Sarah Shelters
Children enjoy a socially distanced picnic lunch at the Chautauqua Lake Child Care Center.
Submitted Photos
Families across Western New York know the pressure of securing quality child care, often times being placed on waiting lists before their children are even born.
In Chautauqua County, that pressure has led to the region being referred to as a child care desert, a census area with over three times more children than licensed child care enrollment spots, with 20 child care centers and school-aged child care programs and 49 home-based providers.
“Access to high quality, affordable child care was a challenge for families long before COVID,” said Tory Irgang, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation executive director. “The pandemic, and subsequent stay at home order, revealed the critical impact child care has on workforce participation in our community, particularly for women.”
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