Building Sustainable Childcare Solutions

Introduction

Childcare is essential infrastructure for any community: it gives children a safe, supportive environment to learn and socialize, and it enables parents and caregivers to participate in the workforce, helping to drive the local economy. Quality early childhood programs also support children's cognitive, social and emotional development, with long-term benefits for educational attainment and community well-being.

Counties are uniquely positioned to lead this work. As the level of government closest to families, counties often oversee workforce development, economic development, public health and social services — the very systems that both depend on childcare and shape its availability. Recognizing a growing challenge of affordability and availability of quality childcare, counties are using public-private partnerships, federal resources and innovative financing to expand and stabilize childcare supply.

This guide provides county elected officials and administrators with practical, field-tested strategies and actionable steps to build sustainable, community-responsive childcare systems.

Key strategies counties can use to increase childcare supply:

• Establish governance and a lead entity for childcare supply-building
• Build cross-sector and employer partnerships
• Blend and braid financing from multiple sources
• Remove regulatory barriers and support providers
• Develop the early childhood workforce
• Build accountability and sustainability into programs and policies

Key strategies counties can use to increase childcare supply:

Building childcare supply means more than constructing new facilities. It encompasses expanding the number of licensed slots, strengthening the workforce that fills them, improving affordability, reducing regulatory barriers and ensuring geographic equity — all of which counties can influence through the strategies described here.

County News: Counties advance early childhood initiatives in challenging times

Counties continue to navigate these challenges and remain committed to supporting local children and families.

Read the article

This guide is organized in three parts: it opens with background on the scope and consequences of the childcare supply gap; moves into practical strategies and county examples from across the country; and closes with profiles of the five counties in NACo's 2025-26 Childcare Supply Network and a set of template documents counties can adapt.

Counties report that childcare affordability and availability are crisis-level issues for working and middle-income families. The gaps in quality and affordable childcare arise in three themes:

• Expense: For many households, childcare consumes a significant share of income — well above the 7 percent federal affordability benchmark. Infant and toddler care is often the most expensive and least available option, with costs commonly ranging from about $800 to $1,300 per month or more. Early care and education professionals are often paid wages that make it difficult for providers to recruit and retain staff. This creates a market mismatch: families cannot afford higher prices, but providers cannot expand without stable revenue and a workforce.
• Space: Many childcare providers operate in aging buildings that require modernization and safety upgrades. Deferred maintenance, limited outdoor learning space and facilities originally designed for other uses can make it difficult to achieve or maintain higher quality ratings — ratings that often unlock additional state funding and make programs more attractive to families. Providers in poor physical condition may be ineligible for certain grants, unable to add classrooms or unlikely to attract enrollment.
• Equity: Research consistently shows that childcare deserts are more prevalent in communities of color and that Indigenous, Black and Latino families face greater affordability burdens.
• Access: Childcare capacity varies dramatically by geography and demographic groups. Some counties face childcare seat shortages in the tens of thousands, while others have available slots that remain unused because of staffing shortages, affordability barriers or geographic mismatches. While many rural communities experience urban neighborhoods may also face service gaps, with providers often concentrated along commercial corridors rather than located near residential areas, major employers or transit where families need care.

The Rural Child Care Innovation Program

Several rural counties are using the Rural Child Care Innovation Program model to create locally designed action plans. The model helps communities assess needs, engage local leaders and build supply in ways that fit geography, workforce patterns and available facilities. This approach is valuable because it treats community-led design as a core part of sustainability, not an optional extra.

When families cannot find affordable, reliable care, parents — particularly mothers — are more likely to reduce hours, turn down jobs or leave the workforce, thereby shrinking the local labor pool and making it harder for employers to recruit and retain workers. Low-income families and families of color face the most severe childcare barriers, widening disparities in school readiness and educational outcomes, as well as economic mobility for families.

Research shows that children who attend high-quality early care programs are significantly more likely to arrive at kindergarten ready to learn and with measurable gains in literacy, numeracy and social-emotional skills. For counties, this means childcare supply-building is simultaneously a workforce investment and an educational equity strategy. Building childcare supply supports county economic development and workforce goals by attracting talent, reducing turnover and helping key sectors (e.g., manufacturing, healthcare, construction, logistics and public service) fill vacancies.

Mesa County, Colo.

The Mesa County Partnership for Children & Families engaged local public and private leaders after a countywide employer survey found that affordable childcare was the leading barrier to recruitment and retention. The county partnered with BridgeCare, a company that provides data and technology infrastructure for early care and education. Through approaching childcare as a workforce strategy, the county collaborated with employers to expand supply, improve attendance, reduce turnover and strengthen the local talent pipeline. This approach started with business input, then used that information to shape a cross-sector response that matched childcare investments to local labor market needs.

Counties in the 2025-26 Childcare Supply Network identified and tested practical strategies for expanding childcare access by aligning governance, partnerships, financing and workforce supports. The following key strategies and recommendations highlight effective approaches for county leaders.

Governance, Leadership and Planning

Counties can anchor childcare supply within clear governance and planning structures by designating a lead entity (such as an early childhood office, an economic development agency with a childcare mandate or a legislatively created board) to ensure accountability and cross-sector coordination. Comprehensive childcare supply assessments can help identify gaps in capacity, workforce stability and facility conditions. Action plans can set priority strategies, funding sources and measurable outcomes over both near- and medium-term timelines.

Harris County, Texas

The Harris County Coalition on Early Childhood Education and Care coordinates public, private, academic and nonprofit sectors to address both affordability and availability of childcare in the Greater Houston area. Working together, county leaders and partners identified major supply gaps, including chronic childcare deserts and long waitlists for scholarships, then responded with a set of targeted initiatives such as community-based advisory committees, childcare quality action plans and a provider business accelerator to help centers strengthen operations, access capital and navigate regulation. The county is also building a broader early childhood ecosystem through its Early Childhood Initiatives Portfolio, which pairs childcare access work with quality improvement, family supports and provider capacity-building. The combination of data, planning and implementation is moving the county from assessment to concrete, place-based action.

Building Cross-Sector and Employer Partnerships

Counties can expand childcare supply through diverse, formal partnerships that unite county agencies, early childhood organizations, childcare resource and referral organizations, employers, economic development corporations, CDFIs, philanthropy and school districts. Establishing memoranda of understanding or shared governance agreements clarifies roles, decision-making authority, resource commitments and data-sharing processes. Employers, for example, can play a dual role: supporting their workforce and championing policy change. Counties can engage employers and business associations to assess needs, pilot employer-supported childcare models and secure financial contributions tied to recruitment and retention. These partnerships also elevate childcare as an economic competitiveness issue.

Marshall County, Ind.

The Marshall County TriShare Pilot Program is a pilot that uses a regional hub and cost-sharing among the employee, employer and a public funding source to reduce childcare costs for working families. The program began in 2024 with a $750,000 grant from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.

Financing, Capital Development and Facility Expansion

Financing childcare supply often requires counties to think like infrastructure investors: layering grants, loans, tax incentives and private contributions into capital stacks that can survive any single funding source drying up. The key operational insight from Network counties is that this work demands dedicated staff — someone whose job it is to track funding opportunities, coordinate across county departments and manage relationships with CDFIs and philanthropic partners.

Funding Mechanisms for Childcare Supply Building

Learn how counties are blending and braiding sources like CDFI lending, public capital programs and philanthropic grants to create sustainable funding strategies for childcare infrastructure.

View the brief

Montgomery County, Md.

Montgomery County committed $10 million to expand early childhood programs and support providers through both grants and loan tools. A large share of the funding is going toward Head Start expansion, while another portion supports a loan program for existing childcare facilities to add seats or improve quality. The county also expanded property-tax relief for childcare businesses, showing how local tax policy can be used to stabilize supply.

Policy, Regulation and Provider Supports

Local governments can strengthen childcare infrastructure by removing regulatory barriers. Streamlining permitting, modernizing zoning and offering one-stop or navigator-style services for providers helps accelerate facility development. Some counties have piloted flexible regulatory models — such as shared-site or employer-based childcare programs — while maintaining quality and safety standards. Dedicated technical assistance, including business planning and compliance support, further empowers providers to expand and sustain operations.

Broome County, N.Y.

Broome County is part of New York’s new county-state pilot to expand childcare access, with a proposed $20 million investment and a target of 1,000 new slots. The county is pursuing a major childcare center at Oakdale Commons, a mixed-use redevelopment site near the county workforce development office and has partnered with a national childcare operator to run the center.

Workforce Development and Quality Improvement

A stable and well-supported workforce underpins all supply-building efforts. Counties are building partnerships with workforce boards, community colleges and training providers to establish career pathways, apprenticeships and compensation initiatives for early childhood educators. Local wage supplements, benefit programs and career ladder efforts can pair with state and philanthropic initiatives to reduce turnover and increase quality. In addition, counties can invest in supporting provider participation in professional development, coaching and participation in state quality recognition systems to ensure expanded access is matched with improved learning environments.

It is important to note that home-based and family childcare providers face distinct regulatory and financing challenges. Visit NACo’s Home-Based Child Care resource page for opportunities to support these providers.

Stanislaus County, Calif.

Stanislaus County’s In-Home Child Care Expansion Project created hundreds of licensed childcare spots and is helping launch many more home-based providers across the county. Its low-cost, geographically dispersed model is especially relevant for counties that cannot rely only on large center-based construction projects.

Accountability, Measurement and Sustainability

Counties can sustain political and financial commitment to childcare through transparent reporting and data-driven accountability. Counties can track progress on key metrics such as affordability, access and workforce stability and report results publicly to reinforce return-on-investment arguments tied to economic participation.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio

For nearly two decades, Cuyahoga County has funded preschool quality and affordability through a dedicated county health and human services levy while also sustaining one of the country's longest-running Special Needs Child Care programs.

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Multnomah County, Ore.

Multnomah County built recurring, locally controlled funding for universal preschool through a progressive income tax on its highest earners and pairing tuition-free classrooms with dedicated facilities financing to add new capacity across the county.

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Pima County, Ariz.

Pima County expanded preschool access by layering scholarships across school districts, childcare centers and Head Start classrooms, then shifting to a stable, voter-supported library district levy.

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Wayne County, Mich.

Wayne County convened a broad regional coalition to tackle childcare supply as shared infrastructure, from facility financing to compensation stipends for educators.

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Columbus-Muscogee City-County, Ga.

Columbus-Muscogee is treating childcare as a workforce retention tool for its target industries, pairing Georgia's tuition-free Pre-K program with employer-supported strategies.

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