Playbook for Regions
Playbook for Regions

BRIEF:

Child Care as Regional Infrastructure

BriefTreating child care as regional infrastructure means integrating child care development into long-range planning processes alongside transportation, housing, and economic development. It is a proactive, systems approach that coordinates regulatory alignment, facility development, and funding strategies to build lasting supply.

Examples:

  • Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) identifies child care capacity as essential to business viability
  • Consolidated Plan allocates Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds for child care facility development
  • Regional strategic plan coordinates child care supply with housing and workforce initiatives
  • Consider this approach if child care is surfacing as a barrier for employers and working families and you want to pursue a systemic approach to addressing it.
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  • Collaborate with state level partners through VECF/Virginia Business Roundtable for Early Education (VBREE) to identify and participate in local and regional planning cycles.
  • Leverage Regional Delegation connections to plan owners and request to present on the economic impact of child care, current needs, and how they might consider child care in their process.
  • Ensure child care experts are included in planning processes. Invite providers and child care focused organizations to planning meetings.
  • Launch data collection on supply, demand, workforce impacts, and access barriers. Start with VECF’s ECCE Supply & Demand Dashboard for your region.

Child care is essential infrastructure that underpins Virginia’s economic growth, labor force participation, and community well-being. Access to affordable, high-quality child care increases workforce participation, especially for mothers, boosts regional economic productivity, and strengthens long-term workforce quality (see Shovel Ready Virginia Task Force in Learn More).

Child Care Drives Economic Growth

Child care supports the economy through a triple bottom line: school ready children, work ready parents, and a strong economy supported by profitable businesses. Regions seeking to attract and retain employers cannot do so without a functioning child care system. In Virginia, employers increasingly identify child care capacity as a key factor in site selection.

Key Action

KEY ACTION

Understand How Systems Work Together

Economic development, housing, and child care are interconnected, but cross-sector partnerships often go unrealized. Virginia stakeholders note that housing developers and child care providers often don’t understand each other’s requirements.

Understanding systems lets you start conversations about incorporating child care early in planning processes. See Kindlewood in Learn More as an example.

Long-Term Planning Ensures Sustainability

Despite its importance, child care is often overlooked in planning, leading to zoning conflicts, funding gaps, and poor coordination. Long-range planning presents an opportunity. Many communities have elevated affordable housing as a priority, resulting in improved focus, resources, and supply. Regions can adopt a similar approach for child care: by integrating child care into existing planning processes, regions can plan for investments in child care infrastructure that supports economic growth, workforce participation, and quality of life for families.

Given the role of child care as infrastructure, the next step is integrating it into existing planning processes. Community and economic development plans drive regional priorities. Integrating child care helps regions address supply gaps, support working families, and strengthen business competitiveness.

Regions can advocate for a “Child Care in All Policies” approach: review each policy proposal for its impact on child care supply, affordability, access, and workforce. Michigan and the federal CHIPS Act are examples of this model (See Caring for Our Future in Learn More). Below is a selection of planning processes where child care integration is both feasible and impactful.

★ Potential state-level action: Qualified Allocation Plans (for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, or LIHTC), updated every two years, and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Unified or Combined State Plans, updated every four years, are additional state-level opportunities to build in child care. Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP)’s 25-29 Strategic Plan (see Learn More) includes child care as a human capital development strategy – ongoing engagement will be critical to ensure that implementation is robust.

Integrating child care into community and economic development plans requires embedding it across planning components: data, community engagement, analysis, goals, actions, and evaluation.

Plan Component: Data

When integrating child care into long-range planning, consider collecting data on:

  • Child care availability, affordability, vacancy rates, and actual enrollment (especially by age group – consider infants and toddlers in particular)
  • Workforce impacts, including labor force participation barriers and commuter patterns
  • Family and employer needs (e.g., location, hours, ages served)
  • The process for starting a child care business and child care business owners’ needs

Sources of data may include Planning District Commissions (e.g., economic indicator data, commuting patterns), VECF (e.g., child care supply and demand data), Reinvestment Fund (e.g., supply mapping), and others. See examples in Reinvestment Fund Supply-Mapping and VECF ECCE Supply & Demand Data in Learn More.

Key Insight

KEY INSIGHT

Licensed Capacity May Not Equal Available Slots

Many providers operate below licensed capacity due to staffing challenges, not lack of space. Richmond compared licensed capacity to actual enrollment and shifted American Rescue Plan Act investments toward staffing supports as a result.

As the Ready Region Coordinated Enrollment platform rolls out statewide, use provider self-reported vacancy data and parent search insights to target smart investments. See BridgeCare Marketplace and Wisconsin in Learn More.

Plan Component: Community Input

Families and child care providers may not realize that their child care challenges are relevant to planning. Their engagement can surface how shortages affect parents and employers, what sustainability challenges providers face, and whether child care should be elevated as a community priority. Asking residents directly about their priorities can reshape planning, as in the case of the Kindlewood Affordable Housing development with Piedmont Housing (see Kindlewood in Learn More) where early learning was moved to earlier development phases based on resident input.

Plan Component: Analysis

Include child care in SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) or similar analyses. Ask:

  • Is child care a regional strength or vulnerability?
  • Does availability or affordability limit workforce participation?
  • Are regulatory agencies aligned with child care business needs?
  • Are approvals consolidated or streamlined?
  • How long does permitting take?
  • Do providers have clear, accessible information?
  • Is any staff designated to support child care businesses?

See National League of Cities in Learn More.

Plan Component: Goals and Objectives

Regions should identify goals that address child care shortages hampering economic growth; align child care with transportation, housing, and workforce priorities; and support both immediate needs and longterm capacity.

Key Action

KEY ACTION

Plan for Aligned Systems

K–12 and early childhood systems often compete for staff, funding, and 4-year-olds. Virginia stakeholders noted that older children generate revenue that subsidizes infant and toddler care – moving them from private providers without a plan can destabilize entire programs. Joint planning ensures coordinated strategies. See Chambliss Center in Learn More.

Plan Component: Action Plan

Consider that strategies for economic development and other long-range planning might be reactive
(address current shortages) or proactive (build infrastructure to attract employers and families). Most actions below are collaborative efforts among planning entities, regional coalitions, and local governments. Additionally, see Topic Brief Child Care Friendly Regulations (Sec. 2, II.) which addresses regulatory and permitting barriers in depth, and Topic Briefs Repurposing Underutilized Spaces for Child Care (Sec. 3, I.) and Child Care Facility Co-Location (Sec. 4, I.) which cover facility strategies.

Quick Wins:

  • Add child care experts to planning committees
  • Request agenda time at PDC meetings to present child care data
  • Meet with existing providers to identify barriers and expansion opportunities
  • Engage Child Care Resource & Referral agencies and CDFIs
  • Integrate child care into business recruitment and retention efforts

Longer-Term Effort:

  • Inventory available and underutilized spaces
  • Conduct facility needs assessments
  • Secure commitments from property owners for child care use
  • Leverage publicly owned properties for low-cost leases
  • Identify redundancies and opportunities to streamline
Plan Component: Evaluation Framework

In order to ensure that the child care system remains visible and prioritized, integrate it into evaluation frameworks. Communities pay attention to what they measure. Plans should include metrics aligned with child care such as child care availability and affordability, workforce participation barriers, family and employer feedback, and the impacts of policies and investments over time.

Thriving communities and businesses depend on child care. Including child care in long-term planning efforts is a systematic way to ensure that it is a focused, coordinated effort leading to strong systems that support families, employers, and regional prosperity.

Examples and Models
Data and Research
Economic Case for Child Care
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