Child Care Deserts Leave Families with Few Options
Half of all Americans now live in “child care deserts,” or areas with little or no access to quality child care, according to a new study by the Center for American Progress. Mapping America’s Child Care Deserts finds that many American families across the income spectrum have major difficulties finding licensed and affordable child care near their homes. The report notes that this issue is a larger problem for families in poor rural and urban neighborhoods, and that Hispanic/Latino and Alaskan Native communities are the most at risk of living in child care deserts. The authors suggest that state and federal lawmakers adopt policies to improve the availability of child care, including substantial federal investment to build new facilities and help low-income families with affordability.