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SEWARD, Alaska 鈥� It was 2018 when Casie Warner first realized there was a major problem in this popular cruise port, nestled on an inlet about a two-hour drive south of Anchorage. At the time, Warner worked as a home visitor, providing advice, support and resources to low-income parents with young children.

Time and time again, Warner would hear the same story from parents: 鈥溾�業 wasn鈥檛 able to make my medical appointments. I didn鈥檛 have child care,鈥欌�� said Warner. 鈥溾�業 couldn鈥檛 pick up an extra shift at work because of child care.鈥欌��

Warner set out to find a solution. But Seward, like many rural communities across the country, is considered a child care desert, where options are scarce and there are no quick fixes.

Then, some unexpected help arrived. In 2021, Norwegian Cruise Lines donated $1 million to Seward to help with post-pandemic economic recovery. The city council voted to spend the money on the two issues deemed to be the most relevant for residents of the town of 2,800: housing and child care.

Five years later, licensed child care slots are up by 150 percent.

In rural communities, the availability of affordable child care is a key component of economic success. At a time when child care shortages are pronounced, especially in rural areas, Seward鈥檚 approach of prioritizing child care and investing in new programs and providers offers a potential road map for other communities looking to strengthen their child care industry, support the local economy and eventually retain or attract new residents.

鈥淭he hope is that if we can address child care, that perhaps it will have a bigger ripple effect,鈥� said Courtney Bringhurst, a Seward city planner. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping that it will help more families be willing to relocate to Seward and stay,鈥� she added. 鈥淚f we can get more families to stay, that will help strengthen our schools, which will give more opportunities and interest for other businesses to come to Seward.鈥�

Although Seward鈥檚 success so far in expanding child care slots shows what鈥檚 possible with more money, experts caution that in most places, public dollars, not private donations alone, will need to fill the gap.

鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible math otherwise for these programs to continue operating, particularly in rural communities,鈥� said Hailey Gibbs, associate director of early childhood policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

About in the U.S. live in a rural community, and though they need and use child care as much as their urban counterparts, they face many more problems getting it. In sparsely populated areas, families are likely to live far from the few providers that exist. The most used child care option for rural families is a provider that operates from their home, but those small businesses are squeezed by low profit margins and high costs.

According to the Center for American Progress, almost all 鈥� 鈥� of Alaska鈥檚 children live in a child care desert, defined by the think tank as an area where there are three or more children for every licensed child care slot. The problem is even more acute in rural areas that are also low income: In those parts of the country, there are nine babies for every one licensed child care slot, CAP says.

Alaska鈥檚 economy pays a penalty for the lack of child care 鈥� according to a from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the state lost $165 million because parents couldn鈥檛 access child care to go to work or school.

But the economic effects are only part of the story. Rural families are more likely to experience food insecurity and to be on public assistance, and rural children under 5 have one of the nation鈥檚 . Poverty and food insecurity are linked to poor school performance, which high quality child care could alleviate 鈥� but that care is not an option for many.

鈥淲e know that fewer than half of children from low-income families are ready for school at age 5, and the gaps are just so much larger in rural communities,鈥� said Karen Harrison, lead adviser for workforce development at the global nonprofit Save the Children, which runs several rural child care initiatives in the United States. 鈥淢any families in rural communities are left without options.鈥�

In Seward, Ella Wright said she and her husband spent the first five years of their daughter鈥檚 life working part time in nursing and mental health jobs respectively, due to the lack of child care. Until her daughter got a spot at a part-time preschool at age 3, 鈥渨e had no breaks,鈥� Wright said.

In 2023, about half of Alaskan parents who were surveyed said that, like Wright, they could not fully participate in the labor force because of child care access and affordability.

The picturesque town of Seward, framed by snow-capped peaks on the Kenai Peninsula, cannot afford to lose workers due to a lack of child care. Summers in Seward are lively. On days when cruise ships are in port, tourists meander up and down the main street, stocking up on souvenirs and taking pictures in front of Resurrection Bay鈥檚 ice-blue water. During these months, seasonal workers flood the town to work at restaurants and shops.

But the town鈥檚 year-round employers, including a state maximum-security prison and a medical facility, face . The shortages have been so pronounced that in 2023 the town had to temporarily close its small local jail, diverting people in custody to state-run facilities, until it could hire more employees.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult to maintain a strong, year-round economy, because we can鈥檛 maintain families year-round in Seward,鈥� said Bringhurst, the city planner. 鈥淧eople just can鈥檛 maintain a job if they don鈥檛 have reliable child care.鈥�

The donation from Norwegian couldn鈥檛 have come at a better time for the town. In 2019, a child care program closed unexpectedly just three years after it opened, eliminating 20 child care spots from the community. (Qutekcak Native Tribe, a Seward-based social services agency that ran the program, did not respond to a request for comment.)

Then in , a preschool program funded by federal Title I money closed after the local elementary school no longer enrolled enough children from low-income families to qualify for the funding. That left two licensed programs and 20 slots for more than 80 children who needed care.

Norwegian鈥檚 donation was part of to Alaska port communities that were affected by Covid-related tourism drops. Warner had transitioned from her role as a home visitor to running a child-focused nonprofit, Happy Youth Programs and Educational Resources, or HYPER, which was chosen to lead the town鈥檚 new child care strategy.

Using half of the $1 million donation, HYPER trained providers so they could meet requirements for state licensing and offered start-up funds to help cover the high costs associated with launching or expanding home-based child care businesses. The organization also developed a retention bonus program to boost salaries for providers, paid for early educators to attend trainings and established a year-long subsidy program to help families pay for child care.

Seven miles north of downtown Seward, off the only road into town, Josie McClain鈥檚 home-based child care program is tucked away in a clearing down a long gravel driveway. The town鈥檚 investment has made an immense difference for McClain, who has a degree in elementary education and launched her program in late 2019 after years of running the local teen and youth center for the city.

On a recent morning, a dozen children roamed around a playground fenced off in front of McClain鈥檚 house. McClain and her assistant watched, sometimes stepping in to comfort crying toddlers, fix broken sandals and navigate arguments over the swings.

A little girl shuffled over to McClain, her rainbow-colored sandals on the wrong feet, and pointed through the playground fence, across the yard, to a sea of yellow dandelions.

鈥淚 see a lot of flowers!鈥� exclaimed the little girl.

鈥淪hould we make dandelion jelly this week?鈥� McClain asked. The little girl nodded eagerly.

鈥淚鈥檒l look up a recipe,鈥� McClain promised. She kissed the girl on her head and sent her off to play.

The weight of her role in the community isn鈥檛 lost on McClain. The children in McClain鈥檚 care have a deep attachment to her. Several call her 鈥済randma鈥� and, during the day, wander over to cuddle on her lap or give her a hug.

Many of the parents McClain serves wouldn鈥檛 be able to work if it weren鈥檛 for her. Several work in critical industries, like the local bank, the school system and the hospital. As McClain looked around the playground, she pointed out children whose parents would have left Seward if she hadn鈥檛 had room for them. Hers is one of two 24-hour programs in Seward, offering reliable care for parents who work nights, as well as backup and emergency care when parents have unforeseen needs.

鈥淭here isn鈥檛 any place for them to go,鈥� McClain said. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 an alternative.鈥�

Running her program has involved sacrifice. On weeks when she can鈥檛 make the more than two-hour drive to Anchorage to load up on more affordable food and supplies, she must pay more at the stores in Seward. Recently, a federal food program for child care lowered their reimbursement rates, meaning she gets less money for the healthy food she serves children five times a day. To save money, she鈥檚 teaching herself how to can food for the winter. She hasn鈥檛 taken a vacation in years.

HYPER鈥檚 support and recent efforts from the state have helped ease the load a bit. In 2023, McClain was able to expand her child care program thanks to money from the organization. She used $10,000 from the nonprofit to help pay for a new screened-in porch to give children more room to play, including outside in cold and rainy weather.

鈥淚t made my small house one thousand times better,鈥� McClain said. She also got licensed as a group child care program, allowing her to take in four more children for a total of 12.

For the first time in years, McClain has been able to stop living paycheck to paycheck and save money. She receives an annual bonus of several thousand dollars from HYPER each year. For the year that HYPER subsidized parent tuition, McClain could count on a reliable payment each month instead of having to 鈥渉unt down money鈥� from families.

Recently, Alaska invested more in child care, from which McClain has also benefited. In 2025, the state allocated about $6 million more to expand eligibility for child care assistance, and this year, added close to another $6 million for annual grants to help child care programs operate. More is needed though, experts say. Earlier this year, lawmakers approved $6.4 million to help retain early educators, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy later those funds, along with that would have gone to Head Start, the federal and state-funded preschool program for low-income children.

While the cruise company鈥檚 donation funding boosted child care in Seward, and state initiatives have provided additional support, the town鈥檚 child care crisis is far from solved. Early childhood jobs, with their low pay and lack of benefits, are hard to fill, Warner said. McClain fears she will have to drop four children from her program if she can鈥檛 find someone to replace her assistant, who is leaving soon.

And although two new providers have opened with HYPER鈥檚 support in the last year, there is still a shortage of infant and toddler spots.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that the people who want more child care know how many hoops there are to jump through,鈥� said Katie Shepard, who co-runs the newest program in town, Timberline Learning Center. 鈥淎nybody else who is not just dying to work with the kids is not going to go through all that.鈥�

When Shepard wanted to open a part-time preschool program, the cost seemed insurmountable. HYPER provided a $30,000 grant to cover start-up costs, program supplies and business licenses. 鈥淯nless we had that kind of money to put into something like this, I don鈥檛 think it would have been possible,鈥� Shepard said.

On one summer morning, 10 children scampered around the community room of a Methodist church downtown.

鈥淲ho wants to play the bug game?鈥� asked one boy, who was sitting in the middle of the room with bug-themed bingo boards. Several children crowded around him.

At the back of the room, Shepard sat by a large poster where students could write their names and stick them by a picture of their favorite bug.

鈥淚 LOVE butterflies!鈥� exclaimed a little girl as she ran up to Shepard. With her teacher鈥檚 encouragement, she carefully glued her name on the paper. 鈥淕lue is so sticky,鈥� she said.

Nearby, Wright鈥檚 daughter sat at a table carefully placing pictures of bugs onto a clear piece of sticky paper. Wright has seen how her daughter, now 4, has thrived at preschool.

鈥淟anguage-wise she鈥檚 grown, she鈥檚 task-oriented. She鈥檚 an only child, so that socialization is key for her,鈥� Wright said. Last year, the family received a subsidy from HYPER to help pay tuition. 鈥淭hat was huge,鈥� she said, adding that the family was able to save more money. She will be able to take on more hours at work once her daughter enters kindergarten full time in the fall.

Looking forward, Warner is trying to find a permanent source of funding for child care to help more families. Ideally, she says, that funding will come from a tourism tax. Recently, a new cruise ship dock opened, which will allow larger ships 鈥� and more people 鈥� to dock in Seward. If key infrastructure needs like child care aren鈥檛 addressed, Warner fears people won鈥檛 be able to live there.

鈥淲e have to support our year-round economy,鈥� because, unlike the tourists, 鈥淲e also love to live here when it鈥檚 quiet and cold.鈥�

This story was produced with support from the Education Writers Association Reporting Fellowship program. 

Contact staff writer Jackie Mader at 212-678-3562 or mader@hechingerreport.org.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Claire Stremple for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com.

CHIRENO 鈥� Every day, Courtney Bush has to figure out who can pick up her kids.

It鈥檚 not an easy decision, even after wrestling with it for years.

With no child care options or after-school programs in her rural East Texas town, Bush sometimes leaves work early. And when that isn’t an option, she calls her sister in Lufkin 鈥� which is about 34 miles away 鈥� or a friend in town.

Bush grew up in , otherwise known as Chireno, a rural community of about 1,300 at the south end of Nacogdoches County. Her children now go to public school there. Chireno is one of 263 chronic child care deserts in the state, according to , a nonprofit that advocates for greater access to child care, especially for the state鈥檚 youngest residents.

The report, released earlier this month, found East Texas is home to the most chronic child care deserts, ZIP codes that have lacked professional child care options for at least three years.

Children At Risk鈥檚 report has tracked child care deserts across the state. The lack of affordable, quality child care poses quandaries for Texas families 鈥� and the state鈥檚 economy. A U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report estimated that the .

Kim Kofron, the executive director of early childhood education for Children at Risk and one of the researchers who analyzed the child care desert map, believes two things cause East Texas鈥� predicament: it鈥檚 mostly rural, so getting operations up and running, and keeping them so, is difficult; and while there is a population of younger families living in rural East Texas, there aren鈥檛 always enough children to keep a center open.

Child care, which often teaches children basic life skills as well as provides foundational knowledge in literacy, is to prepare children for kindergarten and the rest of their education. And more parents, moms especially, because they don鈥檛 have adequate resources. This is leading to a growing number of children in families who rely on state support.

Community members say there hasn鈥檛 been professional child care for younger children for more than a decade. Families often turn to friends and family to watch their children 鈥� a job that often goes unpaid and unregulated.

Jacqueline Woodson, a grandmother in Chireno, has become her family鈥檚 go-to child care provider.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been generational, us having families take care of the kids because there was nothing in the area for child care,鈥� Woodson said. 鈥淧eople have to go all the way to Nacogdoches (city) to put their kids in child care.鈥�

Improving access to child care is difficult. State lawmakers have tried to help parents pay for it, but that鈥檚 only one part of the equation. Kofron said the state needs to truly look at how the system operates and find ways to smooth speed bumps for providers and to simplify the process for parents.

Sherry Durham, the senior director of child care for Workforce Solutions Deep East Texas, doesn鈥檛 want to see regulations eased, because child care businesses deal directly with some of the most vulnerable Texans. But she does believe more can be done to tell providers about grant programs and mentorships that will help those people who want to open a child care center.

Kofron believes the state is on the right track to begin addressing some of these concerns. Lawmakers in 2025 called for to study the state鈥檚 child care landscape and come to the next legislative session in 2027 with recommendations for a path forward. Kofron hopes the new map will provide that task force with a foundation for those recommendations.

Child care deserts expanding

Using data from the Texas Workforce Commission, Children At Risk has published a map of child care deserts every other year since 2017.

A child care desert, generally, is a geographic region where families lack access to regulated child care centers. can be large-scale, serving dozens of children in classroom settings, or they can be home-based operations that serve only a handful of children at a time.

Children At Risk has four classifications for child care deserts.

The first is simply areas where the number of children who need child care is three times higher than the capacity of local providers. There are 413 of these across the state.

The second is a subsidy desert, where the number of children who need a scholarship, which is state-funded, is three times higher than the available scholarships. There are 884 of these.

The third is a Texas Rising Star desert, where the child care centers are not certified with the Rising Star program. Rising Star is a state program that enforces expectations for the quality of child care families receive. There are 938 of these.

And the fourth is a new classification this year: chronic deserts. These are areas where the need for child care has been three times higher than the available options for three years in a row or more. There are 263 of these.

There are four regions in the state struggling the most with chronic child care deserts: East, Deep East, Northeast Texas and the Brazos Valley. Combined, these regions stretch from the Louisiana border to College Station.

In the Deep East Texas workforce development region that includes Angelina, Nacogdoches and Polk counties, 52 of the 82 ZIP codes are deserts. Durham wants to eradicate those deserts, and she believes the way to do that is through improving communication.

Ideally, she would have the time to establish better connections with rural community nonprofits and churches so they can spread the word about what resources the state currently has to offer. However, she鈥檚 new to the job and came at a time when workforce solutions were undergoing some changes in leadership and mindset. But she believes that improved communication is on the horizon.

鈥淭exas Rising Star and the Texas Workforce Development Group can offer support in the beginning to establish child care,鈥� Durham said. 鈥淲hether it’s a larger center or a smaller home center with maybe five or six children, the same support is available to both.鈥�

Parents may leave labor force

A lack of options in chronic deserts puts parents of young children in a precarious situation. Parents can either find a friend or a family member to watch their kids, or one parent can stay home.

The first option only works if there is someone around who can take on an extra child or two, and it鈥檚 not guaranteed. The second option is the path many families take, but it comes at a cost.

For Bush, whose children are now 6 and 11, a lack of child care options in Chireno over the years led her to job hop in search of a flexible schedule. At times, she could rely on friends or family members, often when they had chosen to stay at home to care for their own children, but she always felt guilty for asking so much of them.

She even left the workforce for six months because she didn鈥檛 have any better options. The small family relied on a single income, which just wasn鈥檛 sustainable.

鈥淚 feel like everybody has to work nowadays in order to make it,鈥� Bush said.

More Texas children are growing up in low-income households. And this is putting a strain on Texas鈥� social safety net. There were 106 new subsidy deserts in 2025 that weren’t there in 2024, according to Children At Risk, which means the need for scholarships outpaced the available funding threefold.

Scholarships, also called subsidies, pay for part of the child care tuition for children who qualify. The child must be under 13, have working parents or parents in school whose income is below a certain threshold that is dependent on the number of children in the household. For example, the monthly income for a family with two children in must not exceed $5,216.

Income levels aren鈥檛 the only rule that governs who gets a scholarship. The providers who accept scholarships for kids must follow several protocols that govern a variety of topics, including pick-up and drop-off rules.

Lawmakers in 2025 designated to child care subsidies. The entire designation was eaten up by inflation costs and failed to provide any substantial improvement to the child care system.

Without adequate resources for employees, Durham worries companies won鈥檛 choose to move to Deep East Texas. And she worries that young East Texans won鈥檛 be prepared for kindergarten.

Child care can help prepare kids for school

Young children typically have five years before they go to a traditional school and those years are exceedingly formative.

鈥淪o if they live in a chronic desert for three or more years, that鈥檚 a majority of the child鈥檚 life in a desert,鈥� Kofron said. 鈥淭hat is not only hampering mom and dad from going to work, it鈥檚 also hampering that child鈥檚 ability to get ready for kindergarten.鈥�

Kindergarten readiness is a of a child鈥檚 success down the road. By the time a 5-year-old starts kindergarten, they should be able to speak clearly, recite their alphabet and correctly hold tools, such as pencils or scissors. They should also have some basic ability to regulate their own behavior.

While parents can ensure their children have these foundational skills, studies have shown that high-quality child care can give children a big step up. This is part of the goal of program 鈥� to establish a standard of education for children aged 0 to 5 that prepares them for that first day of school.

However, a growing number of counties lack child care facilities that are state-certified. There were 88 more rising star deserts in 2025 than there were in 2024, for a total of 938.

Improvements in South Texas

Despite the dire concerns registered by Children At Risk, there were some bright moments of success in Texas鈥� child care landscape.

Cameron, the Concho Valley and the Lower Rio Grande Valley saw the highest rate of providers being added to the Texas Rising Star roster. And 60 new providers were approved to accept child care scholarships in the last year, Children At Risk found, though the organization would like to see that number grow exponentially.

Plus, more home-based child care providers have opened across the state in the last year, which means there are more options for families seeking child care. There still aren鈥檛 as many providers as there were before 2020, but it is an improvement.

In Deep East Texas, Durham said she wants to hear from those at-home centers that aren鈥檛 registered yet, like Woodson, who takes care of her family鈥檚 youngest members. Durham wants to connect them with more state resources and which might provide a clearer picture of what options are available in rural communities.

Registering home-based centers could also give the state a better understanding of the region鈥檚 needs and make more informed recommendations for the future.

Durham said she鈥檚 optimistic for the future. She sees the conversation around child care growing and believes there is a legitimate interest in finding solutions.

Kofron is excited to see what the task force assigned to investigate the state鈥檚 child care subsidy program learns. She hopes that the task force looks at her organization鈥檚 data to inform their recommendations.

She wants them to deeply consider how the state governs early childhood education and what can be streamlined. Finding ways to simplify the process for child care providers and the families they serve could do a lot to improve the state鈥檚 system.

鈥淎nd then it comes down to the funding,鈥� Kofron said. 鈥淲e have to make sure that we have enough funding in the system to give families the support they need so they can get back to work and support their families.鈥�

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