Madison Child Care Centers and Fertility Rates

Madison has a number of child care facilities around its Central Business District. The facilities range from small, non-profit organizations to programs offered by community members within public elementary schools. All child care centers are available with involved fees, yet some – for example, Acorn Academy, provide a Tuition Assistance Fund for families that require financial assistance. This is an important resource to explore the availability of child care centers for a range of fertility rates, some above the national average, in Madison, NJ. 

Child care centers in Madison, NJ were determined by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The data are updated on a monthly basis to ensure accuracy of current circumstances. The fertility rates in the Past 12 months for women aged 15-50 were determined by the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey that offers 2017-2021 estimates with a 90% margin of error. The data include the count and percentage of women 15-50 who gave birth in the past 12 months.

Madison, NJ contains ten child care centers with a great majority of them clustered near the central location. There are four differing fertility rates presented, similar to a quadrant style, with the upper right with an approximately 8% fertility rate, upper left with 4.6%, bottom left with 1.5%,  and bottom right with 3.3%. Much of the child care centers lay on or close-by Main Street, ensuring accessibility. Notably, a high proportion of child care centers reside in the top two quadrants where the fertility rate is above or close to the national average (5.1%). 

Understanding the locations and importance of child care centers and their corresponding fertility rates can help us make conclusions about the accessibility and availability of child care for Madison residents. This directly correlates to assuring a healthy developmental environment for a child and the opportunities for families to use such resources. As most child care centers are on Main Street, this contributes towards advances in equity as individuals in areas that are either above or below the national average fertility rate are able to reach such services. Further considerations towards equity include available financial assistance in some centers, yet this offer is limited as the proportion of centers advertising financial assistance is little. This evaluation should be considered simultaneously with unemployment rates in Madison. In terms of accessibility to populations with relatively higher unemployment rates, child care facilities are mostly accessible in the downtown area. However, when taking into account facilities with financial assistance advertised, the narrative is quite different: facilities concentrated in areas of higher unemployment rates do not advertise financial assistance (with some schools, for instance the Madison Montessori School, requiring a costly tuition). Accessibility is multi-faceted and must take into account the affordability of child-care for families.

About the Data Sources:

The fertility rates in the past 12 months of women ages 15-50 are a product on the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). ACS is not limited to studying fertility rates; the ongoing survey covers topics about social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics in the United States. The data represents 5-year data that represents information collected over such period of time that is also updated annually. This specific mapping includes data from the 2017-2021 estimates based on the 116th Congressional District boundaries.

The child care centers data are published by the NJ Department of Environment Protection Bureau of GIS. This was created from the state’s initiative on child care centers near contaminated states to reduce the threat of contamination to public health and the environment. The data are provided to the NJDEP Site Remediation Waste Management Program by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families Office of Licensing. To ensure receptivity, the data are updated on a monthly basis. 

To download a one-page slide for this summary on child care centers, click here.

Author:

Natalia Jamiolkowski, Drew University

ENV/BIOL 302 – Geographic Information Systems

Fall 2023