Monday, August 22, 2011

Starting a Daycare: Considering Community Needs

By Jennifer Dilwortz


If you are thinking about starting up a childcare center, one of the first steps is to evaluate the need for childcare in your community. You can do this in many ways, from interviewing local families to researching census demographics. You can start your assessment by connecting with families in your community about their daycare needs and qualities they would look for in a daycare center. This is often done through speaking with families, developing a questionnaire which folks can complete through the mail, or through conducting a phone survey.

Another good way to evaluate the need for childcare services in your community is to analyze local census info for your city or town. You can look at demographic info such as number of families with children ages 0-6 years, number of recent marriages, and the geographic density of families. This info can be acquired through reaching out to your nearby city or town hall, or the U.S. Census Bureau. You may also be able to locate the info online on the U.S. Census Bureau's webpage.You can use the census information to assess the present need for childcare in your city or town, as well as determine if the need for childcare will increase in the upcoming years.

A very important step in this assessment process is reaching out to your local childcare resource and referral agency to help identify existing childcare businesses in your city or town. You can then learn more about your competitors, and what types of care and services they're providing to families close by. You may have to create a unique strategy for your own childcare service, for example offering more flexible hours, services for children of different ages, or providing an after-school daycare service for older kids.

Before you reach out to your nearby childcare resource and referral agency, come up with a list of things you would like to ask about childcare services in your area. These can include questions about hours, kinds of daycare, ages of children in daycare, services competitors offer, and the total number of centers which are close to your area.

It is crucial for you to evaluate the needs for childcare in your community before building your business. This will help you to set some clear objectives for your business plan, and get ahead of the competition by providing niche services.




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