Juneau is home to over 1600 children under the age of five. 60% of them need some form of childcare. There is a historic shortage of care available, only enough spots for 1 in 3 children.
Southeast Childhood Collective approached the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly with a solution to stabilize the childcare workforce and capacity. In 2012 the HEARTS program was born.
- 2012: Hiring, Educating, and Retaining Teaching Staff (HEARTS), utilizes CBJ funding to increase childcare worker wages according to education levels.
- 2018: The CBJ Assembly Childcare Committee is created.
- 2020: COVID dollars were the first investment in operating grants for Juneau’s childcare sector. It kept childcare programs open during the pandemic while most communities statewide lost up to 40% of their programs.
- 2023: Sales tax dollars help keep the sector strong. Juneau realized that additional local funding was needed. Sales tax dollars, $500k/yr, were allocated to keep the operating grants going.
- 2023-2025: An Innovation Grant through the State of Alaska funded the first Childcare Apprenticeship Program in the state and provided a match to operation grants. The program’s dual goal is to increase childcare capacity while also increasing the number of qualified workers.
A big thank you to the CBJ Assembly for its continued support for early care and education.