Birth to Five Illinois Shares Research Findings

Original coverage by Angela Ridgway for the Daily Record.

Birth to Five Illinois, a program funded by the State of Illinois, has released data for Lawrence County.

Using a collective impact model, between September 2022 and June 2023, the program led the action and family councils through data discussions to identify gaps and barriers for children and families.

They coordinated focus groups, interviews and surveys to gather input from community members across their region.

The data is based on assessments for early childhood regional needs.

Lawrence County is in Region 12 and shows there are 973 children under the age of six in the county.

Only 242 of those children have both parents working.

The data they collected showed that there are only 155 day care spots available in the county.

In Lawrence County, there are 234 spots for publicly funded Pre-K (Head Start and Preschool for all) as well as zero for Early Head Start, prevention initiative and maternal infant early childhood home visiting.

Only 25 families in the county are receiving the child care assistance program.

Due to the need for childcare changing daily with jobs loss or gain or an illness, the numbers are always able to change.

The data does not include children whose parents chose to stay home with their child or children by choice and not by lack of day care spots available.

Through the fall of this year, regional teams will lead their councils through implementation planning based on the recommendations made in their report and the additional input gathered from the community.

The data will be used to help with grants and funding for day care positions for children in the county.