The spatial inequality of early care and education centers.

ABSTRACT: Given the importance of early care and education (ECE) programs for children's development and parents' labor force participation, it is critical to ensure communities - particularly those home to historically marginalized populations - have predictable and equitable access to programming and services. Yet, there are few useful data resources and thus relatively little research examining variation in local access to ECE programs. In this article, we examine county-level disparities in participation in and availability of ECE centers by child poverty rate, racial and ethnic composition, and urban-rural geography using a unique national dataset of county-level ECE program enrollment and expenditures from 2000 to 2019. Measures of ECE access in these data reflect a mix of publicly provided an

SUBMITTER: Pelletier E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12843331 | biostudies-literature | 2025 1st Quarter

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature