Since launching the Child Care Aware of Kansas Point in Time Data feature on May 18, 2021, our website has received over 1,000 unique visitors specifically looking for information about the supply and demand of child care in Kansas communities.
Why does this matter?
Every hour, roughly two Kansans are downloading data, and our hope is that they’re using this information to evaluate local needs for high quality child care.
Maya Angelou is famously quoted for saying, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” Kansas parents with young children already know how difficult it is to find child care that meets unique child and family needs. Child care providers already know how difficult it is to continue offering high quality care while faced with increased pandemic-related expenses, lower enrollments, and staff shortages. Employers already know how difficult it is to maintain productivity when employees don’t have access to child care.
We’ve all done the very best we could with limited information about the state of child care in Kansas. But things are changing.
It’s time for action.
Finally, we’re able to offer communities up-to-date, relevant information so collectively we can move toward action.
With one click, you can review changes in the supply and demand of different types of child care over the last three years. You can explore information on the average cost of child care, the availability of evening, weekend, and overnight care, and the number of programs that accept child care subsidy or participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
When you know more about the state of child care in your community, you can do something about it. Child Care Aware of Kansas and our network of Child Care Resource and Referral partners can help.
If your community is interested in more information about how we can support you in making meaning of the data we provide, please email info@ks.childcareaware.org or click Get Involved for more information. We work with communities at no charge, and offer a variety of tools, resources, and connections to other communities across Kansas.
We can do this. Together.
