Groceries, check. Mortgage, check. Childcare—sigh, check. It’s literally likely among the biggest checks you write if you live in Colorado, and it is one of the most important line items on your family’s budget. And if you’re prioritizing quality care (which we know you are, mama!) it can be even more costly and hard to find. A majority of Colorado families struggle to find quality, affordable early education for children ages 0-5.
Free childcare for a year? Thank you, yes.
Luckily, moms are clever, fierce, and determined to find a better way, which is how Colorado-based MyVillage came into our world! MyVillage is a mom-founded homegrown company that focuses on supporting families by providing high quality in-home childcare for the under 5 set. Just in time for back-to-school, MyVillage is offering Colorado families the chance to win a year of free childcare in any one of their programs, valued at more than $13,000. Not in Colorado but have a friend or relative who is? Nominate them by submitting a one-minute video on their behalf here.
Childcare costs more than college tuition in a majority of states, including Colorado, where infant care costs (seriously) 60% more than public university tuition. It’s frightening that less than 10% of placements are considered high quality and fail to meet basic licensing standards. This forces many workers, most often moms, to choose between returning to their job or staying home to provide care.
Meet MyVillage
MyVillage co-founder Beth Szymanski remembers the gut punch she felt when she moved to the Front Range with her infant, Evie five years ago. She needed to go back to work, but the only quality childcare options had waitlists of one to two years, meaning she would have needed to get on before she’d moved to Boulder—or even conceived Evie.
Fed up with the reality of finding quality childcare in her city, Beth teamed up with her friend and fellow entrepreneur Erica Mackey, who was going through the same struggle in Bozeman, Montana. Together they launched MyVillage to give families better options in the form of high quality accessible, affordable in-home infant and toddler care.
Create Your Video Today!
MyVillage’s video contest kicks off August 12 and encourages parents struggling to find affordable, quality childcare to share their stories by recording a one-minute video highlighting the challenges they’ve faced. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 26, and the winning family will be announced on Thursday, Sept. 5. The only requirement is that families live in Colorado and have at least one child in the home by Sept. 1, 2019.
“At MyVillage, we have your back, whether you are a hard-working parent struggling to find care, or an early childhood educator in our community,” says Beth. “During this stressful back-to-school season, gifting a year of high-quality early childhood education to one Colorado family was a great way to spotlight the need to increase the number of quality providers in our state.”
So grab your phones, tell your story—we want to hear from you, and we want to help MyVillage find the most deserving family to win a year of free childcare at any MyVillage location (there are about 40 open or about to open soon).
Even if you don’t win the contest, all Colorado parents when they send their children to a MyVillage program near them. With exceptional home-based programs for young children in Aurora, Brighton, Colorado Springs, Denver Metro, Eagle County, and Glenwood Springs, MyVillage is committed to helping reduce the back-to-school stress level of Colorado’s hard-working families by taking good care of the under 5 set.
What would ONE Year of FREE childcare mean for your family?
