Economic development strategies to promote quality childcare

Across the country as state and local teams have conducted economic analyses of the child care sector, they have faced the challenge of how to take the next step and build linkages between economic development and child care policy. The intent of this document it two fold: 1) to educate the child care community in the core concepts of economic development, and 2) to assist the economic development community to see the connections between their work and the child care sector. To this end the document is split into two distinct sections. STRATEGY GUIDE The main text of the document allows the child care community to understand the intent, process and language of economic developers and economic development planning. It describes the basic principles of economic development and the process of economic development planning. It then makes the connection between child care and economic development. TOOLBOX The second part of this report is a toolbox that goes into more detail regarding the specific tools of economic development and examples of how these tools have been applied to child care. It is designed so that readers can easily identify alternative strategies most applicable to their communities. Short descriptions are provided of specific interventions communities have tried to strengthen the child care sector using economic development strategies. This document is one of a series of extension reports created by the Cornell Linking Economic Development and Child Care project.