Expanding Child Care Availability for Underserved Populations
Access to child care remains uneven, particularly impacting underserved populations such as low-income families, single-parent households, and rural communities. These gaps limit workforce participation and economic resilience, as families without reliable child care often face barriers to employment and economic mobility. By investing in inclusive, accessible early learning environments, developers and policymakers can create infrastructure that not only supports working families but also strengthens local economies. Expanding child care availability in underserved areas encourages community growth, enables stable employment, and fosters long-term economic resilience, transforming child care into a cornerstone of economic and social vitality.
Tools & Resources
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) offers the Child Care Economic Development Grant program
Mapping the Gap tool by Child Care Aware® of America
State of the Children dashboards from Washington STEM
Child Care Data Center (CCDC) by Child Care Aware of America
2023 National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) State of Preschool Yearbook
State Team Guide to Increase Inclusion in Early Childhood Programs
Stories
Including Family Child Care in Pre-K Systems: An Update at the Local Level
Early Care and Education Use Among Young Children in New Jersey in 2022
3 Ways Federal Investments Can Address Child Care Deserts in America
One State Rolled Out a Promising Child Care Model. Now Others Are Replicating It.
Estimating Changes in the Supply of and Demand for Child Care in Philadelphia (Series)
Partners/Champions
Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)
National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)
Next Steps: What Development Can Do
Integrate child care centers into regional development plans, including business districts, housing, and public spaces. Embedding child care within regional development plans ensures communities are structured to meet the needs of working families from the outset. This approach calls for collaboration with zoning boards, city planners, and economic developers to designate areas in new and existing projects for child care facilities, particularly in high-traffic public spaces like business districts, mixed-use developments, and housing complexes.
Use frameworks like Redevelopment Ready Communities to promote early learning as a central aspect of community resilience. Leveraging established frameworks such as Redevelopment Ready Communities allows planners and developers to incorporate child care infrastructure seamlessly into broader community improvement initiatives. Through partnerships with municipal governments and community development agencies, planners can assess current child care availability and identify gaps that impede family and workforce engagement.
Encourage local and regional economic development leaders to support ECD investments as a strategy to improve both short-term workforce participation and long-term community resilience.
Economic development leaders play a vital role in advocating for early childhood development (ECD) as a strategic investment that benefits workforce readiness and economic resilience. By engaging ECD in discussions on community growth and business attraction, economic leaders can promote a comprehensive view of child care as fundamental to sustained economic strength.
Support early learning business development by helping with zoning, tax challenges, and site searches.
Encouraging early learning business growth requires addressing zoning and tax barriers that often hinder child care development. By working with organizations and local zoning boards, municipalities can conduct reviews of existing ordinances and streamline processes to attract child care providers.
Promote targeted child care programs that focus on economically disadvantaged communities, ensuring sustainable long-term economic benefits. Communities benefit greatly from child care programs tailored to support economically disadvantaged areas, as these initiatives provide a pathway to stable workforce engagement and upward mobility. Development professionals and local governments can collaborate to design funding programs and incentives that make high-quality child care more accessible in underserved neighborhoods.
Shift employer narratives to position child care as a universal workforce issue rather than a “women’s issue.” Positioning child care as a universal workforce concern encourages broader engagement from all sectors. To initiate this shift, development professionals can host workshops or forums that engage employers and demonstrate how child care challenges affect productivity and workforce stability for all.
Collaborate with research organizations to gather localized data on the long-term economic impacts of early learning infrastructure investments.
Data-driven decision-making is essential for crafting effective child care policies. By partnering with research organizations, local governments and development agencies can obtain localized data that captures the unique needs and impacts of child care investments in their communities.
Advocate for increased public investment in child care infrastructure to enhance labor force participation, particularly for underserved populations.
Investment in child care infrastructure is a proven strategy for increasing workforce participation, especially among parents, including women with young children.
Promote public-private partnerships that scale child care access and reduce barriers for businesses to support their employees with child care options.
Public-private partnerships offer a sustainable path to expanding child care services while sharing the financial responsibilities across sectors. Development professionals can facilitate partnerships between local businesses, municipal governments, and nonprofit organizations to establish child care facilities that benefit the community and support workforce engagement.
