Many One-Stop Centers across the country have added child-care centers as a valuable service for parents. The Department of Education has recently updated its information holdings in the National Child Care Information Center and added some new bibliography to its "Child Care in Rural Communities: Annotated Resource List." The "Resource List" provides a valuable compendium for workforce development officials of specific HUD, HHS, Education and Agricultural resources and services which may be useful in planning.
Rural areas have particular challenges in developing strategies to increase the supply, quality, accessibility and affordability of child care, and to expand the options available to parents. The following publications and organizations provide research on and resources to support child care services in rural communities:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)
Families, 4-H & Nutrition
1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 2201
Washington DC 20250-2225
202-720-7441
World Wide Web: http://www.reeusda.gov/1700/newcsrees.htm
CSREES seeks to improve early childhood, school-age and teen programs by linking the teaching, research, education, technology, and 4-H youth development expertise of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, land-grant universities, and county Cooperative Extension Services offices to local communities across the United States. As part of the initiative, the system provides access to research, best practices, and education resources related to child care, including rural child care, through the National Network for Child Care Web site at http://www.nncc.org/ComDev/community.involv.html#anchor10510077.
The following publication is available from CSREES:
- Building Better Child Care: Building a Better America! Land-Grant System Report (November 1998) describes how child care research, resident instruction, and Extension Outreach Programs of the Land-Grant University System are all making significant contributions to the field of child care. This resource is available on the Web at http://www.reeusda.gov/extensioncares/landgrant_report.htm.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
National Rural Development Partnership (NRDP)
1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 4225-S
Washington, DC 20250
202-690-2394
World Wide Web: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/nrdp/
NRDP brings together Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, as well as the private for-profit and non-profit sectors, to work in partnership for the improvement of rural America's communities. The following publication is available from NRDP's Welfare Reform Task Force:
- Child Care and Transportation Strategies for Rural Communities: Meeting the Welfare Reform Challenge (1998) provides community leaders, State, and Tribal officials, and others with ideas and resource contacts for building rural strategies. This document is available on the Web at http://wtw.doleta.gov/documents/child.pdf.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS)
1400 Independence Avenue St.
Washington, DC 20250
202-720-1400
World Wide Web: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs
RBS works in partnership with the private sector and community-based organizations to provide financial and technical assistance to businesses and cooperatives located in rural communities. Among the programs offered are Business and Industry Direct Loans (B&I Direct), Rural Economic Development Grants (REDG) and Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEG). These business programs are administered at the State level by Rural Development State Offices.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Rural Housing Service (RHS)
1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 5037, South Building
Washington, DC 20250
202-720-4323
World Wide Web: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rhs/
Through programs such as the Community Facilities (CF) grant and loan programs, RHS provides funding for the development of essential community facilities, including child care centers in rural areas and small towns. Grants are also available through RHS's Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) for organizations interested in conducting technical assistance programs to develop the capacity of rural communities and organizations to improve rural housing, community facilities, and economic development projects.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Rural Information Center (RIC)
10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 304
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
800-633-7701
World Wide Web: http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/
RIC provides information and referral services to local, State, and Federal government officials; community organizations; health professionals and organizations; rural electric and telephone cooperatives; libraries; businesses; and rural citizens working to maintain the vitality of America's rural areas. RIC provides the following resources that are helpful to child care providers:
- RIC's Rural Child Care Center FAQ has information on starting a rural child care center and funding resources. This resource is available on the Web at http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/faqs/childc~1.htm#all.
- Federal Funding Sources for Rural Areas is available on the Web at http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/funding/federalfund/ff.html.
- The Rural Information Center Health Service (RICHS) collects and disseminates information on rural health issues. RICHS is a joint project of the Office of Rural Health Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Agricultural Library, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additional information about RICHS is available on the Web at http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/richs/.
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC)
Washington, DC 20202
800-USA-LEARN (800-872-5327)
World Wide Web: http://www.ed.gov/21stcclc
The 21st CCLC program provides funding to rural and inner-city public schools to address the educational needs of its community during after-school hours, weekends, and summers. The focus of this program is to provide expanded learning opportunities for children in a safe, drug-free, and supervised environment. The 21st CCLC program enables schools to stay open longer, providing a safe place for homework centers; intensive mentoring in basic skills; drug and violence prevention counseling; enrichment in the core academic subjects; as well as opportunities to participate in recreational activities, chorus, band and the arts, technology education programs and services for children and youth with disabilities.
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Child Care Bureau
370 L'Enfant Promenade SW
Washington, DC 20447
World Wide Web: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ccb/
The Child Care Bureau is dedicated to enhancing the quality, affordability, and availability of child care for all families. The Child Care Bureau administers Federal funds to States, Territories, and Tribes to assist low-income families in accessing quality child care for children when the parents work or participate in education or training. In February 2000, ACF's Child Care Bureau sponsored a National Leadership Forum on "Expanding Child Care to Underserved Populations: Meeting the Needs of Rural Communities." The Forum brought together leaders and recognized experts in the field to focus attention on the critical need to make high quality, affordable, and accessible child care available in rural communities. Video clips of Forum speakers are available online at http://nccic.org/forum/forfeb00.html.
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)
World Wide Web: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/opre/utiliz.htm.
OPRE sponsored The Rural Welfare to Work Strategies Initiative which produced several publications that provide information on child care in rural communities, including:
"Child Care for Welfare Participants in Rural Areas," Rural Welfare Issue Briefs (November 2000), describes some of the child care challenges that low-income rural residents face and child care services welfare recipients in rural areas use. This resource is available on the Web at http://www.macroint.com/publications/Child%20Care.pdf.
These resources and additional information about the initiative can be found on the Web at http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/opre/utiliz.htm.
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Head Start Bureau
National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Quality Improvement Center (MSHS
QIC)
1825 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington DC 20009
800-864-0465
World Wide Web: http://216.219.150.126/hmpg/hmpg.html
MSHS QIC is an entity that provides culturally and linguistically appropriate training and technical assistance to Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs nationwide.
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development
Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD)
451 7th Street SW
Washington, DC 20410
202-708-1112
World Wide Web: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/
CPD administers grant programs that help communities plan and finance their growth and development, increase their capacity to govern, and provide shelter and services for homeless people. CPD administers programs such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which provides funding to revitalize neighborhoods, expand affordable housing and economic opportunities, and/or improve community facilities and services; and the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Program, which provides funds to nonprofit organizations to provide early childhood development services for low-income families in public housing, for homeless families, and for families at risk of becoming homeless. For additional information, contact CPD or Community Connections, CPD's information clearinghouse, at 800-998-9999 or on the Web at http://www.comcon.org/.
Getting Kids Ready for School in Rural America (August 2000), by AEL, for the U.S. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, is intended to help family, school, and community leaders better understand the concept of school readiness, what it means in rural America, and how community members can help rural children succeed. Although this is not a how-to manual, readers will find this document to be a useful starting point for exploring the issues and needs that face young children and their families in rural areas. This resource is available on the Web at http://www.ael.org/rel/rural/pdf/getting.pdf#contents.
"Child Care Issues Impacting Welfare Reform in the Rural South," An Informational Brief (November 1999), published by the Southern Rural Development Center, looks at child care in Florida, Arkansas, and South Carolina in order to provide a snapshot of child care for TANF recipients in the Southern region. This resource is available on the Web at http://ext.msstate.edu/srdc/publications/reform09.htm.
Rural America and Welfare Reform: An Overview Assessment (1999), by the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), Rural Welfare Policy Panel, states:
While much of the employment focus is on adult welfare recipients, approximately two-thirds of the people served by TANF are children. Thus, one of the important questions in mandating work for single-mother families is how their children will fare as they go to work. This may be particularly important for rural mothers who may have longer commute times and, therefore, longer periods of time away from their children. In general, maternal employment has been found to have positive or neutral impacts on children (Zaslow and Emig, 1997). However, it is important to note that job quality is a factor in these research findings and that most research focuses on voluntary entry into the labor market (page 10).
There has been very little research that explicitly compares childcare provision and child outcomes in rural and urban areas. From Census reports (for example Casper, 1996) and the Urban Institute 1990 National Childcare Survey (Hofferth et al., 1991) we know some important things. Rural areas have fewer trained professionals, and fewer regulated childcare slots than urban areas. Rural families depend more on childcare given by relatives and friends. Employed rural mothers are more likely than urban employed mothers to use childcare provided by relatives and are less likely to use center care (Casper, 1996; Hofferth et al., 1991). Rural families with employed mothers and preschoolers spend less per week on childcare (Hofferth et al., 1991) and travel greater distances to obtain childcare than urban families. A study in Oregon found that distances traveled from home to childcare were much greater in rural than urban areas (Emlen, 1991). Individuals in the most rural areas traveled about double the distance traveled by those in the largest urban area (Emlen, 1991) (page 14).
In both rural and urban areas, the supply of childcare for infants is not adequate to meet the demand at prices that low income families can afford. And childcare for children in school is almost nonexistent. These mismatches between supply and demand are exacerbated in rural areas, because of the lack of scale economies needed to make centers profitable and because of lower incomes of rural workers that dampens effective demand for childcare slots. The greater distances traveled to obtain childcare further contributes to the daycare problem in rural areas. The longer travel times to work may mean that some working parents are likely to spend a greater amount of time away from their children (page 14).
This document is available on the Web at http://www.rupri.org/pubs/archive/old/welfare/p99-3/index.html. For additional information, contact RUPRI at 573-882-0316 or on the Web at http://www.rupri.org/.
The High Cost of Child Care Puts Quality Care Out of Reach for Many Families (1998), an issue brief from the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), states the following:
Child care is costly even in rural areas. While child care prices are somewhat lower in rural areas, even families in rural communities often cannot escape the high cost of child care. In most of the rural areas for which CDF collected data, the cost of center care for a preschool child falls between $3,000 and $5,000 per year. For example, the average annual cost of center care for a 4-year-old in Mercer County, W.V. is $3,500 and in the rural area of Franklin County, MO., the cost is nearly $4,000 (p. 4).
In over half of the 39 rural areas for which data on this type of care are available, average child care center costs for 4-year-olds are above $3,500 per year, including seven rural areas where average child care center costs for 4-year-olds are above $5,000 per year (page A-5).
In half the 35 rural areas for which we have data on this type of care, average child care center costs for 12-month-olds are above $4,500 per year, including 11 rural areas where average child care center costs for 12-month-olds are above $5,000 per year (p. A-5).
In half of the rural areas for which we have data on this type of care (20 out of 40 rural areas), the average cost of family child care for a 4-year-old is over $3,700 per year (page A-10).
In over half of the rural areas for which we have data on this type of care (24 out of 39 rural areas), the average cost of family child care for a 12-month-old is $3,900 per year or more (page A-10).
In general, family child care is somewhat less expensive than center care. However, in a number of communities - especially rural communities - the average cost of family child care is higher than the average cost of center care. For instance, in 11 States (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island), the rural area surveyed has higher average costs for family child care than for center care for an infant and/or preschooler (page A-10).
In half of the rural areas for which we have information about this type of care, the average annual cost of school-age care in a center exceeds $2,500 (page A-14).
For additional information, contact CDF at 202-628-8787 or on the Web at http://www.childrensdefense.org.
"Perspectives on Rural Child Care," an ERIC Digest (1997), published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, reviews what is known about the nature of rural child care and suggests implications for practitioners and policymakers. It states:
Predominantly rural States frequently report higher percentages of working parents than do urban States (Children's Defense Fund, 1996, p. 93). But rural children experience poverty at rates equal to urban children, while rural mother-only families are even likelier to be poor than urban ones ('Nonmetro and metro children,' 1992, p. 27). The link between rural residence and economic disadvantage is particularly pronounced for minority families (Jensen & Tienda, 1989).
Nearly 75 percent of rural children are not in formal, center-based care; rather, they are found in a variety of informal arrangements such as that provided by friends, relatives, and other siblings.
Rural child care practitioners face challenges sometimes unfamiliar to their urban colleagues, such as basic logistical concerns: dependable transportation, reliable snow removal, and telephone calls to parents' workplaces that are toll calls (Beach, 1995a). Geographic isolation, limited resources for assistance or training, low fees due to underemployment and seasonal unemployment of working families, and meeting the costs of child care regulation rooted in urban models are all common concerns of providers (Bailey & Warford, 1995).
This article is available on the Web at http://www.ael.org/eric/digests/edorc969.htm.
Compiled by NCCIC on March 11, 2002
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