Childcare: A Key Driver of Employment and Economic Development in Wyandotte County, Kansas

This article originally appeared on and was written for Wyandotte Economic Development Council by Golden Shovel Agency.

“Economic development starts with early childcare development,” said Greg Kindle, Wyandotte Economic Development Council (WYEDC) President. Evidence demonstrates that increased access to high-quality early childhood and high-quality early care and education programs results in short- and long-term benefits for a community.

Childcare can –

• Generate up to $7.30 per dollar invested
• Improve labor productivity by allowing parents to work longer, miss fewer days, and pursue continuing education
• Attract homebuyers and increases property values by $13 for every dollar invested in local programs. 
• Save school systems money for K-12 education
• Lower rates of incarceration and violent crime

Developing childcare capacity should not be viewed as a mere expense but rather as an investment in the long-term prosperity of a community. According to a new study published in Child Development, children who had access to 24 months or more of high-quality childhood education in their first five years were more likely to graduate from college and had higher salaries at age 26, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

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