Child Care in the Time of COVID: Do we Observe Disparities in Access to Resources that Support (Re)Opening?

• In Event: Educating the Youngest Learners During the Pandemic: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Similar to many industries in the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the child care industry. Without government intervention, some have estimated the nation could lose half of its licensed child care capacity (Jessen-Howard & Workman, 2020). The child care crisis has important implications for economic recovery in the United States, where parents may have fewer care options in their neighborhoods to support their employment. Moreover, decades of rigorous research demonstrate the profound effect of high quality child care for young children (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). The potential breakdown of the child care market could thus interfere with both parent and child wellbeing. In the current study, we explore the characteristics of child care providers that receive resources to stabilize their operations and identify potential gaps in access to these resources.

Specifically, we explore Illinois child care programs’ access to two key resources: (1) emergency licensure through the state; and (2) loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) from the federal government. These resources are posited to defray loss of income due to COVID-19 (e.g., mandatory closures, reduced enrollment, increased health/safety costs) and allow programs to continue operating. We examine which programs received access to these resources and explore whether disparities exist based on demographic characteristics of residents within zipcodes. We draw on data from: the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (e.g., emergency child care licenses), Small Business Loan Administrative Data (e.g., PPP loan information), U.S. Census data (e.g., resident demographics), and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (e.g., zipcode crosswalk). All data were geocoded in ArcGIS and linked at the zipcode level.

Results indicated that approximately 30% of eligible child care programs received an emergency license since the pandemic began. These programs were located in 457 out of the 1382 zipcodes in Illinois. The majority of emergency-licensed programs served children between the ages of 3-5 (94%) and were home-based programs (65%) versus center-based programs (31%). Our findings suggest that zipcodes with lower median income had significantly more child care programs with emergency licenses (M = 1.33, SD = 3.40) compared to zipcodes with higher median incomes (M = 0.91, SD =2.04; t(1382)=-2.8692 p = .004). Among zipcodes that had at least one emergency licensed program, disparities were largely evident among home-based programs (versus center-based programs) where lower income zipcodes had on average 3.14 programs with emergency licenses compared to 1.50 programs in higher income zipcodes (t(455)=-5.442 p <.001).

In addition, 1,868 programs received PPP loans in Illinois. The median PPP amount was $25,000. The majority of child care programs (90%) received PPP loans below $150k. Follow-up analyses will explore disparities based on a host of zipcode-level demographics (household structure, race/ethnicity, level of education) and the percentage and type of essential workers within a zipcode. The goal is to understand what to expect from the child care market as we continue through this crisis and to identify potential disparities in access to resources intended to support the child care system.

Authors

• Terri Sabol, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author

• Timea Henriett Viragh, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Olivia Healy, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alison Rosengren, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author