About

Affordable, conveniently located, and high quality early childhood care and education (ECE) supports the well-being of children, families, and communities. Equitable deployment of ECE resources requires an understanding of where needs are greatest. This is especially important as Hawai‘i moves towards universal access to ECE by 2032, starting first with children in underserved communities.

This project provides new methods for measuring the availability, affordability, and quality of ECE programs within a set distance of a prototypical family home. An interactive mapping web tool shows how ECE access is distributed in communities across the state. These fine-grained data will help policymakers and the ECE community plan and monitor the strategic expansion of ECE services.

This project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Collaborators include the Hawai‘i Children’s Action Network and advisory committees of local and national stakeholders.


Visit the Interactive Maps

Maps of ECE access in communities across the state. Users can select different aspects of access (nearby seats, affordability, quality, overall access), travel distance/time, and zoom level (census tract vs. housing lot).

View Maps

Download the Handout

Download the White Paper

Download the Technical Report



Mapping Access to Affordable Early Childhood Education and Care

View the 2020 journal article


 

For more information, please contact: 

Barbara DeBaryshe, PhD
Principal Investigator
debarysh@hawaii.edu
(808) 956-4140