College Park task force urges city-run child-care information hub, grants and incentives to expand capacity

A city-appointed Child Care Task Force told College Park—ity Council on Oct. 7 that rising costs and the loss of smaller home-based providers have left many families scrambling for infant and toddler care and urged immediate local steps to expand both information access and capacity.

The task force summarized state-level research and local interviews, reporting a 15% decline in providers statewide and a 5% drop in overall licensed capacity, trends it said are especially acute in the Washington, D.C., region. The presenters said the Maryland childcare scholarship program has been "frozen to new enrollments since May," leaving some families without expected financial help. The task force also described nonrefundable wait-list fees that parents pay to reserve slots and widespread lack of transparency about openings.

The task force suggested several actions the city could take soon: publish and maintain a College Park childcare provider directory on the city website, standardize wait-list transparency (for example, a single list or service that shows queue position), host an annual provider-family matching event, and create small capital grants (or zero-interest loans) to help home-based providers meet safety and licensing requirements. For larger centers, the report proposed childcare capacity-improvement grants and use of an existing or new property-tax credit to relieve operating costs.

"We are in a particularly difficult market for childcare," the task force said in its presentation. Task force member Christina Martin Kenny, a parent and early-childhood advocate, told council members she and other parents had placed children on wait lists and seen costs equal to hundreds of dollars in nonrefundable fees. "In this particular moment, our community is starved for affordable and accessible childcare," she said.

The task force also recommended that the city consider a short-term, targeted scholarship or stopgap fund to cover families while the state program is frozen and urged the city to explore partnerships with Prince George—s Child Care Resource Center, Prince George—s County, community colleges and local employers. The task force proposed a public meeting to create a centralized clearinghouse with regularly updated availability data and urged the city to explore small grants or loans targeted to convert existing residential space into licensed home-based childcare where feasible.

Councilmembers asked staff to review the task force report, check legal authority for any local regulatory proposals (for example, mandatory wait-list rules for private providers) and return with recommended next steps. Staff said it would evaluate which recommendations fit within city authority, which would require county or state changes, and which could be advanced using city grant or business-attraction programs. Councilmembers suggested bringing the item back for a work session so the council could prioritize which near-term measures to fund or pilot.