What’s Working: Ballot measures in three locations could help rural women bring home the bacon
All three — in Grand and La Plata counties and the city of Montrose — would increase funding for child care through taxes paid by out-of-town visitors who stay in hotels or short-term rentals.
The measures are based on the premise that local workers power the tourism industry, so visitors should contribute to things like child care and housing, because meeting those basic human needs stabilizes a workforce.
That workforce includes families in rural counties with children under the age of 5 who are facing a lingering shortage of licensed child care options following the COVID pandemic, said Heather Hawk, executive director of the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County.
But crediting "families" with taking care of children is a bit tricky because " culturally, we are still there ," Hawk said, meaning the bulk of child care still falls to women and other female family members. "Statewide the participation in the workforce of women in Colorado is not equal to men," she added, "and women with children under 5 have an even lower participation rate in our workforce."
Impact of child care availability on rural mothersBy the end of August 2023, the national labor force participation rate for women ages 24-54 had hit 77.8% — the highest ever recorded. But that June in Colorado, labor force participation of mothers with children age 14 and younger was 72.5% compared with the labor force participation of men with children, which was 92.5% , in part because of forces Hawk mentioned.
Hawk's county is struggling. There are eight licensed family homes and 24 licensed child care centers within its 1,690-square-miles, which hold Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio along with unincorporated Hermosa and Hesperus.
That's down from 16 licensed family homes and 32 licensed child care centers for a population of almost 60,000, she said, not counting the Southern Ute Tribe's Montessori Academy, which is only available to Tribal members.
"So the primary situation in La Plata County with regard to child care is we have, like most communities, 60% to 64% of households where both parents are working, but capacity for licensed child care for birth to 5 years of age covers 55% of that need," she said. "And most of the care is for preschool-aged children, with only 80 licensed child care slots for infants."
That leads to mothers who might have worked before they had children no longer working and families losing a significant portion of their income, or, if mothers find remote work, doing it at home while also juggling children.
So the funding that would be reallocated from the passage of ballot measure 1A in La Plata County , or generated by 1A in Grand County and 2A in Montrose , is crucial to the areas that have been designated child care deserts because they have three or more children newborn to age 2 for every licensed slot, according to the Bell Policy Center.
Passage of 1A in La Plata County would reallocate 70% of taxes generated by lodging to workforce housing and child care. That would help alleviate the incredible amount of stress mothers like Heather Haaland, a marketing professional and mom of an infant and a toddler, feels working full-time from home to keep her family afloat in Durango, she said.
After her husband was laid off in May, she became the family's sole breadwinner. She's fully remote, working for a company in Denver, she said, "because, essentially, there's not really any opportunity in my field in rural Colorado." She is lucky enough to have found licensed child care for her two children, but in 2025, it will consume 37% of her annual income. And although there are opportunities for her to progress in her field while working remotely in Durango, "if I were moving on to an executive level it would be very difficult."
So she carries on, trying to cram it all in while her kids are in day care, but often she heads back to her desk after they're in bed.
Some of those nights, however, she's working to change the system, with a national movement of like-minded moms working on federal, state and local levels on things like child care and paid leave for mothers, called Mother Forward "I found out about them when I was struggling to find day care for my infant last winter and they aligned with what I was going through. I struggle with how much as parents we're paying. We're paying more for two children to go to child care than what it would cost us to have two kids go to an in-state college institution."
Haaland is just one of the women The Sun's rural economic development reporter Tracy Ross talked to for a story focused on women's issues this voting season that will run over at The Colorado Sun. If you have other leads, story ideas or questions for Ross, reach her at
Take the poll: Urban to rural?Help Tracy cover rural Colorado and take her poll at cosun.co/WWrural-urban
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Other working bitsCasa Bonita entertainers file to unionize. Approximately 78 cliff divers, actors, puppeteers, magicians and other entertainers at revitalized Casa Bonita restaurant in Lakewood are seeking to unionize (h/t City Cast Denver ), according to two Oct. 16 filings ( here and here ) with the National Labor Relations Board. A joint announcement from International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Actors' Equity Association said Casa Bonita's entertainers are looking for fair pay, better scheduling, clear communication between workers and management and improved worker safety due to issues "that range from insufficient training to abusive patrons emboldened by alcohol," according to the unions.
Restaurant servers and kitchen crew and supervisors and guards aren't included in the union effort. Last year, 50 traditional employees petitioned management opposing the restaurant's no-tip policy that paid servers and bartenders $28 to $30 an hour, Westword reported .
Know what the coolest thing made in Colorado is? That would be the Freedom Trax , a motorized attachment that turns wheelchairs into off-road transporters. It won this year's Coolest Thing Made in Colorado award from the Colorado Chamber on Thursday. The device is designed for manual wheelchairs and comes from Tour Engineering in Golden. Wooden handmade puzzles from Liberty Puzzles in Boulder won the People's Choice award. The 10 finalists were announced in August if you want to check them out. >> Cool Colorado things
Coming soon: FTC's "click to cancel" rule. The Federal Trade Commission has been fielding 70 complaints a day this year (up from 42 in 2021) from consumers about subscriptions that are a challenge to end. They've been working on new rules for a while and announced rules are now final , unveiling updates to its " 1973 Negative Option Rule " to end unwanted subscriptions and recurring payments with one click if you signed up online, or a phone call (or online) if you signed up in person. Rules are now heading to publishing in the Federal Register and go into effect 180 days after that. CoPIRG, the Colorado-based consumer advocacy organization, provided a guide to canceling subscriptions properly. >> Guide to canceling
AI has been arguably the No, 1 tech topic even to those outside the tech industry this year, showing up in the city of Denver, at the state legislature and ... SunFest! If you missed my hourlong SunFest panel, you can watch or listen to it online:
: The new Colorado AI law (Senate Bill 205) is being reworked by a task force of lawmakers, consumer advocates and technologists. They meet again at 9 a.m. Monday at the state Capitol. >> Audio link (should work on Monday)
Got some economic news or business bits Coloradans should know? Tell us: cosun.co/heyww
Thanks for sticking with us for this week's report. We may be taking a break next week as attorneys in the grocery megamerger trial in Colorado close their cases. So, check The Sun's daily coverage online . As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww . ~ tamara & tracy
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