Are co-ops the answer to the child care crisis?

It's a nationwide issue — lack of affordable daycare. Even when you find it, you could be on a waitlist for years. The result is many dropping from the workforce so one can stay home with the children. This ultimately puts a massive strain on the labor force.

With two small children and a mother in need of constant care, Melania Piazza said she struggled to find balance. Childcare was unobtainable, so she and a group of moms put their heads together and what they came up with is what some are calling an absolute lifesaver.

But on this day, it's not about the building — it's more about what brings them all together.

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"I think it's really easy to talk about this business in terms of child care because everyone understands the need for child care. But what we recognized as equally as important was parent care. And the idea of being able to get work done," Piazza said.

The Family Village cooperative Melania Piazza helped found was created out of desperation, she said.

"I was raising my toddler and then my newborn, simultaneously caregiving my terminally ill mother," Piazza recalled.

After some trial and error, she said it's now become a place that goes beyond basic childcare.

"The idea of being able to get work done, not having to have a full time job and or not having to pay for full time care, and also being able to take care of those social needs that so many of us as parents have because we don't live in a society that is village," she said.

Heather Brejot calls the co-op a lifesaver. As an accountant, she said the co-op helps her work quietly for three hours a day.

"Without this place, I would still be working, part time and trying to juggle, taking care of a toddler and answering phone calls and being in meetings," Brejot said

Brejot's daughter, Marin, is nearly two. She says they have been on a waitlist for daycare before she was even born.

She is not alone. In September of 2023, federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act ended. A study by the Century Foundation predicted a massive drop-off in programs per state and that more than three million children could lose their spots in-line. The study also projects many Americans will be forced to leave the workforce or reduce their hours.

"We've recognized how much co-op; values are aligned with what we want to see this be and that this is not just something that is about taking care of parents and kids. It's definitely that. But the co-op model is a way for there to be shared wealth," Piazza said.

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Parents pay $25 to be a part of the co-op. They purchase passes by the month ranging from around $150 to nearly $700. The co-op says they can keep their fees down because they rent spaces in churches. Parents work in the same building their children play — allowing them to stay license exempt.

"That's because the parents are on site so they can check in on their kids when they need to. They have legal responsibility for their kids while they're here. And that also helps us keep our prices down, because we don't have to go through all the bells and whistles of licensed care. We provide a very safe, healthy environment. And it also allows us to have a co-mingling between ages. That doesn't happen often in licensed care," Piazza said.

Piazza recognizes the laws are different in each state. But as a result, the Family Village is also able to utilize elderly volunteers.

"There's a loneliness at, at the elder level that we would like to be able to address. And we can do that right now because we have volunteers and most of them are our elders, and they are fed as much by caring for the kids as the kids are fed by them," Piazza said

And for parents, like Brejot it's an investment into a community that has ultimately paid off, "I've subsequently able been able to take a promotion because I've been able to ramp up my hours and my responsibilities knowing that she's taking care of downstairs."

There are plans in the works to open two more Family Village cooperatives in Colorado. Meanwhile, Piazza says she welcomes any parent across the nation to reach out so she can share the idea hoping to help spark like-minded solutions in other places across the country.

"We know that there is no economic growth without childcare. Those two things are intermingled, and childcare is in crisis everywhere," Piazza said.