Creating a Childcare-Friendly Community
Zoning Practice — June 2025
By Lauren Sayre, AICP, Ashley Jankowski, AICP
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Access to affordable, high-quality childcare is vital to a child's health and well-being and a family's financial stability. Childcare allows parents to remain in school or the workforce and generate needed income and healthcare coverage with the confidence that their children are receiving safe, first-rate care and developmental support. Furthermore, childcare is necessary for the economic resiliency of entire communities.
Despite its importance, affordable and accessible childcare options remain out of reach for many families across the country. This is due, in part, to the fact that the supply of childcare facilities simply does not meet the growing demand. While overly restrictive zoning may not be the primary cause of this shortage, local regulations can present significant barriers for prospective operators.
This issue of Zoning Practice explores how zoning reforms and other complementary actions can foster a more supportive environment for childcare facilities. It begins with brief overviews of the ongoing childcare crisis and the regulatory landscape for childcare facilities before outlining the key components of a childcare-friendly approach to zoning.
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About the Authors
Lauren Sayre, AICP
Lauren Sayre, AICP, is a Senior Planner at McKenna, where she supports communities across the Midwest through comprehensive planning, zoning, and child care readiness initiatives. Lauren is passionate about engaging residents and stakeholders to create actionable plans that reflect the needs and aspirations of the communities she serves. She is dedicated to creating safer and more efficient, but also more equitable, systems that make communities more enjoyable places to live for all residents. Lauren holds a Master of Urban Planning from Wayne State University and a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Sustainable Planning from Grand Valley State University.
Ashley Jankowski, AICP
<p>Ashley is an Associate Planner at McKenna, where she supports a wide range of planning efforts including public engagement, comprehensive planning, and zoning administration. She is skilled in managing interdisciplinary planning projects that uplift community priorities and creatively reduce barriers to public participation. Prior to becoming a planner, Ashley was a Sustainability Fellow at Yale University and a Cities Engagement Fellow at CDP, where she focused on environmental data management, sustainability strategy, and efforts to vuild the capacity of cities and campuses to mitigate and respond equitably to the impacts of climate change. Ashley holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning and a Master of Environment and Sustainability from the University of Michigan, and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Journalism from New York University. OUtside of her work at McKenna, Ashley is a freelance writer and journalist.</p>