{"id":4821,"date":"2019-05-10T14:28:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T14:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/2019\/05\/10\/kentucky-child-care-deserts-and-where-to-find-them\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T19:49:08","slug":"kentucky-child-care-deserts-and-where-to-find-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/kentucky-child-care-deserts-and-where-to-find-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Child Care Deserts and Where to Find Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row overlap=”top” overlap_distance=”25px” padding_size=”m-padding”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight”]<\/p>\n

A recent article by Will Wright<\/a> in the Lexington Herald-Leader highlighted the critical need for child care and, in particular, lack of access in Eastern Kentucky.\u00a0 The imperative to increase access and to invest in our youngest children was crystallized in a blog post and op-ed<\/a> by Cindy McGaha and Andrea Woodward \u2013 both professors at Berea College.\u00a0 We could not agree more.<\/div>\n
\n
\n

So, let\u2019s talk more about child care deserts in Kentucky.<\/p>\n

In January, we highlighted concerns<\/a> about the number of Kentucky children not reaching proficiency in reading and math by third grade. One thing we know works in addressing this critical issue is access to high-quality early learning<\/a> opportunities, beginning at birth. In Kentucky, such opportunities are often delivered through child care providers serving infants up to school age children. Children from low-income families may qualify for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to help offset the cost. The main types are:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Provider Type<\/td>\nLICENSED TYPE I<\/td>\nLICENSED TYPE II<\/td>\nCERTIFIED<\/td>\nREGISTERED<\/td>\nUNREGULATED<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Definition<\/td>\nThis provider is center-based and operates on a scale of anywhere from 13 or more children; they receive CCAP and private pay and have multiple employees.<\/td>\nThis provider can care for 7 to 12 children and is based in a home; they receive CCAP and private pay and typically have two people working at once.<\/td>\nThis provider can care for four related children and up to six additional children and is based in a home; they receive CCAP and private pay.<\/td>\nThis provider can care for their own children (no more than five) and up to three unrelated children (8 maximum); they have registered with the state and are eligible for CCAP and private pay.<\/td>\nThis provider is typically someone who has not registered as a provider with the state. They are not CCAP eligible and can care for up to three unrelated children who don\u2019t receive CCAP legally.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlap=”top” overlap_distance=”100px” overlap_index=”50″ equal_height=”true” vertical_align=”middle” padding_size=”m-padding” el_class=”row2″ css=”.vc_custom_1558665176081{margin-top: 25px !important;}”][vc_column overlap_index=”50″ padding_size=”no-padding” width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight”]Since 2013, total child care capacity has declined. There are several reasons cited including centers being closed, providers retiring, and low CCAP reimbursement rates. This raises important initial questions about capacity and the ability to provide high-quality care to infants and toddlers.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_single_image alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” image=”8260″ animation=”slideInRight” animation_delay=”0.8″ el_class=”shadowphoto”][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][\/vc_column][vc_column overlap_index=”300″ width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight” css=”.vc_custom_1559831619559{padding-left: 5% !important;}”]The sparse distribution of providers creates what we call child care deserts. The Center for American Progress<\/a> (CAP) defines a child care deserts as areas \u201cwith at least 30 children under the age of 5 and either no child care centers or so few centers that there are more than three times as many children under age 5 as there are spaces in centers\u201d; alternatively, a desert is an area with an insufficient supply of licensed child care. A child care center is a space regulated by the Division of Child Care, and it can take many forms depending upon the environment. In Kentucky, there are two main types:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Center-based: this is your licensed type one care and it operates out of a non-residential building. This can be a church or a community center or an established child care facility.<\/li>\n
  2. In-Home: this provision of care is either licensed type two, certified, or registered and is operated out of the educator\u2019s home.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlap=”top” overlap_distance=”100px” overlap_index=”50″ equal_height=”true” vertical_align=”middle” padding_size=”m-padding” css=”.vc_custom_1558666565439{margin-top: 25px !important;}”][vc_column overlap=”left” overlap_distance=”200″ overlap_index=”300″ width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight”]By using Census tract data, the Center for American Progress<\/a> captured which zip codes are deserts in Kentucky. CAP data that reflect that 52% of white, 42% of Black, and 45% of Hispanic\/Latino people in Kentucky reside in child care deserts. Furthermore, 1,370,155 people in rural areas reside in child care deserts.<\/p>\n

    To illustrate the gaps in care, we created two maps that reflect all available care in the state. Drawn from\u00a0 February 2019 data available from the Division of Child Care, this map displays where all the licensed\/certified\/registered educators are in the state. As you can see, there are vast swaths of the state \u2013 a whole county, even \u2013 where there is no state-recognized child care provided.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column overlap_index=”50″ padding_size=”no-padding” width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” image=”8268″ animation=”slideInRight” animation_delay=”0.8″ el_class=”shadowphoto”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlap=”top” overlap_distance=”100px” overlap_index=”50″ equal_height=”true” vertical_align=”middle” padding_size=”m-padding” el_class=”row2″ css=”.vc_custom_1558665176081{margin-top: 25px !important;}”][vc_column overlap_index=”50″ padding_size=”no-padding” width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight”]<\/p>\n

    For a more granular look at the lack of care in certain areas, consider this next map which identifies the provider availability and density by zip code. Those gray regions of the map represent entire zip codes where there is no available state-regulated care.<\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column overlap=”left” overlap_distance=”200″ overlap_index=”300″ width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” image=”8269″ animation=”slideInRight” animation_delay=”0.8″ el_class=”shadowphoto”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlap=”top” overlap_distance=”100px” overlap_index=”50″ equal_height=”true” vertical_align=”middle” padding_size=”m-padding” css=”.vc_custom_1558666565439{margin-top: 25px !important;}”][vc_column overlap=”left” overlap_distance=”200″ overlap_index=”300″ width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight”]In this final map, we address the ratio of the number of children in a given county to the number of slots available. In this scale, anywhere from no children to three children is rated as a 1, three children to eight children is rated as a 2, and eight or more children is rated as a 3. For further clarification, everywhere a 1 appears on the map, there is one available slot for as many as three children in need of care. Where a 3 appears, more than eight children are vying for one available slot in a regulated child care facility.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column overlap_index=”50″ padding_size=”no-padding” width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large” image=”8270″ animation=”slideInRight” animation_delay=”0.8″ el_class=”shadowphoto”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlap=”top” overlap_distance=”100px” overlap_index=”50″ equal_height=”true” vertical_align=”middle” padding_size=”m-padding” el_class=”row2″ css=”.vc_custom_1558665176081{margin-top: 25px !important;}”][vc_column overlap_index=”50″ padding_size=”no-padding”][vc_column_text el_class=”strategy4text2″ animation=”slideInRight”]How can Kentucky address this problem?<\/p>\n

    We have an obligation to invest in high-quality environments<\/a> to ensure that children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn. These investments have a significant positive impact on learning and the workforce \u2013 and produce huge returns for families and communities.\u00a0 Even with recently announced<\/a> increases in federal support for child care through the Child Care Development Block Grant, Kentucky must do more.\u00a0 Do more by both increasing the eligibility level and investment in high-quality, full day early learning environments.\u00a0 Additionally, communities must come together to support innovative delivery strategies \u2013 whether through partnerships<\/a> between child care centers and public preschool or supports for entrepreneurs wanting to enter into child care.<\/p>\n

    With support from the Kellogg Foundation, the Prichard Committee in partnership with the state Division of Child Care, is working with several teams across the state \u2013 long time child care advocates and shared services providers \u2013 to increase access to in-home family child care for infants and toddlers , improve the quality of child care, and educate communities on the importance of the early years. As part of this work, we have also begun conducting research into the barriers potential child care providers face and strategies that can help ease the process by which someone can become in-home child care provider.<\/p>\n

    More to come on those barriers soon\u2026[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A recent article by Will Wright in the Lexington Herald-Leader highlighted the critical need for child care and, in particular, lack of access in Eastern Kentucky. The imperative to increase access and to invest in our youngest children was crystallized in a blog post and op-ed by Cindy McGaha and Andrea Woodward \u2013 both professors at Berea College. We could not agree more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ed"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5854,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4821\/revisions\/5854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}