Getting a child care referral shouldn’t be traumatic, but here I was, trying to hold space for a local mom as she sobbed. She was a single mother of a two-month-old. Her leave was ending soon and she wanted to find care so she could return to work. She was surprised to hear that our county didn’t have a single infant spot available. She was devastated to learn that the waitlist was 9-36 months out.

The reality of her situation set in. She wasn’t going back to work anytime soon. She didn’t have the option to extend her leave — she was going to lose her job. Her career had been paused indefinitely. How would she pay the bills? Could she even keep living here? The resources I was able to offer fell short of fixing her crisis. And worse, tearful child care referrals were becoming a trend in our office. How did this situation become the norm in our community?

Local data clarifies why this situation is commonplace. Licensed care slots exist for only 14% of infants and 24% of toddlers in Grand, meaning most families with children ages 0-3 lack access to licensed care. Moreover, while child care is considered affordable at 7% of household income, a dual-income household earning average wages with two children under age five spends over 24% of their income on full-time care in Grand County. A single-parent spends nearly half of their income.

Nationwide early care and education programs struggle financially, suppressing teacher wages just to keep their budgets in the black. These factors don’t leave much opportunity for private market correction— we have an early care and education system that no longer works for families, employers, and communities.

A solution to this is investment in local early childhood systems. Some communities already have dedicated early childhood revenue working for them, like Summit, San Miguel and Eagle counties. But most Colorado communities still lack local funding for early childhood — we’re still on the frontier when it comes to realizing this opportunity in Colorado.

We must be realistic when considering local tax streams for early childhood. Local communities are already under intense pressure to adequately fund essentials such as emergency/fire services, libraries, schools and more from a limited tax base. Adding a local tax for early childhood must be done carefully to avoid competing with or detracting from other needed community services. Even with local dollars, historic underinvestment in early childhood means a community’s child care woes won’t dissolve completely because the financial need in early childhood is too immense.

But just because local tax streams are not a silver bullet to early childhood doesn’t mean that they can’t be critically impactful to individual communities. This November, Grand County is asking local voters to consider Ballot Issue 1A, which asks voters if the county should increase the lodging tax by .2% and allows tax funds to be used towards child care and housing — a structure that leverages our tourist economy and doesn’t burden homeowners with additional property taxes. County commissioners focused on flexibility to meet evolving needs.

If approved by the voters, this will allow us to invest in early childhood systems at an unprecedented level. If allocated strategically and consistently over time, we can move the needle locally to make the story above a rarity — a win for our young children, our families, our employers, and our community.

In presidential election years, it’s easy to focus on nationwide rhetoric, but it’s essential to concentrate on state, regional and local issues and candidates further down the ballot because these have a substantial impact on your community, family and financial future. Don’t miss your opportunity to weigh in! Register to vote, research the issues and please vote all the way down your ballot.

Remember, local measures (like 1A) matter this November.

Katy Hale is the executive director of Grand Beginnings, a nonprofit organization promoting a child-centered school readiness system that fosters early learning, facilitates healthy child development, and promotes family success in Grand and Jackson counties.