(gentle music) - [Lauren] Parents across the nation are devoting huge chunks of their paychecks to childcare.

- Childcare is a crisis.

Families suffer.

- [Lauren] Families in Utah are doing what they can to survive.

- I was just trying to figure out like getting loans or how we would make it to the next paycheck.

- [Lauren] And they're struggling.

- Families are searching for a solution and don't have anywhere else to turn.

- What can parents do to find relief?

Two groundbreaking programs in Utah aim to help.

Could they become models for other communities around the nation?

I'm Lauren Steinbrecher and this is "Utah Insight."

We start our journey in Park City, a community known for its high cost of living that also relies on working class families to thrive.

- [Evelyn] Come on, let's brush our teeth.

- [Lauren] And we start.

- [Evelyn] Do you want a Elsa braid again?

- [Lauren] With these no adorable girls, Harlow and Victoria.

- You wanna do that?

- [Lauren] Mom, Evelyn Herrera wakes up early every day to get her daughters ready.

- [Evelyn] 1, 2, 3.

Alright, let's go.

- [Lauren] She keeps the morning schedule moving.

- We gotta hurry.

All right, sit down so that we can eat.

Harlow, you wanna help her?

Here you go.

Harlow, where's your backpack?

- [Lauren] Even with distractions.

(toys thudding) like a camera crew to show toys off to.

- [Evelyn] Uhoh.

Harlow, come on, finish your food.

- [Lauren] Everyone makes it out the door for the daily car ride.

- So you're gonna be a good girl today?

- [Lauren] First, Evelyn drives Harlow to daycare in Park City.

- Hi, sweet girl.

You wanna say goodbye to mommy?

- [Lauren] Then runs Victoria over to Mc Poland Elementary.

Victoria attends school and after school daycare there.

- Love you.

Have a good day.

So now it's off to work.

- [Lauren] Not only does Evelyn do it all alone, but the single mom also makes it work on just her income.

- [Evelyn] It becomes a lot, sometimes.

- [Lauren] Just barely.

Obviously the cost of two girls and daycare.

- It's giving me anxiety just thinking about it.

It was difficult figuring out like, where am I going to get the money to pay for, for food or to make a car payment or to make sure I have enough for rent.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that is going through the same thing.

- [Lauren] Certainly not.

Take Park City dad, Matt Lee.

- We were kind of struggling with how we were gonna take care of the kids.

- [Lauren] He's made entire career choices to make things work, like leaving a demanding job.

- I was working a seasonal job where I only worked in the summer and I was off all winter so I could help more with the kids.

- [Lauren] And when recently on the job hunt again, childcare was top of mind.

- Yeah, I was looking for a job, mainly just for benefits.

(children chattering and laughing) - [Lauren] About an hour away on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.

- [Thunder] I was very nervous having my kids go to daycare.

- [Lauren] Mom, Thunder Alexander.

- [Thunder] Childcare is ridiculous.

- [Lauren] She found an affordable daycare program at Neighborhood House in Salt Lake.

- [Thunder] They love it here.

- [Lauren] Now her family is considering moving just to live nearby.

- Like we've been looking for places closer to the daycare so that we don't have to make that drive because we have to get up super early.

- [Lauren] These three parents are textbook examples of statistics laid out in a recent 84 page childcare report funded by the Utah State Legislature.

This report lays out several challenges like cost and access to care.

The federal government considers childcare to be affordable if it costs 7% or less of a parent's income.

Breaking down the numbers in this report, in Utah, it often costs more than that, in many cases by double or triple that amount.

The report also found a shortage of available care, only meeting about a third of the state's need.

- Now how many do you have?

- [Lauren] Things are also tough for childcare centers.

The report states they're barely scraping by on razor thin margins while at the same time experiencing high employee turnover.

- Look, three little bears, one with a?

- [Kids] Light.

- Light.

- [Lauren] Childcare centers like PC Tots in Park City don't need a study to understand the catch-22.

- And one with the?

- [Kids] Rope.

- Rope.

- We see a lot of teachers leave the profession because they can make more money somewhere else.

- [Lauren] As Executive Director Sue Banerjee explains, the nonprofit focuses on quality early education.

- Oh, let me see.

- [Lauren] They wanna keep tuition affordable by offering an income-based sliding pay scale.

- Can I help you?

- [Lauren] But they also wanna keep great teachers.

- You wanna try?

- [Lauren] By offering competitive salaries and benefits.

- Good job.

- And so it's this unfortunate cycle that we're in where if you want to have high quality care, it comes with this associated cost.

- [Lauren] None of this surprises Anna Thomas.

- It's a community issue.

- [Lauren] As Policy Director for the nonprofit, Voices for Utah Children, Anna advocates for state legislation and funding.

- It's too expensive to provide and it's too expensive to afford and something has to bridge the gap.

- [Lauren] She's starting to see a new approach take shape.

- [Anna] Cities can't wait.

They need a workforce and their workforce needs childcare.

- [Lauren] Starting with Park City.

- But we kept hearing over meeting after meeting from our public saying, "Help!"

- [Lauren] Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council armed with troubling data from a community specific childcare needs study, set aside a million dollars last year to create a subsidy scholarship program and began offering a monthly childcare stipend to city employees as a benefit.

- There is no better issue where Park City could step out and lead.

- [Lauren] Which was daunting at first.

- For us to venture over into the childcare realm that literally none of us were experts in, was a stretch for us.

- Not to mention they couldn't find any other city in the nation modeling this kind of program.

- But at the end of the day, you just gotta go for it.

You just got to say, "We're gonna give this a try.

We're piloting this and let's step out there and do it."

- [Lauren] Summit County joined them with additional funds and the two entities partnered with Childcare Network company, Upwards to process applications and award funds.

- Scholarships are provided based off of household income.

- [Lauren] Says Michelle Downward, Park City resident advocate.

She's been keeping track of the scholarships and stipends, seeing the numbers rise.

- We have over a hundred families participating in the program right now and so we're excited about that response.

- [Lauren] Evelyn is one of those parents.

- You guys have a good day at school?

- Yeah.

- [Lauren] Now able to afford basic necessities to take care of her girls.

- What letter are you working on at school?

- Y.

- It relieved a lot of stress because I knew that okay, with this help, I'll be able to make it.

Me and my kids will be okay.

- This is kind of re-imagining a main street.

- [Lauren] While Matt is another.

- [Matt] This is where we are right here, City Hall.

- [Lauren] He took a job with Park City last Fall.

The childcare stipend being a huge reason why.

- It's really refreshing to have an employer that wants to take on some of that responsibility.

- You have a good day at school?

- [Lauren] But what about Thunder who wants to live closer to childcare?

- Okay, go play.

- [Lauren] Neighborhood House where her kids attend has affordability covered with a sliding pay scale.

- Yeah, good job.

(bright music) - [Lauren] What they've been working on lately, building a satellite facility in a totally new kind of location.

- Yeah, it's so exciting to see.

- [Lauren] Executive Director Jennifer Nuttall took me on a tour.

- [Jennifer] So this is a preschool classroom.

- [Lauren] It's housed on the first floor of the affordable housing complex called Spark on North Temple in Salt Lake City.

- This is gonna be filled with all kinds of toys and different curriculum items.

- [Lauren] In a partnership with developer Brinshore.

- And with Brinshore, they were able to get their own funding.

- [Lauren] Neighborhood House will serve as an apartment amenity, offering affordable care without having to build a whole new facility themselves.

Making sure that childcare not only is accessible financially, but accessible like physically to where they're living.

- Physically, right?

I mean, I think about somebody who's possibly a single mom who's that's very much our demographic with three kids trying to work, they can drop their kids off here first, get where they need to go for the workday and come on back.

- [Lauren] Jennifer hopes they can eventually expand to other locations around the valley.

- For a long time, I've known and felt very strongly that this is the model that would really work well for providing hardworking families with daycare and preschool for their kids that brings a big relief.

- [Lauren] Thunder wouldn't have to worry as much about juggling schedules for drop off and pick up.

- I missed you.

- [Lauren] While these two programs won't completely solve the childcare crisis, they are making a difference.

- [Michelle] We could not live here without it.

- [Lauren] Parents have been reaching out to Michelle.

- And without this subsidy, we would be paying 15 to 25%.

- [Lauren] Some sending thank you cards.

- You know, it's really impactful to know that what we've done and the support that we've been providing has impacted these families so tremendously.

- And a one year analysis report found the program has been a complete success.

Numbers show a more than four and a half million dollar impact on the local economy.

- We've had several other cities within the state reach out to us and say, "How are you doing this?

How is it working?"

- [Lauren] Plus the city has received national recognition with interest coming from across the country.

- I think it's gonna continue to evolve.

I'm thrilled that we've had the response that we have.

- [Evelyn] Victoria, are you working on your homework?

- [Lauren] Evelyn is glad she found out.

(indistinct) - [Lauren] Now grateful for the scholarship.

- Just because them being able to get the schooling that I never got so that they can have a better future and not have to go through the things that I'm going through right now.

I mean, what else can I ask for?

- [Lauren] As the mom goes through the daily dinner routine with her daughters.

- [Evelyn] You're gonna put these in here.

Are you finished writing your sentence?

You gonna grab a little bit of salt?

Okay, start putting your stuff away.

Everybody go wash your hands.

- [Lauren] She may be doing it all.

- [Evelyn] You like it?

- [Lauren] But she's not feeling alone.

- [Evelyn] It's helped out a lot.

A whole lot.

Alright, so you're gonna have a dance at school?

Yeah?

(gentle music)