Home

Steamboat Springs — Child care providers and experts in Routt County agree that demand for early childhood education far exceeds supply, and First Impressions of Routt County hopes a needs assessment will define the scope of the problem.

The Routt County Board of Commissioners will decide today on a request from Stephanie Howle, early childhood manager of First Impressions, for about $11,000 for a countywide online survey and focus groups.

Information gathered from the survey and focus groups would be used by First Impressions to drive and shape the agency's focus in the coming year. Howle said this is the first time she has led a survey as director of the group. The most recent survey was conducted before a ballot initiative in 2001.

"It will drive our strategic plan and where First Impressions will go from here and how we can respond to the needs of the communities," she said. "Being a nonprofit branch : of Routt County, we are trying to figure out the needs of our communities so they can stay here to raise their kids."

The survey also is in response to questions posed in April by Leadership Steamboat, a community group that requested numbers regarding child care demand.

"We're going to be bringing that group together and inform them of who we're going with and what we're doing and getting their guidance on putting together the focus groups and the survey," Howle said.

Other bids for the project were nearly four times as expensive - one group quoted about $41,000, another was more than $44,500 - but Commissioner Diane Mitsch Bush said she was impressed by the quality of the assessment offered by Denver-based The Franko Group and its founder, Meg Franko.

"I was impressed by her credentials, and much of her firm's research has focused around early childhood research, and it appears she has done an awful lot of this kind of research," Mitsch Bush said.

First Impressions initially requested that surveys stay within a $7,000 budget, and The Franko Group was the closest, with a bid of less than $8,000 for the basic project. An additional $2,100 was needed for the focus groups, which Howle said would form the basis for the rest of the assessment.

If approved, the online survey and focus groups will be conducted across Routt County during October.

The project also coordinates with a family child care push organized by First Impressions this month, aimed at recruiting more parents to become home child care providers. To encourage new child care providers, First Impressions is offering mentoring and up to $700 to reimburse start-up costs.

Howle said the county needs space for about 150 more infants, or about 75 family providers who can take two infants each according to licensing laws.

- To reach Zach Fridell, call 871-4208 or e-mail zfridell@steamboatpilot.com