Child care is a critical support for families with young children. It allows parents to participate in the labor force and advance professionally, gives children a safe and caring place to go while their parents work, and expands the workforce for employers. High quality child care has also been shown to improve school readiness and support the educational attainment of children.
New York State’s Open Data website publishes information about active licensed child care programs in the state. The map below shows the location and sizes of the four types of child care programs licensed in New York State. The data is current as of June 15th, 2018.
A few quick observations about the map above. First, family and group family child care programs seem particularly concentrated in low income neighborhoods in the City of Rochester. Conversely, there are few home based child care settings in suburban and rural parts of the County. And while the City has a fair number of child care centers, few are located downtown, where approximately 60,000 people work each day.
I added the phone numbers associated with programs in case anyone stumbles across this page during their search for child care.
Here’s a bit more info about the four types of programs licensed by New York State:
Child Care Centers – Facilities located in non-residential settings that can serve children 6 weeks to 12 years old. Staff to child ratios depend on the age of the children, and the number of children who can be served depends on the square footage of the classroom or facility.
Family Child Care – One adult caring from 6 to 8 children (depending on the ages of the children) in a residence. There must be at least one caregiver for every two children under the age of two.
Group Family Child Care – Two adults caring for 10-16 children (depending on the age of the children) in a residence. As with Family Child Care, there must be one caregiver for every two children under the age of two.
School Age Child Care – Facilities located in non-residential settings that serve school age children (ages 5 to 12). Staff to child ratios depend on the age of the children, and the number of children who can be served depends on the square footage of the classroom or facility. These programs may be closed when school is not in session.