Park City Tots

PC Tots' goals are to 1) provide high-quality, affordable and safe child care for workforce families, 2) include children from the diverse socioeconomic and ethnic spectrum represented in the community, 3) focus on low-income families, and 4) through its programs, support the social equity initiative in Summit County.

PC Tots' strategies include identifying families who need tuition subsidies and providing them with subsidized tuition, caring for and teaching these children to ensure they are prepared for kindergarten, and providing childcare for workforce families so they can earn a living wage and support local businesses in Summit County.

PC Tots' staff and board members work together to provide subsidized tuition and early childhood education to these families. At PC Tots, the teachers provide the direct high-quality childcare and early childhood education to our children; the directors ensure the centers are a safe environment for the children, they hire and train teachers, and they enroll new families in our centers--evaluating their income and circumstance to provide them with needed subsidies; the business manager is responsible for the finances and communications; and the executive director oversees the viability of the organization by procuring funds and supervising the finances and personnel. PC Tots' board members help with fundraising activities and finding donors to support the organization. In this way, PC Tots' key team members work together to provide stable and successful childcare centers that can serve Summit County's low-income workforce by subsidizing tuition.

PC Tots has been able to raise $250,000 per year since its establishment in 2015. These funds have been procured through grants from local and national foundations, government agencies, corporations, and individuals. Because of the critical need for affordable childcare in Summit County, the Park City Community Foundation, Park City Municipal Corporation, and Vail Corporation have all been incredible partners in supporting our mission. The board of directors and PC Tots staff has worked hard to create a high-quality childcare program that families want to enroll in and that organizations want to support.

PC Tots' progress on our indicators is as follows: for four years, PC Tots has been successfully operating two subsidized, early learning centers for 114 children 11 hours a day, 5 days a week, every week of the year. Because we are a nonprofit corporation, we are able to offer tuition for more than $300/month less than that of market rate area daycares. Each year we have raised approximately $250,000 to offer subsidies to all families and deeper subsidies for low income families based upon need. We can measure our success by how many families we are able to provide deep subsidies to.

PC Tots knows we are filling a need in the community because we maintain a waiting list consistently numbering around 70 children. We also know that our educational programs are successful because developmental progress is measured by the ASQ-3 (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) which is administered twice a year and includes a parent-teacher conference for each child. These evaluations begin with infants and follow their progress until they enter kindergarten. The post tests for children going on to kindergarten are administered at the end of the summer before they start school. This year, we are implementing administration of the PEEP evaluation (Preschool Entry and Exit Profile) as well. The kindergarten readiness post tests last August (2019) demonstrated our children scored an average of 93% attainment of kindergarten readiness skill.

PC Tots' centers are inspected regularly by the state Childcare Licensing and must pass rigorous requirements regarding health and safety standards and practices as well as requirements for staff qualifications and procedures. Both of our centers have passed every announced and unannounced State of Utah Child Licensing inspection since opening.

PC Tots has operated with consistently sound financial practices and has completed independent audits by Bountiful Peak Advisors every year it has been open with no negative findings. PC Tots has been progressing towards its goals and consistently accomplishing its mission since its incorporation in 2015.