Mayor Mike Johnston announces new child care, after-school resource for Denver families

Denver families can now find everything they need to know about child care and after-school activities on a single website.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the new initiative on Thursday, which is now available on Denver's official website. Families can use the site to search by days and locations to find exactly what their family needs.

"I think as a Denver parent myself, we've all been in this spot, which is if you are a new parent and you have a one-year-old and you're ready to head back to work. Trying to figure out how to find child care can be an incredibly difficult task. What's available in my neighborhood? What's available for the hours that I need? What's available for the number of kids that I have? This now allows you to aggregate all of those options by coming to one location where you can search and figure out what's available to meet your schedule, your family's needs, in your part of town," said Johnston.

For children's activities, the website allows families to look for available programs that support their children's interests by location and date/time. Families can search by the school their children attend or by their address.

The site also offers lists of businesses that hire teenagers who are looking for an after-school job. It can help teens looking for internships and apprenticeships access other resources as well.

Jess Ridgway, Executive Director of the Denver Office of Children's Affairs, said that the initiative is part of Denver's efforts to make resources more accessible to families across the city. She said the site also allows them to add additional resources over time.

Ridgeway said the website is all thanks to the community working together to support local children.

"This work doesn't happen alone. This work happens with partners. This work happens with people who are dedicated to the success of the children in our community," she said.