What do we mean when we say “childcare,” and how did Pueblo arrive at the gaps families and providers navigate today?

In Episode One of this series, Molly Cotner and Gregory Howell sit down for a conversation that traces the long arc of childcare in Pueblo, beginning in 1926 with the opening of one of the city’s earliest childcare centers and moving through decades of informal care, shifting labor patterns, and fragile systems that existed long before the pandemic. The conversation examines how COVID-19 exposed those weaknesses, including the emergence of Fair Care as a temporary community response, and why this investigative series moved forward regardless of funding outcomes.

This episode sets the foundation for a six-part investigative reporting series focused on lived experience, access, labor, and accountability in Pueblo County’s childcare system.

Life Inside the Childcare Gap is a production of the Voices of Pueblo podcast, presented by the Pueblo Star Journal and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

This episode was produced and narrated by Molly Cotner and Gregory Howell.

To learn more and to support nonprofit local news in Pueblo, Colorado, visit pueblostarjournal.org.

If you would like to share your childcare story, reach out to Molly at childcare@pueblostarjournal.org. We want to hear from you.

Thank you for listening.