Destinee Hodges decided last year that she was ready to open her own business.

The Las Vegas resident has worked in child care since moving her family to Nevada seven years ago. She earned promotions with ease, eventually landing a job as a child care center director.

But Hodges found, over the years, that she could not make a living in that role. After she requested and was denied a raise, she took on extra jobs, a sacrifice that she says was necessary to support herself and her two kids.

For a while, the single mother had been feeling like she was hitting a wall. She’d maxed out her pay. The number of jobs she was working had become unsustainable. In the back of her mind, she’d always held onto the idea of someday opening a home-based child care program. If she could open a full-capacity child care business, she could nearly double what she’s earning as a center director.

“When you’re somewhere for too long and feel like you can no longer grow, it’s time to do something different,” Hodges explains.

There’s just one problem: In Nevada, as in most other states, opening an in-home child care program is not a simple process.

For Hodges, who rents an apartment, there are two massive hurdles. First, she has to move into a single-family home to become eligible for a child care license in her state. Then she would need signoff from the landlord and homeowners association.

But last year, Hodges decided it was time to try. Long ago, she set a personal goal to open a home-based program by age 35. At 32, she felt there was no time to waste.

In November 2022, she enrolled in a 12-week training course through Wonderschool, a child care marketplace, to learn the basics of licensing, health and safety regulations, and running her own child care business. Then Hodges started searching for a house to rent.

Read the full article about home-based child care providers by Emily Tate Sullivan at The 19th.