Kayla Corbitt is a military spouse in Colorado Springs, and she never meant to start an organization. Once she realized she "didn't have anything to lose," she founded Operation Childcare Project and became its CEO.

Most talk about childcare focuses on centers. But more than 80% of families rely on trusted caregivers, and Kayla argues the current system will never have enough spots for everyone. Through the Homefront Help program, the organization gives grants to military families. Often the main barrier is logistics, not long-term cost. A grandparent might be willing to watch the kids for free while the family waits for a center spot, but the $800 plane ticket stands in the way. On average, it takes less than $1,500 per family to close that kind of gap (mission and grants).

Many other childcare funding options, even from nonprofits, have to be paid back. Operation Childcare Project's grants don't. Every family it helps also adds data that raises a bigger question: is the current system really the most economically responsible way to care for military families?

Kayla started out as a volunteer. She then traveled to pitch competitions to win private funding, which lets the organization run the way it wants to. Operation Childcare Project is now a We Vision Lab site. When people ask how she timed her work with the childcare crisis, her answer is: "Jokes on you! It was always in crisis. It's just public now."