Child Care

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Child care should provide a safe, nurturing environment that supports early childhood development. Child care allows parents to work or study, secure in the knowledge their child is well cared for. High-quality child care promotes cognitive, physical, and social-emotional growth and fosters school readiness, thereby contributing significantly to a child’s long-term success and wellbeing.

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Early Investment, a Lifetime of Returns: Articulating the Value of Early Childhood Investments in Virginia

Our estimates indicate that Virginia’s investment yields substantial returns to children, families, and the state–including reduced poverty and child maltreatment, a lifetime of improved educational achievement, and hundreds of millions of dollars in state economic returns. Learn more.

State Policies to Promote Employer-Supported Child Care

State policymakers are considering a few common policies to promote employer-supported child care: cost-sharing models, employer tax credits, and grant programs that support public-private partnerships and child care supply expansion. Learn more.

2026 Roadmap Profile: Child Care Subsidies

Child care subsidies increase access to needed services including the use of single, formal care arrangements, support maternal employment, and increase earnings. Learn more.

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Ten Years, Hundreds of Policies, Millions of Families

Millions of families with young children have benefited from the hundreds of investments states have made since 2016

New Vanderbilt Study Finds Nashville Child Care System Faces Interconnected Challenges in Supply, Workforce, and Affordability

As families across the country navigate the pressures of finding and affording child care, new research from Vanderbilt University’s Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center examines what that landscape looks like in greater Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee

Executive Summary: Davidson County, Tennessee Child Care Landscape Study

The Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study examines local child care supply, population metrics that inform demand, the local ECE workforce, operating conditions of local child care programs, and the estimated cost of providing high-quality child care in greater Nashville, Tennessee.

Brief 1: Early Education for the Next Generation – Understanding Child Care Supply

Child care access shapes whether families with young children can work and whether children receive the nurturing, structured environments that support healthy development. This brief examines center-based child care supply across greater Davidson County, Tennessee, drawing on survey data from 116 child care programs to build a more complete picture of what families can realistically access.

Brief 2: The People Behind Early Care and Education – Understanding the Early Childhood Workforce

The early childhood education workforce is central to the quality and functioning of center-based child care programs, yet directors across the country face persistent challenges recruiting and retaining educators. This brief draws on survey data from 116 child care programs to describe the size and composition of the early childhood education workforce across greater Davidson County, Tennessee.

Brief 3: Limited Providers, Limited Slots – An Analysis of Home-Based Child Care

Home-based child care represents a small but important part of the licensed child care landscape in greater Davidson County, Tennessee, serving families with varied preferences and needs. This brief draws on survey data from 14 licensed home-based programs to describe the supply and experiences of home-based child care providers across the region.

Child Care

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