approximately 25,000 people, including 1,035 children under 5 years old.1 The largest population center in the county is Steamboat Springs, with a population of just over 13,300 in 2022. 2 Major economic sectors include tourism and hospitality, agriculture, and energy and mining. 3 The workforce that supports Routt’s economy includes many working families with young children birth through age 8 who need regular care while their parents are at work.

Between October 2022 and July 2023, researchers from the Butler Institute for Families at the University of Denver (Butler) collected data to understand the supply of and demand for ECE services of children birth through age 8 in Routt County. The needs assessment used secondary data, interviews and focus groups, and surveys to collect data from ECE providers, families, and systems-level partners.
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