Program Purpose Statement

In 2020 the King County Children and Families Strategy Task Force recommended that King County “reinstate a regional [child care subsidy] program to address unmet need, re-envisioning equitable access by focusing supports on lower-income families in King County who are not eligible for or adequately served by other subsidy programs.” In that same year, through Help Me Grow (HMG) Community Cafés, parents and caregivers with young children expressed their need for affordable childcare.

In response, King County proposed a new child care subsidy program in the Best Starts levy renewal for families struggling to access affordable child care. King County voters approved the levy renewal in 2021. The subsidy program intends to expand equitable access to affordable and high quality child care for King County families ineligible for, or not well served by, existing public subsidy programs. Affordable, accessible child care, often made possible through targeted subsidies, is necessary to improve racial and gender Equity in King County and will be critical in the region’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Best Starts will contract with one or more organizations to administer the subsidy program and ensure effective outreach and support for families in equitably accessing the subsidy program.

Scopes of Work

This RFP will identify and fund applicants to fill three (3) distinct roles that will implement the Best Starts Child Care Subsidy program in King County. For proposal materials broken out by role, please see Attachments A, B, and C.

Family Access and Support (FAS) Team (Attachment A) - provides outreach, application assistance and tailored child care access and support for families, aligned with Help Me Grow King County

Family Access and Support (FAS) Team Coordinator (Attachment B) - develops outreach materials, convenes the FAS Team for training and practice alignment, and balances team case loads

Subsidy Administrator (Attachment C) - hosts subsidy application and data management system, verifies eligibility and provides subsidies to child care providers on behalf of families

Background

Insufficient access to high-quality, affordable child care was a crisis in the region well before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Best Starts survey, in 2019, 34% of children in King County lived in families that found it difficult to afford child care. The challenge is multifaceted. Families struggle to afford the cost of care for children and youth, and the number of available slots for child care does not meet demand, while the care provider workforce, disproportionately made up of women of color, is underpaid. Children of color, children from low-income families, and children who have developmental delays or disabilities face additional barriers. They are often excluded from the child care system or have little access to care during the critical early childhood years through age 12.

The unsubsidized cost of child care in King County is prohibitive to many families. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers 7% of family income the threshold for affordable child care. Child Care Aware of America’s 2019 report, The US and the High Price of Child Care, examines child care costs and supports in the Seattle metropolitan area, including King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties, where residents are paying a significant amount of their income on child care. The average annual cost of center-based tuition for an infant was $23,013 in Seattle and $16,604 elsewhere in the tri-County region. These numbers translate to 19% and 16%, respectively, of median household income for married parents with children. For single parents with children, this care costs 62% and 45%, respectively, of median household income.^[2]

There are several existing subsidies to support King County families with the cost of their child care, including Working Connections Child Care (WCCC), Head Start, and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP). The City of Seattle also has significant investments in child care programming, including the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP). Many individual child care providers and several nonprofits also provide child care financial assistance for families that meet certain eligibility requirements. The intent of Best Starts’ child care subsidy programming is to build on and supplement rather than duplicate or replace other existing subsidy programs.

Recent increased concern about needs and gaps in the child care sector has resulted in a dynamic and quickly shifting landscape. In 2021, the Washington State Legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5237, the Fair Start for Kids Act, which significantly expanded income eligibility for WCCC and ECEAP. Increased Fair Start Act investments expanded WCCC eligibility to families making up to 60% of the State Median Income (SMI) on October 1, 2021, which is approximately $52,000 for a family of three, and to 75% of SMI beginning July 1, 2025.[2] While these investments will greatly increase the number of families eligible for child care supports statewide, King County’s high cost of living means that many families whose incomes are slightly too high for WCCC will still struggle to afford child care.

King County residents experience a steep “benefits cliff” when they become ineligible for existing child care subsidies such as WCCC.[1] Without additional subsidies like the one Best Starts will provide, families who receive even a modest increase in pay that causes their income to exceed the eligibility cap for WCCC over the longer term can become responsible for a prohibitively high full cost of care. As a result, many families in King County are unable to advance professionally or financially because the full cost of child care is prohibitive once they become ineligible for the State’s subsidy.

The child care access challenges outlined above do not impact all King County families equally. BIPOC families, families whose children have developmental delays, disabilities, or are impacted by trauma, and families who are undocumented, or live in areas without sufficient child care slots are disproportionately harmed by inadequate access to care. Best Starts’ child care subsidy program will work toward advancing Equity and eliminating disparities by prioritizing families like these who experience additional challenges to accessing care and those who are ineligible for or not well served by existing subsidy programs. This includes parents who are unemployed, students, or living with a disability; parents who live in unincorporated areas; or children and families who are undocumented.  

A lack of access to stable child care can keep families in poverty or place them at risk of homelessness. Best Starts funding through this child care subsidy will support these families in accessing care so they can attain stability and thrive.

Who is Eligible to Apply?

This request is open to for-profit and nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, tribes and tribal organizations and public or governmental agencies serving communities in King County, unless otherwise specified in the minimum qualifications of each role. Small nonprofits and community-based organizations are encouraged to submit proposals.

Free proposal assistance (also known as technical assistance) is available to support organizations applying to this RFP (See Section 2E and Attachment F: Technical Assistance for Applicants for more information).

Language Accessibility

Upon request to the RFP Lead, this RFP can be made available in other languages, however proposals must be submitted in English.