Each Ready Region faces distinct challenges and opportunities related to building child care supply. The purpose of the regional landscape analysis is to create a shared understanding of the current state across the region and to help mobilize a coordinated, collective effort to develop and implement a Regional Action Plan. Ready Regions’ use of this shared template will result in consistent analyses and Plans statewide, while also recognizing variation.
In response to many requests for business supports from Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) site leaders and Ready Regions, VECF convened the Early Educator Finance and Compensation Task Force, a group of veteran ECCE site leaders, to help develop this training in collaboration with financial planning and resiliency experts, 20 Degrees. This means that the tool was designed and tested by ECCE providers for ECCE providers.
Treating 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.
In the fall of 2024, the massive 87,000 square-foot EO Regional Workforce and Child Development Hub opened in Abingdon, Virginia. The complex operates as a Hub-and-Spoke Model where a centralized, high-capacity facility works with a network of community-based providers to expand access, strengthen quality, and improve sustainability across the region.
Little Lions Learning Lab is an early childhood center operated by the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Office of Louisa County Public Schools (LCPS). Created in response to a difficult recruiting environment for teachers and shrinking interest in the field of education among students, the early childhood program provides LCPS staff with access to high-quality child care and serves as a learning space for students who want to explore a career in education.
The Peake Childhood Center (Peake) is a 54-year-old non-profit organization with a mission to provide high-quality affordable child care that prepares children for school. On June 4, 2025, Peake began operating their second child care program in a $20 million state-of-the-art building owned by the City of Newport News, Virigina.
