Summit First Steps offers financial assistance to families living, working and utilizing childcare in Summit County. The purpose of First Steps is to assist families with the cost of childcare so that parents can remain in the local workforce while their children attend childcare. First Steps is governed by a Child Care Tuition Assistance Board and administered by a local non-profit, Early Childhood Options (ECO).

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR FIRST STEPS TUITION ASSISTANCE

• Age Eligibility: Participating child’s birthday must be on or after October 1, 2021

• Child must be enrolled in a qualified childcare program. A qualified childcare program can be a childcare center or family childcare home. Program qualifications are:

  • Childcare program must have a childcare license in good standing from the Colorado Department of Human Services, and

  • Childcare program must have a Colorado Shines Quality rating of 2 or above (Current SCTA Provider List)

• Annual household income must be at or below $210,000.

• Household assets do not exceed $225k (excludes primary residents, college funds and retirement funds).

• At least one member of the household is required to work 30+ hours per week, for a business located in and serving Summit County.

• To access assistance for a full time childcare schedule (4 or 5 days/ week), both parents must work 30 + hours / week and have a combined annual household income capped at $210,000.

• Self-employed applicants must maintain an average income that exceeds their business expenses and must show that his/her taxable gross income divided by the number of hours of care used for the employment activity equals at least the current Federal Minimum Wage.

https://www.earlychildhoodoptions.org/

Summit Pre-K Program Ages 3-4

The Summit Pre-K Program (SPK) helps to make high quality preschool possible for all Summit County 3 and 4 -year olds. SPK is a Summit County taxpayer funded initiative. Early Childhood Options serves as the managing agency.

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To offset the high cost of quality preschool, SPK provides monthly tuition credits to families who meet the required criteria. All families are required to apply during the annual enrollment period. Applications will not be accepted after the deadline. (The only exception to this rule is if your child becomes newly enrolled in a participating Child Care or Preschool Program.)

https://upk.colorado.gov/

Who is eligible?

1. Qualifying 4-year-olds - Families who are low income AND have one other qualifying factor are eligible for additional hours stacked on top of the up to 15 hours available to every 4-year-old, pending eligibility confirmation and available funding. 

2. Qualifying 3-year-olds - Families of 3-year-old students who are low income or who have a one qualifying factor, wishing to send their child to a program run by a school district, will not be able to select a specific school location and should select the school district where they reside. School districts will match 3-year-olds in a separate process.