The child care crisis facing our nation—a widespread scarcity of quality, affordable options for families—may be more extreme in rural America than anywhere else. Three out of five rural parents live in “child care deserts” and must drive 10 miles or more to reach an early childhood care facility. These challenges stem from a confluence of conditions including low population density, lack of infrastructure and long distances between homes and businesses – combined with high operating costs, low worker wages, and very thin profit margins that plague rural childcare businesses.

The shortage of developmentally appropriate home- and center-based facilities is a serious obstacle to family wellbeing and economic growth in and of itself. But equally important are investments in worker compensation and subsidies for families in need.  While reams of research show that physical environments directly affect the quality of child care and early learning programs, there are no dedicated, stand-alone federal resources to support the acquisition, construction or renovation of child care facilities in either rural and urban areas.

Status quo funding resources do not work for most child care programs. Many operators are "unbanked" or "underbanked" and so have trouble accessing loan capital. Most loan products, meanwhile, are not designed to meet the unique needs of the sector. To navigate funding opportunities, child care business owners need tailored technical assistance; good access to grant resources would help, too, while they work to build credit. One in four child care providers, moreover, has a hard time finding affording housing, yet few programs support housing stability or pathways to homeownership for child care workers.

The child care crisis facing our nation—a widespread scarcity of quality, affordable options for families—may be more extreme in rural America than anywhere else. Three out of five rural parents live in “child care deserts” and must drive 10 miles or more to reach an early childhood care facility. These challenges stem from a confluence of conditions including low population density, lack of infrastructure and long distances between homes and businesses – combined with high operating costs, low worker wages, and very thin profit margins that plague rural childcare businesses.

The shortage of developmentally appropriate home- and center-based facilities is a serious obstacle to family wellbeing and economic growth in and of itself. But equally important are investments in worker compensation and subsidies for families in need.  While reams of research show that physical environments directly affect the quality of child care and early learning programs, there are no dedicated, stand-alone federal resources to support the acquisition, construction or renovation of child care facilities in either rural and urban areas.

Status quo funding resources do not work for most child care programs. Many operators are "unbanked" or "underbanked" and so have trouble accessing loan capital. Most loan products, meanwhile, are not designed to meet the unique needs of the sector. To navigate funding opportunities, child care business owners need tailored technical assistance; good access to grant resources would help, too, while they work to build credit. One in four child care providers, moreover, has a hard time finding affording housing, yet few programs support housing stability or pathways to homeownership for child care workers.

Read the full article about rural childcare by Nicole Barcliff at LISC.