New Story Map Tool Highlights Child Care Needs

LISC Rhode Island, along with the Policy Solutions arm of the Reinvestment Fund, has developed a Story Map that illuminates Rhode Island child care supply, demand, shortages, and demographics. This interactive map is the first tool of its kind developed specifically for Rhode Island — and serves as a resource for a variety of stakeholders, including providers seeking to expand into underserved communities and for advocates hoping to increase access to high-quality child care for Rhode Island families. 

There is a significant shortage of high-quality child care infrastructure and resources in Rhode Island and this resource explores the relevant data down to the census tract level. The mapping project uses existing data sets from the U.S. Census, RI Kids Count and RI Association for the Education of Young Children (RIAEYC) to create overlays within the Story Map functionality that addresses criteria like family composition, income levels, and language using an easy-to-understand gradient of colors. 

LISC began this project in response to requests from community organizations, providers, and other Rhode Island stakeholders who wanted to better understand the child care needs in their communities. These requests came up consistently during data collection for studies conducted by LISC, one in 2019 and one in 2021-2022, that were designed to support the Rhode Island Department of Human Services (DHS) in understanding child care capacity challenges. 

“We knew there was a need in the community for more granular data on child care availability and resources,” said Jeanne Cola, Senior Executive Director with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Rhode Island. “When funding to develop a tool that could address these concerns became available through the CARES Act, we jumped at the opportunity to expand our library of reports, studies, and resources available to the community.”  

Identifying the gaps in high-quality child care is only the beginning. The reasons for the shortfall in high-quality child care are varied: financial challenges, workforce difficulties, lack of suitable and quality infrastructure, transportation and other issues all work together to affect the “real” availability of child care. This new mapping tool can help stakeholders find the neighborhoods that are most in need of investment, and hopefully inspire some new and creative solutions for the challenges faced by the child care sector. “We hope that the Story Map will help Rhode Island stakeholders better understand the challenges facing our child care sector, as well as generate solutions,” said Cola. 

The LISC Child Care Facilities Fund team has a long history of offering technical assistance to child care providers, whether home- or center-based, and helping them make improvements to existing space, create new space, or expand to serve more children. This tool will help providers make more educated decisions during the planning process about which neighborhoods may be most important to consider for a child care site. The Story Map acts as a resource for local child care businesses and supports their efforts to establish or expand their business. 

Explore the Story Map tool here, or read the Story Map project summary. Click here to learn more about our Child Care Facilities Program.