What Cities Should Know About Expanding Early Childhood Access: Evidence from the Denver Preschool Program

In the past few decades, several major U.S. cities have expanded access to affordable early childhood education (ECE) seats for three- and four-year-olds through publicly funded universal pre-K initiatives. Some cities have recently begun exploring ways to extend these investments to meet ongoing demand for infant and toddler care for children ages 0–3.

As it celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding, the Denver Preschool Program (DPP) in Colorado offers the national education policy audience a unique set of insights into supporting preschool access at the local level. Key lessons have emerged from the organization’s efforts over the past five years to expand support beyond four-year-olds to include children aged 0-3.

History of DPP

Denver residents voted in 2006 to create a new tax designed specifically to make preschool for four-year-olds more affordable and to improve access to training and materials for ECE providers. All families with four-year-old children – regardless of their income levels – are eligible to receive a preschool subsidy, with larger subsidies available for lower income families.

At its inception, DPP was the first program of its kind in the country. Every five years, voters were asked to reaffirm their support for the tax, which they did repeatedly. In late 2024, Denver voters made the tax permanent. This vote of support was successful in part due to consistent findings of positive program impacts on families, children, and providers demonstrated through independent, external program evaluations. APA Consulting was selected as the program’s first lead evaluator and later resumed that role. APA’s work informs DPP operations and strategic planning as the organization considered its priorities for the next decade.

Barriers Faced in Expanding Access to Children Ages 0-3

Findings from APA’s recent evaluation and stakeholder engagement work conducted to inform DPP’s strategic planning provide insight into both the opportunities and challenges of expanding access to children ages 0–3. Stakeholders in Denver expressed strong support for expanding DPP’s reach from serving only four-year-olds to include children ages 0-3, while acknowledging that finite financial resources would require tradeoffs. Providers consistently observed that children who start in quality care earlier show stronger language skills, fewer behavioral challenges, and smoother kindergarten transitions. Community, policy, and philanthropic leaders framed the birth-to-five continuum as a moral and economic imperative, arguing that returns on investment are highest when ECE supports begin at birth.

However, while enthusiasm for expanding to ages 0-3 was high, many DPP providers expressed hesitation about taking on younger age groups due to significant operational and financial costs. While 78% of providers showed support for DPP expanding to ages 0-3, interest in actually serving this group was far more limited. Around two thirds (65%) reported low or no interest in serving infants.​

Key barriers included:

1. Low provider interest in serving mixed age groups, which can place added strains on teachers and center directors;

2. A preference for serving four-year-olds and a reluctance to serve infants and toddlers;

3. Increased costs due to required low staffing ratios for younger children, meaning more teachers must be hired to serve fewer children;

4. Lack of space in existing facilities to accommodate cribs and other age-specific requirements to serve infants; and

5. High facility and equipment costs, including the need for specific equipment designed for infants and toddlers and perceived increased licensing costs.

Importantly, this hesitation extended to both center-based and home-based Friend, Family and Neighbor (FFN) providers. This was a critical finding because stakeholders uniformly agreed that while FFNs currently fill much of the existing 0-3 service gap, there is significant untapped potential for providers to expand service for younger children. 

Not only was there a critical gap in FFN provider interest to expand service for younger children, but stakeholders also agreed that these providers need significantly more support to remain financially viable, meet the cost of providing care, and address staff training, materials, and facility needs. In fact, many FFN providers lack the resources, recognition, and training needed to ensure children are preschool or kindergarten ready, let alone to absorb the higher costs associated with serving children ages 0-3.

Lessons Learned

These findings offer several insights for policymakers and ECE advocates. First, city and state leaders can and should consider strengthening local support for ECE. Current uncertainties around continued federal government funding and support for ECE programming make it important for programs to have reliable and stable local sources to rely on. Taxpayer-funded initiatives such as DPP provide stability to parents and providers and can be structured so voters periodically reaffirm their support every 4-5 years – guided by ongoing, independent program evaluation.

Second, local leaders should take deliberate steps to design systems capable of serving all children across the birth-to-five-continuum, including:

1. Identify a trusted convener to bring stakeholders together to identify and implement solutions – including increasing engagement of the business community;

2. Collect data about ECE provider needs and family access challenges by child age group;

3. Identify, discuss, and implement best practices and policies from other city programs such as Denver’s DPP;

4. Improve blending of existing funding sources including provision of potential funds to support provider facility modifications needed to serve children ages 0-3 and ensure FFN providers are informed of these funding streams and can access them reliably;

5. Streamline existing licensing requirements, including specifically reviewing requirements for serving children ages 0-3 and how these requirements impact provider cost and business viability;

6. Enhance FFN licensing training including specific training and support for serving infants and toddlers; and

7. Enhance overall provider financial viability, including FFNs.

Taken together, these strategies can broaden and strengthen the provider base available to serve families and help local governments maximize the return on taxpayer investment.

Moving Forward

Several cities, like New York and San Antonio, are currently exploring expanding access to ECE for children ages 0-3. While New York City already offers free preschool for four-year-olds, it is now looking to secure funding to expand to three-year-olds and create a new initiative to support programs for two-year-olds. San Antonio is enrolling its inaugural class of infants and toddlers in a citywide program and navigating the challenges associated with meeting demand.

As ECE leaders like these continue to navigate an ever-changing federal funding and policy landscape, lessons from cities like Denver can help them anticipate and avoid common challenges. Expanding access to children ages 0-3 is a compelling goal, but doing so successfully requires confronting the operational realities faced by providers and designing systems that support them.

APA is available to support state and local leaders in strengthening early childcare education systems through independent evaluation, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable funding design. Get in touch here - and in the meantime, follow us on LinkedIn for more.