CNA 2022-25 vFINAL 09202022 MASTER COPY - Flipbook - Page 69
3. Affordable, high-quality child care
Child care is both an employment/economic development issue and a child development issue. We will
discuss it here in the Employment Domain and reference it in the Health/Social-Behavioral Domain.
a. Secondary data
Availability of High Quality and Affordable Early Education and Care
Research shows that access to quality early education and care has long-term benefits for children over
the course of their lifetimes and that early intervention can help correct developmental delays before they
become serious problems. Since primary caregivers (parents) are children9s first teachers, they have a
huge role to play in their successful development. Conversely, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
may have lifetime negative impacts; thus, family support and parent education are embedded into
Community Action programs focused on children and families.
As seen in the previous section on Child Care, the number of programs offering early education and care
does not come close to meeting the need, particularly for infants and toddlers. The extent to which
preschoolers (3- and 4-year-olds) have access to early education varies widely by community. In Steuben
51% of 3 & 4-year-olds are enrolled in an early childhood program and Yates County has 61% enrolled in
early childhood programs.
In the three-county region, there is a large shortage of regulated child care, particularly for infants and
toddlers, and for school-aged children. What this data tells us is that a large number of children are
receiving care while parents work through arrangements outside of the regulated child care system. This
can include nannies, friend/family care, or self-arranged care (meaning family members stagger shifts
and work remotely so that one of them can be with the children while the other is at work.)
In the tables below, the number used for children in each age group was taken from the U.S. Census
Bureau9s 2019 American Community Survey (ACS). To arrive at the number
