2024 Local Ballot Measure After-Action Review: Reflections from Grand County, La Plata County, and the City of Montrose on their Lodging Tax Success

According to a 2024 Council for a Strong America report, in Colorado, 64% of families with children ages five and under have all available parents in the workforce. And families with an infant and a four-year-old are paying on average 38% of their household income on child care. Our care system is currently too costly for parents, and yet the true cost of care is subsidized by the low wages provided to the early childhood education workforce.

Commissioned by the Buell Foundation, the 2024 Local Ballot Measure After-Action Review: Reflections from Grand County, La Plata County, and the City of Montrose On Their Lodging Tax Success celebrates local communities that are rolling up their sleeves, raising revenue, and funding solutions that leverage their unique assets and resources to create a better-supported and more well-functioning child care system. Local funding is a necessary yet insufficient amount of money to truly support families and the caregiving workforce. It is our hope that sharing lessons learned and stories of success from local communities will light the way for the level of investment necessary to achieve Colorado’s vision.

For more information about Buell’s Early Childhood Local Financing Toolkit, additional resources, and the associated open funding opportunity, please click here.