A project vital to parents in southern Teller County, the Community of Caring Foundation recently won a $1.015 million grant for the childcare facility in Cripple Creek.

The grant request, sponsored by Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-CO, is part of the One Big Beautiful Bill and the congressionally directed funding allocation.

“Childcare is so important to her because she knows the needs of her constituents,” said Lisa Noble, fundraiser and development director for the Aspen Mine Center/Community of Caring. “Rep. Pettersen fought so hard for it to make it into that bill.”

Pettersen has two young children of her own and has been outspoken about the need for childcare in Colorado. Scheduled to open late next year, the facility will offer childcare for 60 children and infants.

The grant, titled Community Project Fund, is one of several awarded to “It’s a Place for Kids” childcare facility.   

A $3.4 million project which took off with a groundbreaking ceremony in September, the facility has attracted several grants in the past several years.

Citing the lack of professional childcare in southern Teller County, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs/Energy and Mineral Assistance Fund provided a $1 million grant for the project. 

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood added a grant for $800,000, for which the foundation provided a $266,000 match.

In addition to the state and private donors, others include Teller County, cities of Cripple Creek and Victor; Myron Stratton, El Pomar and Boettcher foundations; SSR Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company; CHFA (Colorado Housing and Finance Authority); and HtN- Hope Lives Here.

Donors to the project qualify for a 50% state tax credit per year through the Childcare Contribution Tax Credit.

Due to the sponsorship of the grant by the city of Cripple Creek, the facility will be a publicprivate partnership.