The strength of our communities, workforce, and economy relies on parents having access to affordable, high-quality child care. Integrating child care into community and economic development plans not only aids local efforts to increase access for the workforce but also underscores the essential role child care plays in the overall well-being and economic vitality of a community.
Child Care Aware® of America’s (CCAoA) recent Price and Landscape Analysis report highlights persistently high child care prices nationwide, often surpassing most other household expenses. As awareness grows, community and economic leaders are increasingly recognizing the importance of supporting the child care sector. Addressing these issues requires substantial public investment and policy changes to support families, children, and child care providers, and to improve child care quality and accessibility while boosting economic stability and growth.
In 2024, CCAoA conducted a landscape analysis and released the report, Bridging the Gap Between Child Care and Community and Economic Development. The goal was to identify and inform community and economic development funding and engagement opportunities for child care. The analysis identifies community and economic development systems at local, regional, state, and national levels and provides examples of innovative approaches to this work.
CCAoA’s research aims to support organizations in elevating child care in community and economic development work. These organizations can lead initiatives, leveraging resources to build child care supply, strengthen the workforce, and support families. Qualified intermediaries, acting as bridges between child care, businesses, and the public sector, are well-suited to lead these collaborative efforts and drive necessary change.
From this research, CCAoA offered a Community of Practice (CoP) as an opportunity for Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) organizations and other intermediaries to engage and/or partner in community and economic development efforts relating to child care, and based on program goals as well as needs and opportunities in their communities.
CCAoA aimed to support CoP members through self-assessment, goal setting, and a planning process to understand and address big picture project goals and act on those plans and activities with intended accomplishments and results. We assisted CoP members to build capacity by developing their skills and abilities and supporting their goals in economic or community development and partnership-building.
CCAoA created Bridging the Gap Between Child Care and Community & Economic Development: A Roadmap for CCR&Rs & Intermediaries (roadmap) to further this work. To provide a reflective voice and inform the roadmap, CoP participants, CCR&Rs and financial intermediaries were actively involved in its development. Many of the people who provided feedback are engaged in innovative and promising community and economic development practices that can help inform and guide others.
This tool is for community organizations to guide outreach strategies, encourage cross-system engagement, and integrate child care into community and economic development planning and funding decisions. The roadmap offers concrete steps for CCR&Rs and intermediaries to engage in to include child care in community and economic development.
For more information, including the detailed roadmap for organizations to work to bridge the gap between child care and community and economic development, visit the Bridging the Gap digital hub.
