WESTMINSTER, Colorado – The Adams County Regional Economic Partnership (AC-REP) today announced it has been selected as a recipient of $20,000 in grant funding through the Child Care Access Alliance, a statewide partnership launched by the Colorado Chamber Foundation, Gary Community Ventures and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC).

As one of seven chambers of commerce chosen through a thorough application process and review process, AC-REP will receive the funds to understand and address local child care challenges in the greater Adams County region.

“This grant represents an important step toward better understanding how child care challenges are affecting businesses in Adams County. We will focus on three major employment sectors of our economy: construction, health care and manufacturing. These are sectors that often have unique or shift work schedules, so we want to explore how to best serve those employees’ needs for child care,” said Lisa Hough, president and CEO of AC-REP. “AC-REP is proud to partner with the Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County in this effort to bring business leaders, workforce experts, and community partners together to identify practical, employer-informed solutions that support working families while strengthening our regional economy. We are grateful to the Child Care Access Alliance for recognizing the importance of business-led collaboration on this issue and for investing in Adams County’s future competitiveness.”

Through this initiative, the regional chamber and its partners will build knowledge about local child care challenges through employer surveys, interviews, and gatherings; assess the local business impacts of insufficient affordable child care; and identify promising employer, local, and statewide strategies to address these challenges.

Following the assessment, AC-REP will develop a regional report that outlines the local child care landscape, highlights key findings from employer surveys, and recommends solutions including employer-led actions and local and statewide policy opportunities.

“Child care is a critical workforce issue, and we’re proud to partner with organizations like AC-REP to address it at the local level,” said Rachel Beck, executive director of the Colorado Chamber Foundation. “By working together to expand access, we can support working families, strengthen early childhood development and build a stronger talent pipeline for Colorado.”

“We’re excited to partner with chambers across Colorado and lift up their leadership in driving solutions to child care challenges,” said Steffanie Clothier, director of school readiness with Gary Community Ventures. “This work will spark innovation at the local level and help shape what’s possible across the state.”

“Colorado’s child care challenges affect families, employers and the state’s economy, which is why business leadership is so important to advancing solutions,” said Alethea Gomez, Colorado executive director of Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC). “The Child Care Access Alliance is an opportunity to work alongside chambers and regional partners across Colorado to better understand local needs, elevate actionable and scalable strategies, and build momentum for practical solutions that help children, families and employers thrive.”

Regional insights will contribute to a comprehensive statewide report that aims to provide a clearer understanding of Colorado’s child care challenges and identify proposed solutions. The chamber grantees’ work is expected to conclude by the spring of 2027, with the statewide report to follow.

Affordable and accessible child care is essential to Colorado’s economic competitiveness. The Colorado Chamber Foundation’s Vision 2033 identifies workforce shortages as one of the state’s most urgent challenges, with employers across industries citing the high cost and limited availability of child care as a major barrier to attracting and retaining talent.

Colorado’s child care challenges have broad-reaching impacts. The state ranks among the most expensive in the nation for care, with the average annual cost of child care being $20,978 for an infant and $17,479 for a toddler. At the same time, Colorado faces a critical shortage of licensed child care seats, with more than half of the state considered a child care desert. Altogether, the lack of affordable and accessible child care results in an estimated $2.7 billion loss to Colorado’s economy each year.

Learn more about the Child Care Access Alliance and its work across Colorado here: https://cochamber.com/alliances/child-care-access-alliance/