HUMA HUSAINUP206A – WINTER 2011

FINAL PROJECT

Childcare in LA County

Policy Questions

Are there any under-served communities with respect to licensed child care?

Where could new licensed facilities be most

beneficial?

Methodology

Map all licensed child care facilities in LA County

Locate communities that have a high level of need and do not live within walking distance of child care

Determine an optimal location for new licensed facilities based on proximity to homes and schools

Child Care Centers in L.A.

Variables Used to Determine Need

# of children under 5 years old

# of household that don’t own a car

proximity to a licensed child care center

median household income

# of families with children living in poverty

# of Children Under 5 Median Household Income

# of Families Below Poverty

# of Households with No Car

Index of Need

Need =

2 x (Proximity) +

2 x (No Car) +

2 x (# of Kids) +

(Median Income) +

(Poverty)

Child Care Centers and Need

Areas within walking distance of child care

½ mile buffer = 10 min walk

Focus Area: Littlerock

• # Children under 5 years old = 1,044

• Capacity of Childcare Center: 30 children

Model: Converting Variables to Raster Files

Model: Reclassifying Variables

Metadata

Skills/Requirements

Inset Maps – locating LA County and Littlerock

Attribute Sub-Select – selecting residential landuse parcels from landuse shapefile

Boundary Sub-Select – selecting schools and daycare centers in Littlerock area

Buffering – created walking distance buffers around child care centers

Geoprocessing – clipping street, landuse and census tract layers to Littlerock area

Geocoding – mapped xy coordinates for child care facilities in LA County

Modeling – used models to convert shapefiles to raster files and reclassify variables

Metadata – created for original child care data

Measurement/Analysis – using buffer tool to measure distance

Hotspot Analysis – created an index using spatial analyst to find hotspots (highest-need areas)

Spatial Analysis – created a ‘distance to daycare’ variable using euclidian distance, used raster calculator to derive index

7-Layer Map – map of Littlerock with census tracts, child care centers, schools, index and buffers

Sources

SimplyMap income, household vehicles, population

UCLA Mapshare schools, streets, census tracts

American Fact Finder poverty