Multnomah County’s new Preschool for All program is on track with its plan to be the best preschool program in the country, a national model and universal by fall 2030. But serving all of the county’s families of 3- and 4-year-olds who’d like to participate will be tough, unless we make it easier for child care providers to expand. Home to four of every five county residents, the city of Portland can play an important part in the success of Preschool for All, while creating systems that other cities could replicate. To do so, it needs to simplify the permitting process and planning code, and help make more public space available for additional preschools. Centers, nearly all small businesses, struggle to expand, and in-home providers find it extremely difficult to grow into centers. The city’s permitting process can be overwhelming. Child care providers may need to obtain approval from as many as 13 different city departments, spread across several bureaus, for the use of outdoor space for parking or a play area, fire safety, environmental aspects, a structural review, the appropriate zoning and other issues. The process can take months and a lot of money to make changes, if necessary. What’s more, city offices are open only during business hours, when many providers are caring for children. Zoning and occupancy regulations can also be challenging. For example, Childswork Learning Center, a Preschool for All pilot site, would like to enroll more children full-time for families who need full-day care. In one of its locations, Childswork can serve one group of children in the morning, and another in the afternoon, but not the same children for the entire day. Why? Because the city requires that providers employ an experienced architect to submit drawings and other documentation to support an application for the education occupancy designation needed to offer a full-day program. “Few providers have the resources to do that. Even those who can pay an experienced architect are pulling resources from other classroom needs. It would be great if the city could make it easier to apply for zoning and occupancy code changes for our buildings,” Mary Beth Kierstead, Childswork’s educational director, told us. Neither do early educators have the resources to pay market prices for real estate and are often located in church basements and other low-cost real estate. Providers can’t pay commercial prices for the outdoor space, natural light and multiple bathrooms and entrances that are required and help children thrive. Nor can they afford to meet new regulations for sprinklers, never mind the air conditioning, air filtering and large, indoor spaces needed to adapt to spells of extreme heat and smoky air from wildfires resulting from climate change. Publicly-owned child care space was lost in the renovation of the city’s Portland Building and sale of the Sellwood Community Center. As a major employer, the city needs to be setting an example by offering on-site child care for city workers and community members. Portland Parks and Recreation offers preschool, but for very limited schedules, typically fewer than 10 hours a week. The city should explore how to help public buildings, schools or local parks host preschools on their grounds. An initial step might be helping secure environmentally friendly, mobile classrooms, if necessary, with playgrounds designed for small children. Like elementary schools, early childhood programs should be located in every neighborhood. Portland’s Climate Action Plan calls for 20 minute neighborhoods that allow most residents to easily walk or bicycle to meet all their basic, daily needs. Along with groceries and other services, child care is clearly a basic, daily need. But city commissioners need to go further: They should support the creation of a multi-bureau task force to identify ways to ease the creation and expansion of preschools. Portland voters helped ensure that the Preschool for All program passed with overwhelming support. The city must make sure it’s doing all it can to help realize the goal. .